Dr. Flemings Earns United States Public Health Service Award
Stockton resident earns honor at pharmacy school graduation
For most student pharmacists, earning their PharmD degree and being able to begin work in their chosen field is honor enough.
Stockton resident Dr. Eric Flemings earned an extra bit of recognition, Tuesday, during the Touro University California College of Pharmacy graduation at Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium.
Dr. Flemings was presented the United States Public Health Service Award for his efforts both on and off the Vallejo campus.
An exceptional student at Touro, Dr. Flemings was highly engaged in the community, establishing a number of programs to benefitting underserved populations, including the Faith Food Friday Health Clinic in Vallejo, the Medication Reconciliation Initiative for the Homeless Christian Help Center, and as an African-American/Pacific Islander, was instrumental in initiatives aimed at promoting social justice and ending systemic racism.
In a letter advocating the award for Dr. Flemings, Touro faculty said, “He is an incredible student leader with a passion for uplifting and empowering people through education, compassion, and dignity. His work created a pathway for students from our medical, nursing, pharmacy, public health and physician assistant programs to actively provide care to men, women and children in need in the Vallejo community through partnering with a trusted community service center.”
“Usually when we speak of underserved communities, we’re talking about black and brown communities that largely have distrust of the medical system in general,” Dr. Flemings said. He recognized the historical reasons behind that mistrust and said young doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals representing those communities can help mend some of that trust.
“I have the ability to look at the research, see if it’s a well-conducted study, (and) decide if it’s something we can really believe and trust,” Dr. Flemings said.
Dr. Flemings added that he was hopeful his presence in the pharmacy profession will not only help heal some of that historic distrust, but will also encourage young students of color to pursue careers in healthcare and other sciences no matter the challenges.
“A lot of minority students have a lot of grit,” he said.