News & Media

As calls increase to correct longstanding inequities in healthcare, pharmacists are exploring ways to improve training and practice to better serve marginalized groups. While discriminatory practices in healthcare settings have existed for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic further revealed inequities rooted in the longstanding unequal treatment of minorities in this country.

Aren’t vaccines the most wonderful tool in our toolboxes? While there are still so many uncertainties associated with our individual and collective behaviors in month 16 of the global pandemic, I personally have found that the increasing percentage of the eligible population to have received at least one dose of available vaccines very reassuring, even liberating.

A recent AACP webinar explored tools and tips for virtual networking as well as what to expect when in-person interactions resume. Although networking has changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains vital at every career stage. From first-year students to top-ranking experts, networking allows individuals to share knowledge, gain experience and make connections that can lead to new professional opportunities.

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy is pleased to announce that the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE) will once again sponsor three AACP Social and Administrative Sciences (SAS) Section Summer Research Exchange Mentorship Program awards for summer 2021. These awards of $2,500 each will support student pharmacists as they pursue research with host mentors outside of their home institutions.

As this issue of Academic Pharmacy Now goes live, I am pausing to reflect on the last 14 months of pandemic navigation. What has changed? What hasn’t changed? AACP has been fortunate that all our staff were remote work-enabled on March 13 (Friday the 13th for sure!)

With digital health tools improving patient outcomes and changing the way pharmacists deliver care, pharmacy schools are starting to integrate digital health education into the curriculum to prepare students for rapid advances in technology. As it did with so many facets of our lives, the pandemic altered routines and changed the way patients received medical care in the past year.

The Sustainable Pharmacy Project at VCU’s School of Pharmacy aims to shine a light on the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals. In the process of improving health and saving lives, healthcare providers generate a large amount of waste. Pharmaceuticals account for much of that waste: the chemicals used in laboratories and drug manufacturing, sharps, plastic pill bottles and unused medications, to name a few.

Pharmacy schools are finding creative ways to advocate for the COVID-19 vaccines and to fight falsehoods circulating online. While millions of vaccines are going into arms across the country to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a flurry of misinformation about vaccine efficacy and the disease itself also is spreading.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic we have witnessed a dramatic escalation of anti-Asian racism in the United States ...

Arlington, Va. — The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy today announced the recipients of its top awards, which recognize five individuals, one institution and one scholarly paper, for their outstanding contributions made to pharmacy education, research, patient outcomes, community service and publication. Recipients will be honored at AACP’s annual meeting, Pharmacy Education 2021, July 19-22.

Once again, the pages of this issue of Academic Pharmacy Now are filled with testimonials to the many ways our members are not just thinking about how their graduates can fill some of the gaping holes in our healthcare system but are in ACTION addressing those gaps. Articles include programs and curricula addressing the pharmacist in the care of LGBTQ+ and rural Americans.

Pharmacy schools are finding innovative approaches to interprofessional education, collaborating with other health professions to achieve improved patient outcomes. Enter interprofessional education, which helps provide patients with a more coordinated approach to care and more efficient use of resources, he said, noting “the hope is that IPE leads to more satisfaction, more efficiency and healthier outcomes.”