Fourth-year pharmacy students Jennah Badger and Gabriella Salerno were recently published in the History of Pharmacy Special Interest Group (SIG) Newsletter of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The article, focusing on the life and work of Polish pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz, was written for the students’ directed study elective course with the assistance of Dr. Robert Cisneros.
The article received national recognition by the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP). Both Badger and Salerno were awarded the AIHP Student Certificate of Recognition for their “achievement in historical study or activities.”
Pankiewicz was a Catholic Polish pharmacist who practiced in the Krakow Ghetto during the Nazi German occupation of Poland. He and his staff of three female helpers risked their lives to help Polish Jews during World War II, providing hiding places and offering support as well as medicine. Years later, Pankiewicz was awarded Israel’s “Righteous Among Nations Award,” the same honor given to Oskar Schindler.
Cisneros, the students’ adviser and a member of the SIG, recalled Pankiewicz’s story when he came across an invitation to submit student articles for the newsletter. “Gabby and Jennah had been in my classes and volunteered to help write the article,” Cisneros said. “They did the hard work for the article— the credit goes to them.”
The students and their professor met a few times near the end of 2019 and communicated by email, then submitted the article in the spring of 2020. It was reviewed and published near the end of 2020.
“Campbell has many incredible faculty members, but Dr. C is known for going above and beyond for his students,” said director of Communications & Marketing for CPHS Meredith Blalock.
Photo Credit: The Righteous among the Nations, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem