Below is a draft of the Pharmacy SuRGE Community Statement. The SuRGE Planning Group invites feedback on this Statement, which will be discussed at the December 16 virtual quarterly SuRGE meeting. You can send feedback to sending email to Dorothy Farrell (dfarrell@aacp.org) or by using this Padlet discussion board.
Community Definition and Purpose
Pharmacy SuRGE (Scholarship, Research, and Graduate Education) is a community of scientists, educators, and academicians within AACP driven by the purpose of supporting pharmacy research and graduate education (including but not limited to pharmaceutical sciences, social and administrative sciences, scholarship of teaching and learning) to maximize the scientific impact of the academy and AACP’s leadership in research and graduate education within the academy.
Longitudinal goals of SuRGE include:
- The promotion of innovation and excellence in graduate education programs
- Development of an ongoing forum for discussion of best practices for long-term improvement of graduate programs across
- Examination of current and emerging trends in graduate training and research
- Identification and development of tools to support graduate and research programs
- Exploration of collaborative research leadership development opportunities between institutions
SuRGE is the only national forum focused on research and graduate education across colleges and schools of pharmacy, representing more than 6000 faculty members and 5000 graduate students within approximately 80 Master’s and 60 PhD programs. It provides a national platform for collaboration where faculty and academic leaders can exchange ideas, share best practices, engage with collaborators external to academic pharmacy, and shape the future of research training and scholarly excellence. By connecting scientists, educators, and innovators across disciplines and with external partners, SuRGE amplifies the scientific impact of academic pharmacy and supports the development of future research leaders. The SuRGE community connects through quarterly virtual meetings, yearly in-person workshops, and through additional interactions as opportunities arise. Through this community, AACP fosters innovation, promotes collaboration, and ensures that pharmacy remains a driving force in discovery, education, and health outcomes.
Structure
Community Members. SuRGE is open to all members and affiliate members of AACP and is designed to be comprised of research and graduate education leaders within colleges and schools of pharmacy, as well as faculty and trainees interested in engaging in the national conversation focused on research and graduate education. Additionally, SuRGE includes an advisory group (see below) of representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, professional and scientific organizations in the pharmaceutical sciences and allied fields, and others who provide valuable insights to enhance the impact of SuRGE.
Role within AACP. SuRGE is a community that interfaces with the Graduate Education SIG, the Research and Graduate Education Committee (RGAC), and the members of AACP who are involved in research, scholarship, and/or graduate education. It provides a forum for discussion and planning for topics that span across scientific and research disciplines and encompass both research and training. As such, SuRGE is a platform for the SIG and RGAC (and by extension, AACP as a whole) to carry out their missions. The recent AACP Council of Deans taskforce report on research and scholarship demonstrates that most of the 50 Sections, SIGs, and other communities within AACP maintain ongoing research and scholarship initiatives. SuRGE will serve to assist these groups in these initiatives by providing a platform for engagement and collaboration.
Stakeholder Advisory Group. The SuRGE Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) serves to provide multiple perspectives to the group from outside of AACP, including that of the pharmaceutical industry. Engagement of affiliate members of the SAG ensures that SuRGE activities and initiatives are relevant from these interfacing perspectives.
Leadership. The SuRGE Community is led by representatives from the AACP Graduate Education SIG, the RGAC, and Council of Deans. The SuRGE Planning Group is made up of volunteers from these groups as well as others from outside of AACP. It is Chaired by the Immediate Past Chair of the Graduate Education SIG and includes the Graduate Education SIG Chair and Chair-elect and the RGAC Vice-Chair. The leadership group is responsible for planning SuRGE meetings and working with other AACP groups to translate findings from SuRGE meetings into AACP actions. The leadership group also engages with outside partners to advance shared goals.
Community Management. The SuRGE Community is managed by the AACP Chief Science Officer, with support from other AACP staff as needed. These staff schedule SuRGE meetings, coordinate communications regarding SuRGE activities, and are responsible for the technical aspects of meetings (e.g., creating Zoom rooms, arranging physical space for in-person meetings, etc.,.)
Engagement Scaffold
SuRGE fosters engagement through a progressive model of participation. Members may consume resources and knowledge products generated through SuRGE activities, contribute by sharing expertise or resources, collaborate within working groups, or co-create new initiatives, tools, and scholarly outputs that benefit the broader academy. This flexible framework enables members to engage at varying levels of commitment and expertise.
Initiatives and Activities
Core activities include quarterly virtual sessions highlighting contemporary challenges in research and graduate education, as well as an annual in-person forum designed to facilitate cross-institutional networking and strategic planning. These gatherings routinely include members of the SAG and serve as incubators for collaborative projects, publications, and recommendations for best practices.
SuRGE provides yearly reports to the AACP Graduate Education SIG, RGAC, and the Council of Deans consisting of a summary of activities, description of initiatives/outputs, and a list of short-term goals for the following year. Additionally, SuRGE communicates with all members of AACP, as well as with appropriate external stakeholders, in support and advocacy of research- and graduate education-related contemporary issues.
Potential Priority Objectives/Short-term goals
After receiving input from the community, the below list will be narrowed to 2-4 objectives which will be re-written as SMART goals.
- Launch a vibrant professional forum for faculty and administrators to share solutions to current and emerging challenges in graduate education and research.
- Expand engagement of faculty leaders across colleges and schools of pharmacy to strengthen AACP’s national network of research and graduate education professionals.
- Host the inaugural in-person SuRGE Summit to establish priorities for community development and strategic alignment with AACP’s goals.
- Revitalize the PharmD Pathways to Biomedical Research Summit in collaboration with NIH to define next-generation research training models for pharmacists.
- Develop an annual “State of Graduate Education in Pharmacy” report summarizing key trends, innovations, and benchmarking data.
- Create a mechanism within SuRGE responsible for taking action and executing on select research- and graduate education-related recommendations that are developed by the RGAC and AACP leadership.
- Create an affiliate group within SuRGE that will serve as a hub for graduate student participation by collaborating with other organizations (APhA, AAPS, and others.)