Andre Mashayekhi
College of Pharmacy Alumni Profileby LAURA JANOTA
When Andre Mashayekhi learned that Roosevelt University had a pharmacy program, he knew it would be a good fit.
Roosevelt already had given educational opportunities to his father, Ata Mashayekhi, who fled his native Iran for America in 1975 and graduated from the University with a degree in accounting in 1978.
“My father never forgot the opportunity that Roosevelt gave him — and neither will I,” said the younger Mashayekhi, 28, who enrolled at Roosevelt in 2016.
Recipient of the College of Pharmacy (COP) Competence Award and selected as COP’s Class of 2019 student speaker, Mashayekhi received a doctoral degree in pharmacy from the University in May 2019 as his father looked on.
“Andre has a superb understanding of the skills and concepts that are needed to be a pharmacist,” said Melissa Hogan, dean of COP. “We are confident his future will be bright as a pharmacist and believe that he has the potential to make many positive contributions to the field.”
Ashley Robinson, a 2018 Roosevelt graduate who worked with Mashayekhi on one of his clinical rotations, agreed with that assessment. “Of all the rotation students I have worked with, I have been most impressed by this student,” she said before Mashayekhi’s graduation. “He is a quick learner and is self-motivated … I’m sure he will be an amazing pharmacist.”
“Of all the rotation students I have worked with, I have been most impressed by this student. He is a quick learner and is self-motivated … I’m sure he will be an amazing pharmacist.”
Dr. Ashley Robinson
College of Pharmacy
Class of 2018
While at Roosevelt, Mashayekhi regularly carried his father’s Roosevelt student identification card in his wallet as a reminder of the opportunity that enabled an entire family to become successful in America.
“Roosevelt paved the way for us,” remarked Mashayekhi, whose sister, Nina, also attends Roosevelt and plans to graduate from the College of Pharmacy in 2020.
Mashayekhi told the story of his father’s journey many times before bidding farewell to fellow pharmacy graduates from the Class of 2019.
“He spoke no English, had no money, had no home, but had an education,” Mashayekhi said of his father.
He shared his father’s advice on how “Good times and bad times all eventually come to end, so we must enjoy what little time we are given.”
The new pharmacy graduate also took to heart his father’s belief that “Education allows us to help people and improve society.”
“The reason I am here is to help people,” said the younger Mashayekhi, who recently returned to his native California where he has landed a job as a pharmacist with CVS Pharmacy in San Diego.
Currently studying for his licensing exam, the new Roosevelt graduate hopes to be part of a new CVS MinuteClinic project that is aimed at helping patients understand their conditions and medications.
“The reason I am here is to help people.”
– Andre Mashayekhi (PharmD, ’19)
Roosevelt University
He also has a long-term goal of one day opening a women’s health clinic with his sister.
“I believe in the importance of listening to, comforting and guiding patients,” said Mashayekhi. “Hopefully my passion for helping others will someday include serving low-income women who truly need assistance, particularly after pregnancy when mortality rates are high.”