Pharmacy professors married their best friends

UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy professors Kathryn Fuller ’15 (PharmD) and Adam Persky were in the same buildings on campus for years and never met. Once they did, they instantly clicked and became best friends — and later, spouses.

In 2017, Fuller was completing her postdoctoral fellowship at Carolina when she was referred to Persky, a professor and associate director of curricular initiatives, to collaborate on scholarship projects.

“Neither of us were really looking to date anyone. We were just focusing on developing ourselves professionally,” said Fuller. “Then we kind of became best friends from then on out.”

Persky came to Carolina for a fellowship after completing his doctoral degree at the University of Florida. Fuller, who was inspired by her mom and other family members to pursue pharmacy, stayed at Carolina after her fellowship and residency to serve as an associate professor and experiential director for the Chapel Hill region.

Early in their friendship, Fuller was running 6 to 9 miles every day, and Persky had always wanted to run the stairs at Kenan Stadium. The pair decided to tackle the challenge together.

During the run, Persky left for the concourse to take a break. After a few minutes of waiting, Fuller could hear Persky getting sick. He returned, acting like everything was normal, and they continued running.

“I never told him about that until four or five years later,” Fuller said.

They got married twice, once on April 4, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and again exactly a year later. Their first wedding was in the backyard as family members watched via Zoom. The second time, family and friends were able to come, and Robert Dupuis, fellow School of Pharmacy professor, officiated.

At work, they love carpooling in together and grabbing lunch anytime they can.

“I think we calculated we’ve been around each other 24/7 since 2020. We’ve spent more time together than some people’s parents who have been married forever,” said Persky.

“My favorite part of marriage so far has been the pandemic, which sounds wild, because we were locked at home together,” Fuller said. “We got to be creative when it came to research projects, and that was a light in a lot of darkness.”

In married life, they still love going on walks together around their neighborhood. Last year they walked 800 miles together, and their goal for this year is to walk 1,000 miles together.

“All the neighbors know us as the couple that walks,” Persky said.

Fuller said they often use walks to brainstorm for work. “We both love our jobs and the research components of our jobs,” she said. “We picked these walks back up very heavily in 2025, for the physical and mental health aspects. We love spending time together to just talk, and we’re big on trying to stay away from our phones and technology.”

They are closely involved in local farm life, as their daughter has taken up showing goats at local and state livestock shows. “We really enjoy the quality family time that comes from being together at the farm with the goats,” said Fuller.

They also have two cocker spaniels, Carly and Louis Vuitton, who they love spending time with at home and on walks.