Professor Spotlight

Hello everybody! Welcome to Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy’s student ambassador blog. Last month I wrote about one special faulty member and for the month of April I would like to do that again by spotlighting Dr. David Eagerton. He is just another amazing faculty member at the pharmacy school! Read my interview to learn more about him!

Question: “Share with me some things about your personal life.”

Response: “I grew up in a small town in South Carolina and moved to the Columbia area when I went to college. My wife is a pharmacist and I have 2 brothers that are physicians and 2 sisters who are also in healthcare.  This, along with my career in Forensic Toxicology has given me an interesting perspective on health care.”

Question: “Tell me about how you got to where you are today, I know your path to this pharmacy school is bit unique!”

Response: I have a B.S. in Biology form USC and was accepted to the USC College of Pharmacy.  After completing the first year, I decided that I wanted to focus on pharmacology and entered the graduate program at the USC College of Pharmacy where I earned my Ph.D. in Pharmacology.  After graduation, I was fortunate enough to get a job with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division as a Forensic Toxicologist.  Within a few years, I became board certified in Forensic Toxicology and shortly thereafter became the Chief Toxicologist and ran the toxicology lab for over 12 years before I retired from SLED and joined the faculty of PCSP.

Question: “Have you been involved with any research or ever been published?

Response: While I was at SLED, our focus was not on research, but now I have the opportunity to do many of the projects that I could not do there.  Much of my work has involved some aspect of forensic and analytical toxicology.  I have been fortunate to collaborate with some amazing clinical colleagues and have begun publishing in areas involving the effects of diet products, drug overdoses, and drug take back programs.  One of my interests is education about drug abuse.  I have had the opportunity to be involved in several programs here at PCSP which are instrumental in drug abuse education.  We have developed drug take back events here at PCSP and I have taken students to the Utah School on Alcohol and Other Drug Dependencies for the past 3 years.

I am also very involved with the use of simulation in pharmacy education.  We have developed a week-long course and several laboratories that involve the use of our high fidelity simulation mannequins.  I am also currently using our driving simulator to investigate the effect of ADD/ADHD medications on cognitive ability.

Question: “have you had the opportunity to travel or do any sort of mission trip?”

Response:  I have had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans, LA on a mission trip to help rebuild some of the houses that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  It was an incredible experience and I look forward to going on more.  Most of my service since the New Orleans has been more community-based which has also been very rewarding.  I have also had the opportunity to travel some for fun and have been to France, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Hawaii.  

Question: “Why in your opinion should a prospective student decide to come to Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy?”

Response: I think that students should choose to come to PCSP for many reasons.  I believe that we have developed a unique environment where students can grow and develop into world class pharmacists and community leaders.  We have unique faculty who have a variety of pharmacy and real life experience and are dedicated to teaching, scholarship, and service.  We have built a culture that encourages student interaction with the faculty, which is key to stimulating the growth of the students.   

By:  Rachel

P2 - Class of 2017