Wingate, N.C.----Former Wingate University volleyball All-American Stormi Gale has been selected to present at the prestigious American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Meeting in December. The 2011 SAC Athlete of the Year is currently an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.

"In terms of Wingate, I think the most important thing to note is my growth from an incoming freshman to the time I left," Gale says. "I actually cried before doing my first post-game interview because I was so afraid of public speaking. Now, I teach class in front of over a hundred students regularly and give national presentations to hundreds of pharmacists. Wingate gave me the confidence to get outside of my comfort zone and try new things. I don't think I would have reached my full potential without those experiences if I would have gone to undergrad/pharmacy school at a different institution. In retrospect, I think so many people want to attend larger more well-known universities to help prepare them for their future. It can be overlooked that by attending a school like Wingate, that a student will have more opportunities to thrive, interact with professors and have an even more valuable experience. This was certainly the case for me."

The annual ASHP meeting is the largest pharmacy meeting in the world. Gale has presented at this meeting previously and will have two presentations at this year's meeting. One of her presentations this year is teaching pharmacists how to manage non-cardiac comorbidities in patients with heart failure. The other is discussing how to form successful teams in the pharmacy work environment, applying concepts learned from being a captain in a highly successful collegiate environment. ASHP represents pharmacists who serve as patient care providers in acute and ambulatory settings. The organization's more than 55,000 members include pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians. For more than 75 years, ASHP has been at the forefront of efforts to improve medication use and enhance patient safety.

In 2019, Gale was named a Heart Failure Society of America Future Leader in Heart Failure. She earned the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Cardiology PRN Trainee Travel Award in 2017.

"It is so impressive that Stormi was able to have such a successful collegiate volleyball career here, complete the pharmacy program at Wingate and now is doing amazing things in her professional life," head coach Shelton Collier says. "We have had a long run of incredible success here with Wingate Volleyball and it is my opinion that Stormi was the number one most influential player in the history of the program. She not only led us to many championships and won many personal awards, but was a key factor in establishing a highly competitive culture that is still present here today."

Gale earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Wingate in 2011, graduating magna cum laude with a biology major. She then earned her Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from Wingate in 2015, graduating summa cum laude. She has been an assistant professor at the Maryland School of Pharmacy since 2017.

"All of us in Bulldog athletics are very proud of Stormi's success in her chosen career in pharmacy," Wingate University Vice-President and Director of Athletics Steve Poston says. "To achieve all she has at such a young age is truly remarkable. She was a tenacious competitor on the volleyball court. This same tenacity has obviously carried over into her professional life."

Gale is one of the most decorated student-athletes in the history of the South Atlantic Conference. A four-time first team All-SAC honoree, Gale was the first Daktronics first team All-American in the history of Wingate or SAC volleyball in 2009, earning second team honors in 2010 while picking up third team accolades from the AVCA each year. The two-time SAC Player of the Year led the Bulldogs to four straight SAC regular season titles and four straight SAC Tournament championships. Wingate went an incredible 131-8 overall and 64-0 in the SAC during her career, leading the nation in winning percentage in 2007 and 2010 while ranking third in 2008 and 2009. Gale's teams started Wingate's league-record 83-match SAC winning streak.

Wingate won the first NCAA Southeast Region title in league history in Gale's senior season in 2010. She earned third team Academic All-America accolades as a senior, while also being named the league's Female Athlete of the Year. Gale was in the final 30 for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year Award in 2011. She is among the league's all-time leaders in career kills, blocks and hitting percentage.  

"There is no question I appreciated receiving so many athletic awards, but it is important to emphasize the type of personal growth, confidence and relationship skills I was able to develop back then that I now use every day in my life," Gale says. "The Wingate volleyball culture and being part of a special group pursuing goals together truly helped my development as a person. Wingate gave me lifelong friendships as well. In terms of pharmacy school, my education at Wingate allowed me to excel as a resident and become nationally recognized as a cardiology pharmacy specialist, particularly in the heart failure realm. I am very grateful for my both my athletic and academic experience at Wingate."

Gale spent her first year of residency in pharmacy practice at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, then her second year specializing in cardiology at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. She stayed on at UMSOP as a faculty member where she split her time practicing in pharmacy and teaching PharmD students. She is a cardiology clinical specialist on the Advanced Heart Failure Service at the University of Maryland Medical Center. A typical day at the medical center includes rounding with the heart failure team, which mostly consists of patients with such severe heart failure that are requiring IV therapies, mechanical heart pumps, or heart transplants. Gale makes therapeutic recommendations, performs drug therapy monitoring and provides both provider and patient education as main parts of her role. She also recently took over as the Residency Program Director for the cardiology pharmacy residency program. She is a member of the ATRIUM (Applied Therapeutics, Research and Instruction at the University of Maryland) Cardiology Collaborative, which focuses on the advancement of care provided to patients with cardiovascular disease.

"Stormi proved to be just as formidable in the graduate classroom and in her clinical rotations as she was on the volleyball court," Professor Robert Supernaw says. "Like in athletics, she was second-to-none in her professional pursuit of her doctor degree in pharmacy."

RECENT WUVB ALUMS IN MEDICAL FIELD

Lindsay Hinson Knipple
Liz Willis, Physician 
Lexi Potter, Nurse
Allison Rickher,
Rachel Truslow, in Graduate School for Physician's Assistant
Taylor Williams, in Veterinary Medicine School
Rachel Alles, in Wingate's Occupational Therapy School

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a laboratory of difference-making that serves more than 3,600 students in North Carolina. Wingate offers 36 undergraduate majors as well as six master's and four doctoral programs. The University is home to the Cannon College of Arts and Sciences; the Levine College of Health Sciences; the Byrum School of Business; and the College of Professional Studies, which includes the Thayer School of Education and the School of Sport Sciences.
 
Wingate is the leading healthcare education provider in western North Carolina, and nearly one in five Wingate undergraduate students is preparing to be a pharmacist, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist or nurse. Athletes on Wingate's 23 teams compete in NCAA Division II and have brought home the SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award for 13 years straight. The University's motto is "Faith, Knowledge, Service." View current news and videos at www.wingate.edu.