When choosing a university to pursue her PhD, first-year graduate student Sanika Jadhav was drawn to Iowa City’s cultural atmosphere.

“Iowa City is a great place to live in. I feel very safe and comfortable here. It has a friendly atmosphere, and a ‘big city’ feel with calm and peaceful surroundings. I enjoy exploring new places in town such as performance venues and art galleries and meeting new people from diverse cultures. People in Iowa City are very helpful and kind which gives me an abundant sense of larger community.”

Jadhav found that Iowa City’s diversity translated into the program’s curriculum and faculty as well.

“The PhD program in the College allows you the opportunity to choose your research project which align with your research interests, and you can explore a wide variety of research areas.”

“Distinguished and dedicated faculties with well diverse backgrounds in drug discovery, formulation development, medicinal chemistry and pharmacokinetics encouraged me to join the College. The College is connected to 12 academic colleges in the university offering an opportunity to collaborate with industry and reputed faculty from other disciplines.”

She has also enjoyed the College’s state-of-the-art research facilities and the accessibility of the new building’s universal design.

“UI College of Pharmacy is recognized for outstanding research facilities and high-quality academic program providing exposure to various domains of pharmaceutical sciences. It is also associated with a world-renowned healthcare campus extending fundamental and translational research in biomedical science.”

“The College is well-acknowledged for its excellent academic training, advanced research laboratories, diverse research in drug discovery and product development, in addition to housing an incredible contract manufacturing unit. You will have an opportunity to work with world-accomplished faculty and explore state-of-the-art research facilities.”

“The brand-new building is the first universally-designed health sciences educational facility in the U.S., and really facilitates a wonderful learning experience, combining modern technology and accessibility features.”

Jadhav attributes a large portion of her pharmacy school experience to the encouragement and direction that the faculty provide.

“Professors here are very helpful and supportive to provide insights to develop your professional research skills. The College encourages collaborations to foster innovation and to provide the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary domains. Various seminars and conferences with recognized researchers are organized within the College, which help expose students to different research fields and encourage interaction with fellow students and professors.”

“Professors encourage students to enroll in divergent academic course programs available in the university, which helped me to investigate different research subjects and learn about multidisciplinary fields. One of my most positive experiences in pharmacy school is getting the opportunity to interact with researchers with expertise in different fields at national conferences and seminars. I appreciate the environment of openness to discuss unique and new research ideas with professors.”

Jadhav is a graduate student in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Experimental Therapeutics, and her research interests lie in solid-state pharmaceutics, preformulation studies, and drug formulation development to improve safety and efficacy of medicines.