Meet Imani Belton: an Early Assurance student in the Class of 2026

She’s known she was going to be a pharmacist since she was in second grade. She already knows where she is going to pharmacy school, even though she has yet to graduate from high school.

Imani Belton believes in planning ahead.

That long-ago day in second grade, she spoke to a pharmacist during a career fair. She had intended to follow her mother’s footsteps and become a nurse practitioner, but that nameless pharmacist changed everything. She went home and announced she was going to educate people about medications and develop new ones so she could help people like her grandmother, who died from Lou Gehrig’s disease at age 36.

By applying to the MUSC College of Pharmacy Early Assurance Program (EAP), Imani is already able to start planning how she is going to get there. A dual-enrollee at Ridge View High School and Midlands Technical College (MTC), the Columbia resident is the first accepted candidate to the EAP Class of 2026.

It does not take long to find out why Imani plans ahead. She has:

• Excelled in Ridge View’s BioHealth Magnet Program, which develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills through health science courses.
• Completed two courses in the Pharmacy Technician Program at MTC and earned her pharmacy technician license.
• Earned valuable real-world experience by working at Nephron Pharmaceuticals as an outsourcing sterile filling technician.
• Served as a volunteer for a homeless shelter and a nursing home.
• Stayed involved with her church health ministry activities and mission trips.
• Played enough golf to earn her way onto the golf team, where she serves as captain.

She knows the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) well, as she attended monthly group sessions with her mentors in the Students Mentoring Minorities in Health Care (SMH) program, despite having to drive in from Columbia. She also attended the PharmDamentals programs on campus in the summer.

“The Doctor of Pharmacy degree will provide me with the skills and knowledge needed to serve those with low literacy within an underserved community with the goal of improvement in health outcomes and will provide me with the fundamentals of research to pursue involvement in clinical trials,” she said. “I want to be able to serve others and make my mark within the health care field.”