With a new PharmD curriculum underway, a growing portfolio of graduate programs, expanding research and clinical enterprises, and a renewed focus on innovation and community, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) is entering a new chapter in its 185-year history.

Dean Sarah L. J. Michel, PhD, outlined that vision during her State of the School address on Sept. 23, highlighting the School’s progress over the past year and the priorities that will guide its future under the 2026–2031 strategic plan.

“Our history gives us a strong foundation, but it is what we do with that foundation that will define our future,” Michel said. “We have an opportunity to build on our strengths, embrace new possibilities, and ensure that everything we do continues to make lives better.”

Michel organized her remarks around the five themes of the School’s strategic plan: Pharmapreneurship; Educational Excellence; Discovery and Collaboration; Engagement for a Stronger Community; and Strategic Resilience and Growth Opportunity. Together, the themes provide a roadmap for advancing UMSOP’s mission to make lives better through Pharmapreneurship by preparing future-ready graduates, advancing innovative research and science, delivering world-class clinical training and patient care, and connecting with our communities.

From ideas to impact

A central focus of Michel’s address was Pharmapreneurship – the School’s commitment to turning science and ideas into real, lasting health care solutions.

Michel emphasized that Pharmapreneurship is not simply a new initiative but an extension of a tradition that has been part of UMSOP since its founding in 1841. Early alumni include Alpheus Sharp (Class of 1842) and Louis Dohme (Class of 1857), who founded Sharp & Dohme, (later Merck Sharp & Dohme), as well as George Bunting (Class of 1899), who created Noxzema, the brand that eventually launched Cover Girl. Today, the School is expanding opportunities for students and faculty to develop ideas, address real-world problems, and translate innovation into impact.

Student initiatives include the Dolphin Tank, which provides a platform for students to present pharmapreneurial ideas, and the Wagner Family Scholarships, which support student innovators. UMSOP also uses interdisciplinary challenges such as its HiPitch Competition to engage students in developing solutions to issues such as mental health and chronic care for older adults. Under the new strategic plan, the School plans to launch a Pharmapreneurship accelerator to further advance promising ideas.

“Pharmapreneurship asks us to look beyond the idea itself and think about what it can become,” Michel said. “It is about connecting imagination, science, and action to create solutions that improve health and health care.”

Preparing students for what comes next

Educational Excellence remains at the heart of UMSOP’s mission. Michel highlighted the launch of M-Pact, the School’s reimagined PharmD curriculum, which is competency-based, practice-ready, and future-focused. Students begin experiential learning early through introductory pharmacy practice experiences in settings including faculty practice, community pharmacy, health systems, and the government.

The School also continues to expand opportunities beyond the PharmD through fellowships, residencies, industry partnerships, co-ops, and a diverse portfolio of graduate programs addressing emerging areas of health care and science, including artificial intelligence, pharmacometrics, regulatory science, medical cannabis, pharmaceutical sciences, and palliative care.

“Our responsibility is to prepare graduates not just for the health care environment of today, but for the one they will help create tomorrow,” Michel said. “That means giving them opportunities to learn by doing, to explore new fields, and to connect their education directly to the communities and careers they will serve.”

Moving discovery toward patients and communities

UMSOP’s research and clinical enterprises provide another important bridge between innovation and impact.

The School’s nearly $38 million grants and contracts portfolio spans basic, translational, clinical, outcomes, and regulatory science, while its clinical enterprise serves approximately 38,000 patients annually across 25 practice settings and provides about 190,300 hours of pharmacy services each year.

Michel said the next phase of the School’s research strategy will focus on strengthening connections between discovery, translational science, patients, and communities while expanding interdisciplinary collaborations across University of Maryland, Baltimore, the University System of Maryland, and beyond.

“Discovery has its greatest impact when it reaches people,” she said. “We want to strengthen the pathways that move our research from the laboratory and the data to solutions that improve the lives of patients and communities.”

Investing in people and the future

Michel also emphasized the importance of building a community in which faculty, staff, students, alumni, and partners can thrive. The strategic plan calls for greater connection and belonging, a stronger student experience, and continued investment in faculty and staff development.

At the same time, UMSOP is navigating significant changes across higher education, including enrollment pressures, Maryland’s budget challenges, changes in the federal research environment, and constrained resources. Michel said the School will respond by strengthening enrollment, increasing the value of its educational programs, diversifying revenue, expanding partnerships, and growing philanthropic support.

“We have to be both ambitious and thoughtful about our future,” Michel said. “Strategic resilience means knowing where we can make the greatest difference and having the resources and flexibility to invest in those opportunities.”

Michel concluded by returning to the overarching purpose of the School’s strategic plan: building the future of UMSOP together.

“Our future is about turning ideas into impact, preparing graduates to lead, moving discovery toward solutions, building a community where people thrive, and creating the resources to sustain innovation,” she said. “That is how we will continue to make lives better – and that is the future we are building together.”

Watch the recording here