Enow Tazuh

Before Enow Tazuh came to the United States from Cameroon, he knew he wanted to be a pharmacist. Several family members had already moved to the United States before him and attended Kansas City Kansas Community College, so where he would relocate was an easy decision.

“Medicine is my passion. It’s what I wanted to do. I preferred pharmacy because of how it helps to manage diseases. I prefer the technical side of medicine more,” he said. “When my family was here (at KCKCC), Dr. (Ed) Kremer was advisor to them. He helped to guide them, and when I met him, he helped guide me too. He was a mentor and helped to guide me to where I wanted to be.”

Tazuh graduated from KCKCC in 2015 with an associate degree in chemistry, pre-pharmacy. He then went onto the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2019. He now works for the United States government in clinical pharmacy, specializing in asthma and COPD.

“I am doing what I like and am able to help patients in the way I have always dreamt of,” he said. “My work life balance is also great, so I have time to spend with my family.”

Tazuh said one of the things he appreciated at KCKCC was the attention paid to students. He said because of the small class sizes, faculty members had the opportunity to work one on one with students. He said he was also one of the first students to be able to complete all his pre-requisites at KCKCC before transferring to KU.

“Before, students had to go to UMKC for microbiology because the class taught here was not transferable. It was great when that changed, so I didn’t have to go anywhere else to take additional classes,” he said. “Going to KCKCC made life really easy. It was easy to schedule classes with my work hours, which was so helpful to me. I also graduated with no student loans. That was great.”

Tazuh said the faculty and staff at KCKCC were able to show him exactly what classes he needed to take to graduate, so he was not wasting money while he was going to college. He said they helped him to reach the goals he had set for himself.

“Knowing what classes to take and how to pay attention in those classes was really helpful in preparing me for the pharmacy program,” he said. “I had the flexibility to go to school and work without conflicts. I also had the overall guidance and a focused goal, which helped me to be successful.”