UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy receives $2.5 million donation from alumnus

After graduating from UNC’s pharmacy school in 1973, alumnus Fred Eshelman pledged to give back to his alma mater.

Forty years later, “giving back” might be an understatement.

Chancellor Holden Thorp announced a $2.5 million gift to the UNC’s school of pharmacy on Thursday, bringing Eshelman’s total support for the school — which bears his name — to more than $35 million.

The bulk of the donation will benefit the Educational Renaissance Initiative, which aims to get students out of the classroom and into a real-world immersion in their second year — two years earlier than most pharmacy curricula.

“We think we’re leading a transformation to immerse students much sooner,” said Russell Mumper, vice dean of the school.

“That way, when they come closer to graduation, they’ve already been very active in the pharmacy world.”

Eshelman is the founder of Pharmaceutical Production Development Inc. and the founding chairman of Furiex, which spun out of his first company.

His donations come from personal income from business endeavors like these, Eshelman said. He also sits on the UNC-system Board of Governors.

Without his resources, the pharmacy school would not have the prestige it does today, said Bob Blouin, dean of the school.

In the past, his gifts have been used to recruit expert faculty and fund scholarships that enable students to enroll and afford pharmacy education, Mumper said.

Blouin said some of Eshelman’s donations have also been put toward improving and expanding the school’s research facilities.

“Since Eshelman’s first gift, our school has grown 1,500 percent in research, putting it in the top two pharmacy programs nationally,” he said.

His donation has also directly brought more money to the school ­— more than he could donate alone. For some of his previous gifts, Eshelman has asked that the pharmacy school seek a matching gift for at least a portion of his donation.

“He was able to double his last gift and maximize the opportunities it brought to the school,” Blouin said.

Eshelman said he has spoken with Blouin about the strategic direction of the school and broad ideas he would like to see implemented, but he has left the specific uses of the money up to the school’s administrators.

He has, however, made one request — he does not want to be overly recognized.

“When I get letters from students who have been helped from a scholarship or a letter from a faculty member who has been funded as a distinguished professor, or anything like that — that’s really all the thanks I need.”

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