Annual BHM seminar celebrates accomplished Black alumni

On Feb. 28, 2024, the college's annual Black History Month Seminar will feature panelists Sabrina Russ, Rashad Darby, Jonathan Jones, and Shannon Wright.

Since 2017, these Black History Month seminars have created opportunities for all students in the college to hear first-hand about the journey taken by some of the college’s accomplished Black alumni.

This year's seminar will be held both in person and on Teams, with lunch offered to the first 60 registrants.

Meet the panelists 

Sabrina N. Russ

• owner of Simplicity Pharmacy Services and Wellness Center, Inc. and has been practicing pharmacy for more than 24 years
• graduated from MUSC with bachelor's of pharmacy in 1999 and from University of Florida with Pharm.D. in 2009
• in 2007, became commissioned as a National Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist 
• awarded the 2012 American Society of Consultant Pharmacist Entrepreneurial Grant for her innovative ideas in the care of geriatric patients

Rashad Darby

• manager at Community Pharmacy at Wellstar MCG Health, formerly Augusta University Health and has 23 years of retail pharmacy experiencce
• the Wellstar community pharmacy program is comprised of the retail outpatient pharmacy, the employee pharmacy, the Moore Ave Clinic pharmacy, and the Medical Office Building Retail Pharmacy
• graduated from South Carolina State University with a BS in 2000 and from MUSC with a Pharm.D. in 2004
• worked for 20 years in increasingly responsible positions at CVS Health before joining Augusta University Health, which is now Wellstar

Jonathan Jones

• medical value liaison at Karuna Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that creates and delivers transformative medicines for people living with psychiatric and neurological conditions
• BS from the University of South Carolina in 2005, Pharm.D. from MUSC in 2009, master's in pharmaceutical outcomes/pharmacoeconomics in 2016, MBA from Stetson University in 2017
• past experience includes positions at Humana, the University of Florida, Anthem, Inc., and the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson; joined Karuna in 2023

Shannon Wright

• graduated from the College of Charleston in 2010 with a B.S. in Biology before earning her Pharm.D. at MUSC in 2017
• worked at CVS as a pharmacist from 2017-2021, spending much of her time as pharmacy manager
• joined MUSC as a pharmacist in 2021 and recently started in new position of system pharmacy manager, professional development and education