New scholarship enables globetrotter Calamia to attend World Congress

Need a pharmacy in Germany? Find a store with a bright green “A” on it. That’s a regulated sign indicating the store has met the criteria to operate as an apotheke, or pharmacy. If it is illuminated even when the pharmacy appears closed, it indicates a notapotheke, or an emergency pharmacy.

Sound a little different than visiting the local CVS? And the above describes a pharmacy in a Western European country that shares a common language ancestor with English. Imagine pharmacy practice in Cameroon, Bolivia, or Saudi Arabia.

Countries vary widely on what is required to become a pharmacist, who can own a pharmacy, and how it is allowed to operate. Which is one of the reasons that Kristina Calamia, a third-year pharmacy student at the MUSC College of Pharmacy, was interested in attending the 83rd International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The global event, held August 31-September 3, 2025 in Copenhagen, focused on the future of pharmacy practice and its role in global health transformation.

“I plan to go into community pharmacy and it was nice to hear a different perspective,” Calamia said. “A lot of countries practice pharmacy very differently. Some don’t have clinical pharmacists, others have full prescribing rights. It was a great opportunity to learn about global pharmacy practice.”

The New York native and Furman University graduate got that opportunity thanks to John Pieper, an affiliate faculty member with the College of Pharmacy. Pieper has been involved with FIP for many years and wanted to help an MUSC pharmacy student experience first-hand the value of the FIP World Congress. The former pharmacy college president decided the best way was to fund an annual scholarship, which Calamia successfully applied for.

“Dr. Pieper wanted to get students involved and bring in the new generation so they can see global perspectives,” Calamia said. “The World Congress is a complex undertaking that involves education, practitioners, scientific research, and they had different seminars on discoveries in different countries.”

One of the most valuable experiences for her – aside from meeting and getting to know her benefactor – was a session on artificial intelligence and its emerging impact on the pharmacy profession.

The experience has heightened Calamia’s interest in AI, particularly her interest in how it can be incorporated into the curriculum to prepare students for a future in which it could be extraordinarily important.

This year was the first the scholarship was offered and it found an eager taker.

“About two years ago, I was in Spain and got sick and went into a pharmacy,” she said. “There you need to talk with a pharmacist for any medication, even just ibuprofen. Ever since, I’ve had an interest in global health and the different ways pharmacy is practiced.”