{"id":253841,"date":"2026-10-06T11:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=253841"},"modified":"2026-10-06T11:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T15:23:19","slug":"two-uconn-alumni-to-speak-at-2026-professionalism-ceremonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/10\/two-uconn-alumni-to-speak-at-2026-professionalism-ceremonies\/","title":{"rendered":"Two UConn Alumni to Speak at 2026 Professionalism Ceremonies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UConn School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Professionalism Ceremonies are held every year to mark milestones in Pharm.D. students’ educational journey. This year, UConn Alumni and successful pharmacy professionals, Sam Abdelghany and Valentino Caruso<\/span>,<\/span> will serve as honoree speakers for the ceremonies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Abdelghany\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HeadshotSam Abdelghany, the speaker for the third year Pharm.D. students\u2019 white coat ceremony, received both a B.S. in Pharmacy Studies and a Pharm.D. from the UConn School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SoPPS).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating from UConn, Abdelghany completed a specialty residency in oncology at Yale New Haven Hospital and became a board-certified oncology pharmacist. He later earned a master’s degree in health administration from Ohio University in 2017.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond his education, Abdelghany has held several positions at Yale New Haven Hospital and its affiliate Smilow Cancer Hospital. His roles include clinical pharmacist, coordinator for the Investigational Drug Service, clinical manager, and associate director of oncology pharmacy services. He now serves as the executive director of pharmacy at Yale-New Haven, overseeing oncology, research, and pharmacy operations across the health system.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Abdelghany has also served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacy at UConn SoPPS for more than two decades, as well as at the University of Saint Joseph School of Pharmacy for more than 10 years. He has alsotaught at Yale University School of Medicine and the Yale School of Nursing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to his work, Abdelghany serves as vice president of the Connecticut Pharmacists Association and has held leadership roles in several professional affiliations, including the Connecticut Society of Health System Pharmacists, the Hematology\/Oncology Pharmacy Association, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with these affiliations, Abdelghany is a member of many committees, including the Oncology InstitutionalReview Board, System Pharmacy Strategic Planning Committee, and the Yale New Haven Health Opioid Steering Committee.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With more than two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical field, Abdelghany focuses on advancing the pharmacy profession by influencing and supporting legislation, advocating for pharmacists’ recognition in patient care, and expanding access to healthcare.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Valentino Caruso<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Valentino Caruso, the speaker for the first and second year students\u2019 pinning and oath ceremony, received a Bache<\/span>lor of General Studies from UConn in 2010. He went on to receive a Pharm.D. at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caruso has worked at CVS Pharmacy for over 20 years, and currently serves as a Pharmacy Manager, Frontline Ph<\/span>armacis<\/span>t, and the District Operations Manager.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In these leadership roles, his duties include <\/span>mentoring, training, and recruiting pharmacy employees, assisting pharmacies in need, coordinating interns, overseeing vaccination efforts, and helping pharmacies follow company policies.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caruso also serves as director of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation (APhA), where he oversees major responsibilities for the foundation and works to raise funds for grants, student scholarships, and foundation operations. Addi<\/span>tionally, he is the president of the Connecticut Pharmacists Association and an adjunct faculty member and advisory board member at UConn SoPPS. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here at UConn SoPPS, Caruso is chair of the student recruitmentcommittee, a member of the Experiential Education Advisory Board, founder of the UConn School of Pharmacy Student Pharmacist Travel and Professional Development Fund, and a guest lecturer on community pharmacy, ethics, and pharmacy law.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with his professional memberships and work experiences, Caruso has raised more than $50,000 to sponsor a Title I elementary school since 2020 and has recently won the 2025 Hamden Board of Education Hamden Hero Award and the 2025 CVS District Paragon, in recognition of his contributions in the pharmaceutical field. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caruso\u2019s ultimate passion is to keep advancing the pharmacy profession, increase recognition of pharmacists, and help other pharmacists succeed in their careers. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn Alumni Sam Abdelghany and Valentino Caruso are named speakers for the 2026 Professionalism Ceremonies on October 17th, 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":253861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2734],"class_list":["post-253841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pharm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-13 15:24:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253841"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253849,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253841\/revisions\/253849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/253861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253841"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=253841"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=253841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}