My international APPE rotation in Portugal taught me that empathy, presence, and cultural curiosity are essential parts of health care and often make the biggest impact.

As my final year of pharmacy school approached, I was excited and nervous about what the next year would look like. After preferencing and submitting a few applications, I received my schedule and was surprised to see back-to-back association management rotations.

Sierra Schmiedt, PharmD, wanted to push herself as an individual and experience health care outside of the United States. Tony Tran, PharmD, wanted to build on a favorable study abroad experience as a high school student and visit the country of his heritage. That is how then-South Dakota State University student pharmacists ended up in Vietnam for 5 weeks for their final 2024 APPE rotations.

Our health professional schools at the University of the Incarnate Word invite students in its mission to serve through an annual effort of the Quijotes of San Antonio. This group, founded in 1989, led by physicians, nurses, and the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, sets up a weeklong clinic in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The clinic, in collaboration with the local Mexican government, offers services in optometry, physical therapy, nutrition, general medicine, pediatric medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy to its community for free.

My recent rotation in investigational drug services (IDS) at the University of Missouri gave me a glimpse into pharmacy’s future