PharmD candidate Tyler Trayter draws on his rural upbringing, strong leadership skills and lifelong involvement in Scouting to make a meaningful impact in his community. By combining these strengths with his pharmacy education, he is poised to elevate his service to others and advance community health in lasting ways.
WVU PharmD Candidate combines rural roots, leadership and service in pursuit of community impact
As a first-generation college graduate from a rural town in southwestern Pennsylvania, Tyler Trayter has always charted his own course. This May, he will earn his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy—a milestone that honors both his personal determination and the support of a close-knit community that helped get him there.
“All the men in my family are tradesmen—concrete, electrical. My dad is an HVAC technician,” Trayter said. “There wasn’t an expectation for someone in my family to be a doctor. It wasn’t something that felt possible until now.”
What brought him to WVU, he said, was the personal connection. “When I toured other schools, it felt like I was just a number,” Trayter said. “But at WVU, it was, ‘How can we help you succeed?’ That small-town feel—it felt like home.”
Trayter embraced that feeling of belonging by giving back. A former Eagle Scout, he carried the values of leadership and service into his work with the Pediatric Pharmacy Association, where he served as vice president of community service. Through that role, he helped organize outreach events with local schools, hospitals and shelters—including holiday gift drives that provided more than $5,000 in donations for children in need.
“I try to instill a sense of community, leadership and autonomy—those were values I got from Scouting,” he said. “And I’ve worked to carry those through my time here.”
He also served as a student ambassador, gave campus tours and mentored future students— offering honest insight about the pharmacy program and the realities of the profession. His efforts reached beyond campus. In 2023, he served as the only pharmacy intern at the National Scout Jamboree, helping manage a field clinic for more than 10,000 scouts and leaders. Trayter coordinated medication handling, helped draft care protocols, and ensured compliance with safety and storage standards in a resource-limited environment.
“It was field medicine—we ran the clinic off donations and had to figure out how to make it all work,” he said. “I helped write some of the protocols we’ll use in future jamborees. It felt good to contribute in that way.” Trayter said he fell in love with the patient care side of pharmacy through his advanced practice rotations.
“Getting to have meaningful interactions with patients and making their day a little better—that’s what keeps me going,” he said. “There are hard days, but there are good days too. Patients bring in cookies, brownies, just to say thank you. It’s those little things that make it worth it.”
After graduation, Trayter hopes to pursue a residency in ambulatory care pharmacy, ideally staying in West Virginia. His goal is to help patients manage chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension and anticoagulation while building lasting relationships in the community.
“I want to be that bridge between physicians and patients,” he said. “That’s where I see myself thriving.”
He’s also interested in returning to WVU one day as a faculty member. “Ten years from now, I’d like to have a hand in academia,” he said. “I want to be the kind of professor who makes students feel seen and supported—like some of my mentors have done for me.”
Trayter said one of his proudest moments came during a late-night shift when he found a patient disoriented in a hospital parking lot after being discharged. He helped the man return to the emergency department safely and later worked with pharmacy leadership to revise discharge procedures.
“It reminded me why I chose this field—to help people, even when no one’s watching,” he said.
As he reflects on his WVU experience, Trayter encourages new students to slow down and take it all in.
“I was always go-go-go, head to the grindstone,” he said. “Looking back, I had a great time, but I wish I’d said ‘yes’ to more moments. You’ve got to appreciate the little things along the way.”
For Trayter, this degree is more than a personal victory—it’s a celebration for the people who helped him along the way.
“It took a village to get me here,” he said. “I hope earning this degree shows them their hard work paid off.”