"I also happen to have a special interest in all things medication-related, so it was a great match."
Dresser enjoyed his studies so much, that with the help of Associate Professor Kyle Wilby, he's published two journal papers, has had another accepted and two more under review for publication.
The first paper looked at interprofessional education and reaffirmed Dresser's beliefs that health care workers needed to work together.
Wilby said this level of output was "largely unheard of", with little to no publishing requirements for undergraduate students.
"Students are not expected to publish and only on rare occasions may publish one paper - Honour's or otherwise.
"The fact that Jacob completed these projects, both for coursework and extracurricular, is largely unheard of for an undergraduate pharmacy student, let alone any health sciences student."
Dresser said he owed his success in this area to strong academic support, as well as friends and family.
He's not done yet either.
"One thing is certain – I want to further my education, although I need to figure out if that will be a PhD, taking post-graduate clinical curricula, or doing a board certification.
"I'm also very interested in oncology, so I'm hoping that aseptic dispensing will be part of my practice in future."
Arriving back in Hawke's Bay this week, Dresser is soon set to start his pharmacy internship at the Hawke's Bay Hospital and from there it's on to get his pharmacy licence.
Dresser said he hoped more students would consider pharmacy.
"Pharmacy is not chemistry, not pharmacology, nor is it 'just counting pills'.
"There is so much more to it than that. I think the best way to describe it is with one goal: to ensure that our patients can use medicines to improve their health safely and effectively.
"Whether it be medicine counselling, taking a medication history, or discussing which medicine is best for a patient with their prescriber – all of our practices contribute to this goal."
