1st area pharmacy school to open

NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. (WANE) - Manchester College is launching a doctorate of pharmacy program, a program that will be the first of its kind in northern Indiana.

Executive Vice President for Manchester College, Dave McFadden said the school decided Fort Wayne is the perfect location for its satellite campus.

“Fort Wayne has all the amenities that we think will attract new faculty and new students. It is a great place for a program like this,” McFadden said.

Schools leaders say Fort Wayne is attractive for many reasons to set up its four-year Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Pharmacists are in high demand nationally and within the City’s two major health networks, Lutheran and Parkview.

“[The health networks] said ‘we could really use a program like this because we need to fill positions but ideally fill positions with home-grown students.’ So, it meets their specific needs but also a larger regional and national need,” McFadden said.

The program will bring in fifty faculty and staff positions and 250 new students. Fort Wayne Director of Community Development, John Urbahns says Manchester’s program adds up to a boost in the local economy.

“They will need a place to stay; they will need a place to eat. These extra bodies will be welcome in the community,” Urbahns said.

Butler and Purdue Universities are the only other schools in the state offering pharmacy programs.

Manchester plans to enroll its first pharmacy students in the fall of 2012.