A Family of Hawks

For Marguerite Danker, BS ’23, PharmD ’25, and Walter Danker, BS ’25, a Saint Joseph’s University education is a family affair. 

The siblings will each earn their diplomas this May — Marguerite a Doctor of Pharmacy from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Walter a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of Arts and Sciences — and take the next steps on their journeys into the medical field. 

“Our mom is a pharmacist and our dad works in healthcare at Johnson & Johnson, so we were both exposed to different sides of what healthcare could look like,” Marguerite explains. 

Marguerite, who began the six-year accelerated pharmacy program at the University of the Sciences before its merger with Saint Joseph’s, is preparing to take the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) followed by trying out different facets of the field. 

“Pharmacy is such a versatile degree, which is why I gravitated toward it,” she explains. “I could work in a hospital; I could work in an industry; I could do ambulatory care, which is working with physicians and nurses to give patients very pointed care. I want to experience everything.” 

Walter is heading to Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in the fall where he hopes to eventually specialize in surgical oncology. 

“My future plans really started to crystallize in high school and in my freshman year of college when I volunteered at Fox Chase Cancer Center in the family surgical waiting lounge, which is where family members go to wait for their loved ones during surgery,” Walter says. “I would often see physicians coming in and talking to loved ones of people in surgery and I could always see myself in their shoes.” 

This month, he defended his undergraduate thesis, which tackled weight management tactics in patients with spina bifida. 

“One of the biggest findings was that there’s no real consensus for diagnosing obesity in people with spina bifida for many reasons, one being that many people with the condition can’t properly stand, so healthcare providers need to take other measurements to calculate BMI,” Walter explains.

After attending different elementary schools and high schools, St. Joe’s marks the first time that Marguerite and Walter have been in school together. The pair has made an effort to commute together from their home in Newtown, Bucks County, whether on the train or by car. Currently, they drive together to Hawk Hill where Marguerite boards the intercampus shuttle to University City. In the afternoons, she returns and waits for Walter to finish his day before heading home. Though they don’t cross paths in the classroom, they have plenty of common acquaintances. 

“Everyone is so friendly here,” Marguerite says. “I’ll be sitting in the Perch and someone will come up to me and say ‘you kind of look like Walter,’ and I’ll tell them that we’re siblings.” 

Associate Professor of Pharmacy Laura E. Waite, PharmD, BCPS, CLS, has worked with Marguerite and Walter during their St. Joe’s tenures and recognizes their heart for service. 

“Both of them have a strong sense of mercy and a strong sense of justice, and really live the mission statement of cura personalis — what can I do for the person in front of me?” Waite says.

Both Marguerite and Walter believe that the liberal arts education and Jesuit values of Saint Joseph’s will guide them in their future professions; Walter even picked up a theology minor after enjoying courses like Philosophy of St. Augustine. 

“Well-roundedness is what makes a good physician,” Walter says. “I wanted a school that provided me the structure to be able to take diverse courses, and where that was, in fact, encouraged.”