First-year Ohio Northern University pharmacy student Mayha Jobanputra, of Waterloo, Canada, wanted to follow in her father’s professional footsteps, but it wasn't until recently she decided to do so at his alma mater.
Poshin Jobanputra, BSPh ’99, was born and raised in Waterloo, where he then raised his family. He enrolled at Ohio Northern after seeing how advanced the American health care system is; there were things he could learn about pharmacy, he realized, that were not offered in his home country. When he graduated, he returned to Canada to work in retail pharmacy.
Mayha knew she was interested in studying pharmacy after seeing her dad work, but it was during the COVID-19 pandemic that she knew it was her calling.
“I was helping out in the pharmacy, and I realized it was what I really would like to do,” she said. “It's not just about counting pills. It's really about helping people. You can have that connection with patients that other sides of health care don't have.”
The question of where to study loomed large. A pharmacy program in the Jobanputras’ hometown was a nearby option. But ONU’s six-year PharmD program, not offered at any Canadian colleges, appealed more to Mayha.
“Since I knew pharmacy is what I wanted to study, it was a clear decision to me,” she said. “I love going where my dad went. It is really cool. But learning pharmacy from day one is super interesting.”
While he admitted he initially hoped Mayha would stay close to home, Poshin is excited about Mayha's academic future in Ada, Ohio.
“As a dad, to be honest, I was torn, because we have a pharmacy school in our hometown, so as a dad with my first child, I would have loved her to go there,” he said. “When she chose ONU, I was just as excited, especially after coming back to campus and reliving the magic by taking it all in.”
While at ONU, Poshin was a member of the Sigma Pi fraternity, played intramural sports and participated in various fundraisers.
“It's sometimes easy to forget, you know, after years go by, what a great place this was and how much fun I had and how much I learned and grew here,” he said.
Mayha and Poshin agreed that an early sign Mayha chose the right place for her education was the care the ONU International Admissions team provided during the enrollment process.
“The process was absolutely seamless. The International Admissions department was amazing,” Poshin said. “They would answer the thousands of questions that we had. They gave us all the steps we needed to do to get the visa and were accommodating with our move-in time. It’s been just as easy as if Mayha was going somewhere in Canada.”
He said he hopes Mayha will receive the same level of support from her Northern family that he received from ONU friends and professors. Mayha even found her roommate during summer orientation.
“Everyone's really personable and nice, so it's really easy to make friends here,” she said. “I'm also excited I already have a pharmacy course this semester. I'm excited to jump right into it and start learning.”
While her path has followed her father’s so far, Mayha thinks her career focus will diverge from his. Instead of retail pharmacy, she is interested in hospital pharmacy.