Dr. Yang Shared His Journey from Pharmacist to Entrepreneur, Encouraging Graduates to Embrace Change and Pursue Authentic Success
“Success to me is being able to live an authentic life that enables you to become the best version of yourself. It is measured NOT by WHAT you receive by achieving an outcome. But rather, success is measured by WHO you become as you reach for your highest goals. It’s about the journey. Not the destination.”
Dr. Kun Yang grew up in Canada and graduated from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in 2015, and then completed a fellowship through Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Biogen. Afterwards, he worked in the biotech field as a Pharmacist at Bioverativ, Sanofi and Takeda Oncology. At some moment he realized that a traditional pharmacy path might not be right for him, and together with friends and pharmacists, he took an entrepreneurial path, experienced being on Shark Tank, and today is leading a growing beverage company, Pricklee Cactus Water.
As our President, Dr. Rudi Ettrich, expressed as a closing statement at graduation: “…and so my advice for you is always stay open-minded, look for the opportunities, don’t take things as static; sometimes your path changes, there are intersections, and if you dare to take the right turn, nothing is impossible. Our commencement speaker [Dr. Kun Yang] certainly did not anticipate when starting Pharmacy School where this journey would take him.”
We are proud of all our graduates and look forward to seeing their continued success!
