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When Lucas Dao arrived in South Dakota for his pharmacy residency, he brought more than a desire to grow his skills with him. He also brought a lifelong love of connecting with people, a passion for community pharmacy, a gaming setup and a newly adopted cat.

South Dakota State University’s Student Collaboration for the Advancement and Promotion of Pharmacy has again been recognized for excellence in service and achievement at this year’s American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting.

A $10,000 supplemental grant award to the South Dakota Perinatal Quality Collaborative is creating opportunities to strengthen how maternal care is delivered across South Dakota.

Annisija Hunter, subject librarian at Hilton M. Briggs Library at South Dakota State University, has received the prestigious 2026 Will Eisner Graphic Novel Grants for Libraries Innovation Grant for her project, “Humanizing Health Sciences Education with Graphic Medicine.” She accepted the award during the annual American Library Association Annual Conference in June.

This spring’s American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles may have been Aubrey Kooima’s last as a student pharmacist, but it was also a culminating moment for this notable leader.

When Susan Immanuel talks about her research, one theme is clear. “I like solving puzzles,” she said. At South Dakota State University’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, Immanuel is applying that mindset to pancreatic cancer, exploring new ways to deliver effective cancer drugs more precisely and effectively to tumors.

In rural communities across South Dakota, access to healthcare often comes down to access to people. According to Marissa Trosen, director of the respiratory care program in South Dakota State University’s College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, this is especially true for those needing access to the specialized care provided by respiratory therapists.

South Dakota State University’s medical laboratory science program, housed in the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, has earned a continuing 10-year accreditation from the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences.

Darci Fink, a researcher in South Dakota State University's Biosystems Networks and Transformative Research-Insight into Inflammation Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (BioSNTR-II COBRE) received a flagship grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore the underlying causes of lymphedema, a disfiguring disease that affects 10 million people in the U.S.

Like so many, the COVID-19 pandemic changed Gavin Eischens’ life in profound ways. While still in high school, he became a certified nursing assistant at the height of the pandemic, an experience he jokingly said means he’s “been a CNA for my whole life.” More seriously, those early experiences inspired Eischens, now finishing his second year in South Dakota State University’s respiratory care program, to pursue a career in respiratory therapy.