Growing up in Guam, Philip Suhr dreamed of journeying to pursue a degree at USC.
His parents raised their family on the western Pacific island, but they met in graduate school at USC, where his mother earned her PharmD in 1991 and his father received master’s degrees in public administration and real estate development, in 1989 and 1992, respectively. Both his older sister and aunt are also Trojans.
After graduating high school in Guam, Suhr moved to Orange County and attended Chapman University for his undergraduate degree in health sciences. Four years later, he applied to USC for his PharmD, spurred on by a Trojan alumni pharmacist he met while working as a clerk during college.
When Suhr enrolled at USC Mann in fall 2023, his father suggested he broaden his horizons and pursue a business degree as well. Now heading into his third year of five as a PharmD/MBA candidate at Mann and the Marshall School of Business, Suhr is delighted with his choice and the opportunities it’s providing.
“Being in this dual-degree program has given me the runway to be involved in leadership,” he says. As president of the Healthcare Leadership Association (HLA) at USC Marshall, Suhr and fellow Mann student Gurgen Kazaryan brought students from both schools together for a joint networking event last spring. The program’s success was one of the reasons Suhr recently received the $20,000 Hahn Endowed Scholarship, designed to support a PharmD/MBA student, made possible by K. Robert and Mary Hahn.
“To be awarded the Hahn scholarship reinforces what I’ve done so far in my USC career,” he says. “It helps me stay motivated and excited.” Such opportunities are among the things that “make USC so special,” he adds.
While Suhr’s mother never pushed him to follow in her footsteps and pursue pharmacy, he says, it was a great experience to have her join him on stage to don his white coat for the first time at the School’s white coat ceremony.
Meanwhile, as an MBA student, he’s learning about operations and business strategy. Even more importantly, the program’s teaching him “those soft skills on how to present yourself and how to structure a lot of what you feel and how to connect with people,” he says. Those are skills that Suhr says he’s come to believe are crucial to launching a successful career. “It’s what gets you in the door,” he notes.
His drive to succeed and his curiosity for learning are what first caught the attention of Maria Sahakyan, a rising fifth-year PharmD/MBA student who met Suhr when he was considering joining the dual-degree program. She has since become his mentor. “He knew he wanted to do something great,” she says. “He wanted to have that business acumen, in addition to the healthcare and technical knowledge that we gain through the pharmacy program.”
Investing his energy in both programs is a smart move, and an ambitious one, adds Kari Franson, Mann School senior associate dean for academic and student affairs. “A lot of pharmacy students can envision themselves being entrepreneurial and leaders in business,” she says.
“But Philip set himself apart by saying, ‘I’m going to go for the dual PharmD/MBA degree.’ That’s somebody who’s recognized where he wants to go and is willing to commit that extra year in which to do that.”
For the moment, Suhr is excited to see where the next three years of his program take him. “I’m proud to be a Trojan,” he says. “I’m as motivated as I can be.”