The University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy welcomes Macaleigh Mancuso as its 2026-27 academic fellow. Mancuso is a 2025 graduate of Auburn University's Harrison College of Pharmacy and recently completed a PGY1 residency at Prisma Health-USC. Alongside her fellowship duties, she will maintain a clinical ambulatory care practice in downtown Columbia affiliated with Prisma Health.
Mancuso comes from a family of educators, and while she initially majored in biochemistry with medical school in mind, a pharmacology course helped change her trajectory. Studying how medications work and connect to disease states and side effects is what first drew her to the profession.
I want those I teach to have a connection more so than just the knowledge base ... A true passion for what they do, a love of learning and a desire to continue to grow.
Her path to academia was shaped as much by the gym as by the classroom. Mancuso spent several years as a competitive gymnast before transitioning into coaching. That experience taught her discipline, perseverance, and grit.
Coaching sparked a passion for mentoring that carried into pharmacy school, where she began seeking leadership roles in professional organizations, and eventually to a residency at Prisma Health-USC. She credits meeting the college’s residency program director Brandon Bookstaver and program coordinator Reagan Barfield for pointing her toward academia.
“I was at the Alabama Health System Pharmacists Association Residency Showcase, and Brandon Bookstaver and Reagan Barfield were there,” she recalls. “I mentioned that I might be interested in academia, and they told me about this opportunity. It's been four years in the making.”
Mancuso describes her leadership style as transformational, with a teaching philosophy focused on helping students develop a genuine love of learning rather than simply absorbing knowledge.
"I want those I teach to have a connection more so than just the knowledge base," she said. "A true passion for what they do, a love of learning and a desire to continue to grow."
Over the next year, Mancuso hopes to grow her identity as an academician, refine her teaching philosophy, and build her scholarly writing. Outside of pharmacy, she enjoys spending time outdoors – golfing and hanging out on the beach.
Topics: Postgraduate Programs, Academic Fellowship