Rutgers University Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy announced that a quarter of its final-year pharmacy doctorate students will graduate early and be ready for license to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 52 students have completed all curricular requirements and are ready to begin practice, the university said in a statement. The Ernest Mario School is among the first pharmacy programs in the United States to graduate qualified students early to provide practice-ready health care personnel to serve the growing demands of community-based pharmacies, hospital and health care systems, and the pharmaceutical industry.

“We are starting to see pharmacy staffing issues across the state from increased demand and a workforce strained by personnel who have become sick, are quarantined or are caring for family,” Joseph A. Barone, dean of the school of pharmacy, said in a statement. "As first-line responders for COVID-19 patient care, pharmacists support emergency and ongoing inter-professional health care in the community and hospital settings. Anything we can do to get more pharmacists and pharmacy technicians into the workforce, especially in hard-hit areas like New Jersey, will be extremely beneficial to the public’s ability to endure and recover from this pandemic."

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The new graduates will enter a variety of fields, the university said.

Eight will start hospital residencies this summer, including seven in New Jersey and one in New York City. Eight more will join the Rutgers Pharmaceutical Industry Fellows program and work at New Jersey pharmaceutical companies. They will support the clinical development of therapeutic drugs and devices to combat a range of diseases, including COVID-19 and other medical conditions arising from the virus, the university said.

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Bob Makin covers Rutgers for MyCentralJersey.com and the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey. To get unlimited access to his informative and entertaining work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.