Legendary former CU Pharmacy faculty member David Elm had a request when a scholarship was created this year in his honor: “I thought it would be important to recognize someone who put their life in danger for all of us,” he said.
Elm, who for decades worked as the manager of The Apothecary, a full-service professional pharmacy on the CU Boulder Campus, knows the impact serving in the military has on servicemen and servicewomen and their families: His son and grandson both served. His request ultimately became a reality: The recently created C. David Elm Pharmacy Practice Scholarship is awarded to an active or honorably discharged member of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Fourth-year pharmacy student Dario Martinez, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, is the first recipient of the scholarship.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be the first recipient of this amazing scholarship,” Martinez said. “It’s so meaningful.”
Once Martinez graduates from CU Pharmacy, he said he hopes to work with the Department of Veterans Affairs. In that way, he will continue Elm’s commitment to helping veterans.
“I want to work at the VA and help veterans,” Martinez said. “With the opioid epidemic going on, it really affects veterans coming back from
war, and dependents, and they suffer greatly. To educate veterans would be a huge help to them, and overall.”
Elm said he’s honored to see Martinez benefit from the scholarship.
“I’m honored that a man like this could be the first recipient,” Elm said.
Read more about the C. David Elm Scholarship here.