Eliza Asherian just graduated from USC as an undergraduate in May, but she’s already well on her way to having a successful pharmacy career.
As a transfer student from Santa Monica College, Asherian received a USC Provost Award for achieving a 4.0 GPA throughout her entire undergraduate studies. The only transfer student to garner this award, Asherian received the award at the 2014 Academic Honors Convocation.
This is just one of several awards Asherian has received during her time at USC. She received a Rose Hills Scholarship this past summer, and a Provost Fellowship for research, which provided a stipend for her to work as a research assistant in Dr. Daryl Davies’ lab.
I love research and I’m happy I get to do it here. It’s definitely something that I want to continue.
Eliza Asherian
In the lab, Asherian has worked closely with Assistant Professor Liana Asatryan to try to elucidate the role of the P2X7 receptor in the pathogenesis of alcohol-induced neural inflammation.
“If we find the receptor, we can then target it and try to reduce the effects of alcohol,” she explains.
While she has just started her journey as a pharmacy student, Asherian is already excited at the prospects of what awaits her.
“My brother Omid is a second-year PharmD student, so I’ve seen the opportunities that USC has for pharmacy students,” she says. “I’
m excited to participate in health fairs and to see what else is out there.”
As for what the future holds, Asherian is still deciding what aspect of pharmacy she wants to concentrate on. She worked as a pharmacy technician before transferring to USC, and did a preceptor program at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles during spring break last year, where she had the chance to see what hospital pharmacy is like.
“Maybe I’ll end up going back to research, or maybe not,” she reflects. “Since pharmacists are now providers, with the knowledge that I’ll gain in pharmacy school, I’ll be able to play a bigger role in health care, whatever I decide to do. I’m excited to see where the field is heading.”