As an undergraduate pharmacy student in the last century, and in fact, the last millennium, I (Joseph Nicolazzo) knew of two possible pathways for me — community pharmacy or hospital pharmacy. However, it all changed for me, when I spoke to my compounding pharmacy and pharmaceutical calculations facilitator; I learnt of this other pathway called "research". I therefore undertook a summer vacation scholarship at the, then, Victorian College of Pharmacy, Monash University, and never looked back. Meanwhile, as an undergraduate pharmacy student in the last four years, with almost three of those having been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is safe to say that research in pharmacy has become an increasingly prevalent and important pathway to me (Amanda Kassis). However, this has certainly not always been the case. In fact, upon first enrolling in my degree I had the simple, foolproof (or so I thought) plan of just attending my lectures, submitting my assessments, and joining the community or hospital pharmacy workforce. When the unprecedented pandemic occurred in exigent waves, the world saw pharmacists play crucial roles in drug research and development, provision of healthcare including preventative services to reduce and mitigate the spread of the virus, and the development of rapidly changing guidelines; just to name a few. Thus, came the enlightening moment where I truly appreciated the unique expertise of pharmacists and how vast their role in research could be.
Kassis et al. (Sun,) studied this question.