A Gift to Honor a Life: The Christy Griffith Mulberry Scholarship

They were the best of friends.

They met in 2001, in student orientation at UC's James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy and proceeded to lock arms and intellects during the rigors of four years of pharmacy school.

Pharmacy '05 alums and undergrads at the time likely remember the duo: Christy Griffith Mulberry, PharmD, (then Christy Griffith) the academic with aspirations to become a community pharmacist, and Dina Kennedy, PharmD, BCPS (then Dina Mohammad), the organizer involved in a half-dozen student groups, with her sights on obtaining a career in clinical hospital pharmacy.  Christy was from the small, rural town of Alexandria, Kentucky, and Dina was from Cincinnati, Ohio, just directly across the river.

"We were friends at first sight." Kennedy says, adding that despite the differences in their upbringing and professional agendas, they always found common ground.

"She was one of my biggest supporters in time of need, and I will always cherish that bond we shared." 

That strong support continued long distance after graduation when Mulberry went to work in the Tristate for the Kroger Company and Kennedy moved to Michigan for a PGY-1 and PGY-2 residency in critical care pharmacy. They talked constantly and visited often—Mulberry served as the matron of honor at Kennedy's 2009 wedding in Ann Arbor, Michigan— navigating life together as professional pharmacists, wives and mothers.

"I, along with many others, feel very fortunate to have had her be a part of our lives," Kennedy says of losing her best friend (Christy Griffith Mulberry, 32, wife to Dustin Mulberry for 7 years, mother to Paige, 4, and Parker, 6, daughter of Arnold (Harold) and Judy Griffith, sister to Amy Griffith) to complications from a brain tumor in 2013.

Diagnosed in 2008, "Christy flawlessly balanced her career, her treatments and her family life, never letting the pain or sadness haunt her or the people around her. She focused on finding joy in everything she did," says Dustin Mulberry, adding the impact Christy had on her community, her school, her friends and her family "will live on as long as we carry ourselves with the same passion and intensity for life."

Kennedy established a Facebook page in her friend's memory (writing "I still fight the urge to pick up the phone to tell you about something funny that happened or ask you questions that no one else had the answers to. You were so great at knowing random stuff!" on November 12, the anniversary of Christy's passing), but Kennedy felt she needed to do more. She decided to initiate a legacy: The Christy Griffith Mulberry Scholarship, to reflect on the personal and professional ties made in pharmacy school, to honor Mulberry as a professional and to encourage future pharmacists.

Kennedy seeded the scholarship fund in 2015 and in the time since, with added donations from others, it's grown to $19,500. However, it must reach a $50,000 threshold to be awarded—a goal both Kennedy and Mulberry's family see as reachable in the near future.

Mulberry says it's his wish to "let Christy's desire, passion and her perseverance be the qualities instilled on the recipient of this scholarship."  

"Pharmacy school was a time where we developed as people and acquired the skills needed to be health care professionals and advocates of patient care" says Kennedy. 

 "Christy was known well by her peers for her ability to get things done," she adds, noting that Mulberry graduated UC's Pharmacy School with highest distinction honors (GPA of at least 3.9). She also received the 2005 Mortar and Pestle Professionalism Award, and during her tenure at UC, she became the President of the Rho Chi Pharmacy Honor Society (Beta Nu Chapter),

Those interested in contributing to the scholarship can visit UC Giving, selecting the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy then Christy Griffith Mulberry Scholarship in the drop down menu, or contact the college's senior director of development, Brian Hurst at 513-558-0907 or hurstbh@ucmail.uc.edu