Amanda McDaniels Leluan '11: Three Generations of Pharmacy

When deciding which pharmacy program she would attend, Amanda McDaniels Leluan '11 considered all the typical factors like the college's location and reputable programs and faculty. However, she also considered a few not-so-typical factors like the fact that both her mother and grandmother are University of Arizona College of Pharmacy alums.

Amanda’s grandmother, Dolores Kneuer, was in the College of Pharmacy graduating class of 1954. Her mother, JoAnne McDaniels graduated 38 years later in 1992.

Kneuer, a Tucson native, had five siblings who also attend the University of Arizona. It was her brother, a fellow PharmCat, who inspired her to attend pharmacy school at UArizona. Dolores remembers being one of very few women in the school at that time. She recalls conducting research in the lab on animal specimens with her classmates. The students would have to draw blood from the specimens, but most of her male colleagues didn’t like doing this so Dolores would volunteer to do it for them.
During her schooling, McDaniels would volunteer at the pharmacy with her mother and enjoyed the work environment, and the versatility the field offered. After graduating at age 23 with one child and pregnant with her second, she began her career at Walgreens and has now been there for 32 years. Today she is the pharmacy manager at the Walgreens on Catalina Highway and Tanque Verde right here in Tucson.

“I think my family is proof of the success of the evolution in pharmacy,” notes Leluan. “My grandmother’s studies were more focused on research and compounding drugs. When my mom first started her job at Walgreens, they used typewriters.” Amanda has been able to see the evolution of pharmacy practice through her family's connection to the industry. “Pharmacy and health care have changed so dramatically over the past three generations, and will continue to do so. My family exemplifies how pharmacy has been and continues to be to be a thriving, satisfying, and fruitful profession.”
 
“I feel very connected to the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy.” Shared Leluan. She gets to take class with Theodore Tong, PHARMD, who was also her mother’s toxicology professor. “I know that the college, both the courses and campus, is vastly different now than when my grandmother and my mother attended. However, when I go to school every Monday through Friday, I walk by both my mother and my grandmother’s pictures hanging on the alumni wall and it’s a very special feeling.”
 
Back

Salpointe Catholic High School

1545 E. Copper St.,
Tucson, AZ 85719
(520) 327-6581
Attendance: (520) 327-1990
© 2021 Salpointe Catholic High School. All rights reserved.