Earlier this year, Laura Borgelt, '95 BSPh, PharmD, MBA, assumed her new position as executive vice chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, provost, and chief academic officer for the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz. The appointment reflects 25 years of increasing responsibility with the CU system. It all started in the water.

Borgelt grew up as a swimmer, learning discipline, commitment, and resilience. She noted the sport was a key factor in coming to University of Iowa (UI) where she was a Hawkeye swimming and diving team backstroker and sprinter while earning her pharmacy degree. Borgelt credits the UI College of Pharmacy with preparing her for a surprising career path. 

“The education and mentors who encouraged me along the way provided the foundation for each opportunity that followed,” she said.

This year, Borgelt comes full circle. On Aug. 22, she returns to Iowa City to deliver the UI College of Pharmacy Welcome to the Profession/White Coat Ceremony address. In October, the college will recognize her with a Distinguished Alumni Award during Homecoming festivities.

“It’s such as honor. I feel like I won two gold medals. I always say I’m a Hawkeye at heart,” said Borgelt. “It’s a chance to give gratitude to those who gave me so much. I’m excited to reconnect and help welcome the next generation of students entering the pharmacy world.”

Following Passion
Being open to new opportunities is one message she'll pass on. As someone who started her bachelor’s program wanting to be a pediatric pharmacist, it wasn’t until Doctor of Pharmacy school that Borgelt recognized academia could be a career. 

“I realized that my whole life I had been a coach and a teacher, and that those passions could translate into a career based in teaching and learning,” she said. “That was the first major shift for me in thinking about academia.” Since then, she has held numerous impactful higher education roles.

Borgelt began her journey as a pharmacy assistant professor at Virginia's Shenandoah University. In 2000, she joined CU as a faculty member and clinical pharmacy specialist in the departments of Clinical Pharmacy and Family Medicine. She was promoted to associate professor in 2007 as the school became part of the newly established CU Anschutz campus for health sciences. In 2015, Borgelt was named professor and associate dean of administration and operations for the CU Anschutz Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Five years later, she immersed herself fully in university administration in a new role as associate vice chancellor of strategic initiatives. In that position, Borgelt was central to developing and launching the institution’s 2021-2026 initiatives and establishing its Office of Digital Learning.

Throughout her career progression, Borgelt — a board-certified pharmacotherapy specialist — has retained her primary faculty appointment with the School of Pharmacy and a secondary appointment at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine. She has taught nearly 4,000 students and residents, and more than 100,000 health care professionals across pharmacy, medicine, nursing, dental, and physical therapy. A prolific researcher, Borgelt has developed a substantial body of scholarly work on topics spanning women’s health, pharmacotherapy, and patient safety. 

Most recently, Borgelt served as chief operating officer (COO) for CU Anschutz’s Gates Institute, advancing strategy and facilitating the acceleration of novel biologic, cellular, and gene-based therapies for patients with life-threatening and life-altering diseases. She cites this move as the biggest risk of her professional journey. 

“My entire career up to that point had been anchored in academics,” she said. “But serving as the Gates COO really expanded my skill set, and my courage, to go into an area where I was on a steep learning curve — not just in terms of the science, but in terms of launching something of that magnitude from a business perspective.”

After three years, Borgelt felt pulled back to the academic side. “I started to have homesickness,” she said. “I loved the work and mission of the Gates Institute. Without that experience, I don't think I'd be where I am now. But in my core, I’m an academic. Transitioning to the provost role was such an amazing opportunity.”

Pharmacy Lessons
Borgelt said teamwork, a skill picked up in pharmacy practice, has been a critical motif across all she’s accomplished, including academic leadership.

“In my clinical experience, my job was to help providers become better prescribers and help them use medications to the best of our ability,” Borgelt said. “I learned that bringing a team together with a multitude of perspectives and varying skill sets is what really helps work move forward.”

From teamwork sprouted two core values Borgelt relies on when making hard decisions: collaboration and transparency. 

“Getting wise input from the right people is essential. You need to recognize the expertise required and lean into the collaborative spirit,” she said. “And you have to have as much information as possible in front of the people helping to make a decision. It's imperative to be transparent so they understand the data and information.”

One concrete example she shared was the evolving landscape of financial aid for students. “We needed to figure out how to support them despite the challenges, potential limits, and uncertainty around legislation,” Borgelt noted. “I moved ahead with a proposal to try to find funding for students at risk of not completing — those in the gray zone of legacy status, at risk of not graduating — without knowing whether the money would even be there. That took a lot of people's time, expertise, and dedication to supporting students’ financial well-being.”

In the end, Borgelt and her team secured funding for a grant program to serve as a last resort for students who run into financial trouble. “It was a hard call because I couldn't promise anyone a reward at the end,” she said.

It’s this care for students that Borgelt brings to the white-coat podium, and she encourages her audience to follow their passion.

“There are so many career opportunities in pharmacy. The sky is really the limit,” Borgelt said. “One of my mantras is ‘variety is the spice of life.’ Having those options, without fully knowing what is in store, is both exciting and part of the adventure.”