Prepared for the Real World

After graduation, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences alumna Madeline Quigley, PharmD, was ready to spend time outdoors, but the former division one cross country star was able to do some of that during school.

“One of the first weeks here,” Dr. Quigley said, “I was talked into running the Boulder Skyline Traverse.”

The traverse, an 18-mile + trail (depending on which way you go), connects five peaks and about 6,000 feet vertical gain, is no small feat. Pun intended. But then again, neither is pharmacy school.

“I’m originally from Massachusetts, and I went to undergrad at the University of New Hampshire,” she said. “When I toured [CU Anschutz], I immediately fell in love with it. The professors are at the top of their field, the campus is amazing, and access to the best health systems in Colorado right on campus is what really sold me.”

Quigley’s undergraduate degree is in nutrition, which was a benefit in pharmacy school.

“Depending on the patient's disease state, I can help counsel about their medications and also offer insight into how their diet may impact their condition” she said.

In addition to school, rotations, tests, and running, Quigley completed an inpatient internship in ambulatory care at Poudre Valley Hospital. A sixty-mile drive from campus, she spent two weekends a month at the hospital.

“Ten out of ten, would do it again,” she said. “The internship allowed me to mimic what I would do as a pharmacist about as closely as possible while still under an intern license. They had a lot of trust in me and because of that I learned more than I ever imagined.”

After graduation, she started a PGY1 residency in ambulatory care at the University of North Carolina, her top choice.

"I feel like if there was any residency out there tailored to me, was is this one,” she said. "And because of my experiences at CU Pharmacy, was ready for it."