Side by side as twin sisters and UF students, we found our calling in pharmacy
When we introduce ourselves, we almost always add, “And we’re best friends.” People find it surprising that we chose to pursue the same career path, but honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
From growing up in Miami with parents from Bangladesh, to earning our associate degrees together at Miami Dade College, to graduating summa cum laude from the University of Miami, our lives have been defined by a shared passion for science. Taking the next step together by pursuing our Doctor of Pharmacy degrees at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy Orlando campus felt entirely natural.
Pharmacy school is notoriously demanding, but going through this experience as twins gives us a built-in support system that is impossible to replicate. We are often facing the same academic pressures and challenges at the same time, allowing us to intuitively recognize when the other needs support.
For instance, when one of us was in the weeds of finishing a high-stakes research project with a tight deadline, the other twin stepped up without hesitation to manage the cooking, cleaning and daily errands. There is certainly a healthy sense of competition between us, but it motivates rather than divides us. We celebrate each other’s milestones while constantly challenging one another to raise the bar.
That close support system translates directly into our professional accomplishments. Last year, our Orlando chapter placed second nationally out of 72 teams in the Industry Pharmacists Organization Value of Industry Pharmacists Case Competition and was recently recognized as one of the top two student chapters nationally for the 2025-2026 academic year. Although only one of us was directly involved with the organization, as the vice president, the support of the other was invaluable for these achievements.
Having communicated with each other our entire lives, we share matching work ethics and unspoken expectations for quality. When participating in competitions together, we regularly bounced ideas off one another to shape the vision for our submission, providing critical feedback, solutions and suggestions that helped strengthen and bring our ideas to life. We weren’t just teammates tackling a complex simulation; we were sisters using our complementary strengths to put forward our best work.
At the same time, we have deliberately cultivated our own clinical niches — translational oncology research and community health, respectively.
Because our advanced clinical rotations place us in diverse healthcare settings, our evenings always revolve around debriefing our days. Sharing what we saw on rounds, discussing unusual patient presentations and explaining new therapies broadens our collective knowledge far beyond what either of us could experience alone.
Beyond our coursework and research, giving back to the Central Florida community anchors our identity as student pharmacists. Whether we’re sorting food at Second Harvest Food Bank, volunteering at the Give Kids the World Village or administering vaccines as licensed interns at Publix, we actively work to showcase the clinical scope of our profession.
Pharmacy is sometimes misunderstood as simply counting pills behind a counter. But in reality, pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers in the country, with nearly 90% of Americans living within five miles of one.
We saw the importance of accessibility firsthand during our first year while volunteering at a Soldier’s Angels event at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona. Over coffee and donuts, a veteran sat down with us and shared his life story. He spoke about how much the local medical center meant to him, explaining that, before it opened, he had to travel all the way to Gainesville for specialized treatment.
That conversation served as a powerful reminder that cutting-edge therapies mean very little if patients cannot easily access care. Meeting patients where they are — whether helping someone at Publix navigate medication copay assistance or offering preventative health screenings to underserved populations — is the core reason we chose this profession.
As student ambassadors, we strive to bring that same culture of accessibility and care to our peers. We painted a campus mural to celebrate student life, led peer mentoring in our “Pharmily Villages” and created a campus Supporter Guide to help families understand the demands of pharmacy education.
After graduation in May 2027, our greatest hope is not simply that people remember what we accomplished as individuals, but for our journey together to encourage future students to work hard, support one another and build a community that is even stronger than the one they inherit.
Feha Shahalam is a fourth-year Pharm.D. candidate at the UF College of Pharmacy Orlando campus, pursuing specialized training in oncology and pharmacogenomics. Ibna Shahalam is a fourth-year Pharm.D. candidate, focusing on infectious disease and ambulatory care.