Oluyemisi ‘Yemi’ Akinbade
Associate in Arts Transfer; Pre-Pharmacy
Oluyemisi ‘Yemi’Akinbade was born and raised in Ondo, Nigeria. In 2002 she attended the University of Ibadan Computing Center and earned a certificate in computer application and data processing. She later married and started a family, giving birth to three children. In 2009 her husband received a scholarship to study at Washington State University (WSU). The family decided to make the move so he could finish his degree. After a short stay in Pullman, WA, he was hired at the WSU Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, WA.
After getting her family settled in Prosser, Yemi started to think about pursuing her life-long dream of becoming a pharmacist. She learned of YVC’s Grandview Campus but when she found out she was pregnant with her 4th child, she decided that her education would have to wait. Later she learned about YVC’s Pharmacy Technology program. She enrolled and began taking classes on the Grandview Campus in 2014 eventually transferring to the Yakima Campus due to course availability. In 2016 she graduated with certificates in pharmacy technician and phlebotomy and began working as a pharmacy technician for Astria Health Sunnyside Hospital. Wanting to realize her dream of becoming a pharmacist, Yemi decided to continue her education.
A familiar face on YVC’s campus, Yemi has worked as a work-study for the arts and sciences division. In addition to her coursework, she has been selected three times to participate in YVC’s undergraduate research projects focusing on biology and biochemistry. Her projects were titled, “The Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Phytochemicals in Garcinia Kola Extracts” (Summer 2018), “Quantitative Analysis of Excavating Woodpecker Drumming” (Spring 2019), and “Diving into Water: Comparative Furcula Morphology of Fishing and Non-Fishing Kingfishers,” (Summer 2019) and Swimming Songbirds: Comparative Furcula Morphology of Swimming Dippers and Non-Swimming Thrushes” (Summer 2019). She also has been active in the STEM and Phi Theta Kappa student clubs and recently join YVC’s MESA club.
In the fall of 2019, YVC and WSU reached an agreement for a joint pre-pharmacy/PharmD program. Within a month of the announcement, Yemi learned she was the first student accepted in to the program.
“It is hard not to be impressed by Oluyemisi resilience, intelligence, enthusiasm and finally her achievements here at YVC,” stated YVC Chemistry and Biochemistry Instructor Dr. Sam Mazhari. “Despite her long commutes and responsibilities at home, she managed to navigate through many of our challenging classes to successfully complete her pre-pharmacy courses with great academic performance. There is no doubt in my mind that, she will be a successful pharmacist in our community in the near future,” he continued.
In August 2020 she will begin WSU’s pharmacy program on the campus of the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences. She hopes to one-day work in the field of cancer research.
