graduate spotlight: army veteran pharmacy student, mother of five never stops serving others

christine hunter receives her doctor of pharmacy and a master of science in health care informatics after a 17 year journey in pursuit of her degrees.

keely hagan | 615-966-6491 | 05/06/2023

in high school, christine hunter had an opportunity to shadow a pharmacist and enjoyed it so much that she decided that was the career she wanted to pursue. there were detours along the way but she never stopped moving forward in her almost 17-year journey to reaching that goal. on saturday, may 6, she received her doctor of pharmacy and a master of science in health care informatics from the college of pharmacy

to avoid burdening her parents with the responsibility of paying for her education, hunter joined the army after high school where she would serve for almost eight years as a combat medic. the army provided her with opportunities to make a meaningful impact at a time of war, gain experience in the medical field, and earn financial support for her education. 

her first duty station—and her first challenge—was in fort carson, colorado, where she was the first female in a traditionally all-male unit. from there she was deployed to iraq and afghanistan with the 4th engineer battalion, where her mission was to conduct route clearance, which required her to search for improvised explosive devices (ieds) to clear paths for other troops to pass safely. 

after completing her enlistment, christine fiercely pursued her education on her unique and often challenging path to earn her degrees. as a nontraditional student she commuted about an hour each way from clarksville, tennessee, where she and her husband, who is on active duty in the army, have grown their family with five children. 

“during my interview day, which was my very first interaction with the faculty at lipscomb, i could tell dr. joseph deweese [former associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences] genuinely cared for students and was passionate about his research in cancer and duchenne muscular dystrophy,” recalled hunter. “he was a huge influence on why i chose to attend lipscomb. 

“as a student, i received support from the veterans services office, my professors and classmates that made it easier for me to be successful,” said hunter. “the encouragement, empathy and compassion that was shown to me made it easier for me to reflect those qualities and implement them into all aspects of my life, including my interactions with family, friends and other students and in my care for patients.

“mentors, such as dr. abbie burka, dr. jon poulliot and dr. steve phipps, helped me throughout my time at the college of pharmacy by keeping me motivated and helping me keep things in perspective,” she said. “they also have children and gave me so much insight on balancing home life and school life, which helped me during stressful times. after every meeting with them i walked away feeling empowered and more confident that i was doing a great job and everything would be okay.”

despite significant demands of her time and attention, as a student pharmacist hunter fully engaged in opportunities to participate in community service events, lab research, informatics projects and two internships. 

hunter’s advanced pharmacy practice experience included working with dr. rachel crouch, assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, on research involving metabolism experiments on several compounds, some of which are being studied for use in cancer treatment. she also worked with dr. kevin eidson, director of health and wellness, on a project that explored pros and cons of generating funds for billing students’ insurance for campus health services. she worked with dr. beth breeden, associate professor and chair of health care informatics, on a review of informatics techniques to advance personalized medicine. she interpreted large datasets and extracted information to make the data relevant to clinical practice.

hunter currently works as a research intern at vanderbilt university medical center in the division of genetic medicine. during her first year at lipscomb she volunteered with the american pharmacist association (apha) chapter, in combination with operation stand down, where she answered veteran’s questions about their medications. later, she volunteered again with the apha to give vaccinations to veterans and their dependents at the nashville va campus. 

“i knew when i left the army that i wanted to work with other veterans,” said hunter. 

always moving toward her goals, christine is planning to work as a clinical pharmacist, and hopes to serve at the va to continue to care for her “battle buddies” outside of service. she also plans on conducting research with the goal of improving health care for veterans.