ing a science career and makes it really cool.
Schrier hopes to work in the pharmaceutical industry but also plans to continue her role as an advocate for STEM careers for women and medication safety.
VB: What are your career interests? Schrier: I’m a little nontraditional, unsurprisingly. …There is so much business in science now … so I was considering combining an MBA through this process, but I’m focused on just getting my Pharm.D. right now and then finding my way into a pharmaceuti- cal company where I can use my clinical background to help guide the business. When you understand that clinical perspective, it changes the game.
… It’s really shocking to me that in 2020 people still have that attitude. It’s really sad because sometimes I’m like, “OK. We all know that STEM is important. Am I beating a dead horse here?” But then I have those types of encounters that remind me why what I do is really important for every little girl … who needs to know that their brain works just as well as anybody else’s.
VB: Has becoming Miss America changed your career path? Schrier: That’s a difficult one. I still plan to go back to get my Pharm.D. I still plan to pursue a career in the pharmaceutical industry, but I have a lot more experience behind me that might lead me in a different path. If I’ve learned anything in the last year, it’s to go where you are led. … I think I’m going to have an opportunity to build a lot of different partnerships with science companies in the next few years, that I’ll be able to advocate more at a social level for women in STEM, but also for medication safety after this year. I want to be that person that I needed as a young girl to see this woman who’s pursu-
VB: How did you become inter- ested in advocating for opioid- abuse prevention? Schrier: I went to a Narcan train- ing session as a pharmacy student, which is the opioid overdose reversal medication. I realized how huge of a problem it was — both with prescription opioids and illicit opioids in Virginia and beyond. … We need to make it normal to talk about [opioid abuse] so that people cannot feel bad anymore, because it doesn’t discriminate [by] age, gender or socioeconomic status — it is blatant in our country.
VB: What have you seen in Virginia in terms of what we’ve done for STEM advocacy and for opioid abuse prevention? Schrier: Virginia has [faced] the opioid epidemic. I will say that ... VCU is one of the leading research institutions on addiction research, regarding opioids specifically. I think that’s part of the reason why I was drawn to [VCU] because it’s some- thing that’s discussed … [and] I’m lucky that I had that perspective. … We have [venues] like the [Silent No More] Overdose Symposium … where hundreds of people are coming together to try to solve this problem. I think we’re doing an exceptional job, and I hope that other states can follow suit with that.
www.VirginiaBusiness.com
Virginia Tech is [also] an
example for me because I’ve worked with them personally on STEM advocacy for kids. … They’re fostering young people’s interest in STEM careers in a way that impacted me.
VB: What do you want to do with your year as Miss America? Schrier: Being able to be that role model for young women — [telling them] that they don’t have to fit in [a] box, they don’t have to look a certain way, they don’t have to talk a certain way or act a certain way. Go run around and be your weird self because honestly, we need more of that. … This is the first year I’ve taken off from my education since I was in pre-K, so it better be for a doggone good reason, right? … That’s what my goal is — to learn and push myself professionally and personally this year and be able to craft my messaging. … I hope that I’m able to show people that I’m a normal person with an exceptional opportunity.
VB: What will it be like returning to VCU to resume your studies next year? Schrier: I was really worried about that actually. I had talked to two of my professors and my dean of students before I ever went to Miss Virginia, because I wanted to make sure, No. 1, that I was allowed to take the year off and return. We kind of have this mutually
beneficial relationship, where I’m helping promote the university and they’re helping promote my platform and my voice.
VB: How have you stayed up to date on STEM and pharmacy topics while being out of school? Schrier: [I’m] starting to develop an advisory committee of my professors and the people in the industry who are actually licensed pharmacists. I’m doing that, but I’m also a huge podcast girl, so I get a lot of my educational material through podcasts as I’m traveling.
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