You could say Paul Vasquez has always had a head for business.

When family members made beautiful hand-crafted birthday cards, an elementary-age Vasquez began selling them door to door. Vasquez started his own a pool company to pay tuition while earning his biology degree at San Diego State. "I’ve always had a bit of hustle," he laughs.

So when it came time to choose whether to go to medical school or pharmacy school – he applied to both types of graduate schools and was accepted almost everywhere, including pharmacy school at the University of California San Francisco – Vasquez chose USC"s School of Pharmacy. The reason: it offered a dual degree in business (MBA) and pharmacy (Pharm.D.). "I know I want to go into the business side of health care, and this degree allows me to knock it out all at one time."

It hasn"t been easy, he admits, taking first a year of pharmacy graduate studies, then a year of business school, then moving back to the School of Pharmacy for a third year with business classes at night. And choosing a five year program "seemed like a big commitment before I started."

After a few years, however, it all comes together. "Even though the news these days focuses on how much drugs cost or their dangers, just being here seeing how these innovative new drugs change lives, change medicine and make it better, has been amazing," he says.

Also "amazing": working with companies like Amgen and Genentech on pricing drugs and marketing practices during summer internships. "It's an incredible industry, and there are so many opportunities in this field that USC has made available to me. I feel I made the right decision."