The AACP 2025–2026 Strategic Engagement Committee (SEC) is updating the list of individuals identifying themselves as ‘Advocacy Champions’ for schools and colleges of pharmacy. The committee defines advocacy as multifactorial and characterized as any action taken to speak in favor of, recommend, argue for, support, defend, or plead on behalf of yourself or others. Advocacy is about collaborating with stakeholders to create solutions to achieve measurable outcomes impacting pharmacy practice, research, and education; and ensuring awareness of the value that a pharmacist provides to the health and well-being of society.
You are an ‘Advocacy Champion’ if you engage in advocacy, support curricular or co-curricular activities related to advocacy. Advocacy Champions may or may not have a formal position related to their advocacy work and may be faculty and staff who have engaged in advocacy activities with local, state, and national associations. The intended audience for this survey includes, AACP Members, AACP House of Delegates, and Advocacy Champions.
Advocacy definitions derived from AACP’s Advocacy Guide for Pharmacy Practice and Education Educational Outcomes.
Government Advocacy: Government advocacy is the deliberate set of actions by pharmacists or pharmacy organizations to influence governmental decision-making (at local, state, or national levels) — through legislation, regulation, or funding processes. It involves, for example, evaluating legislative priorities, understanding governmental structure and regulatory processes, researching current legislation, and conducting legislative visits or communications.
Professional Advocacy: Professional advocacy is the purposeful actions of pharmacists, pharmacy-educators, and organizations within the workplace, the profession, and its supporting systems, to promote the role, value, practice, recognition, and advancement of pharmacy. This includes educating others on pharmacists’ roles in improving health outcomes, articulating SMART goals for involvement in professional organizations, and engaging at local, state, or national levels.
Public Advocacy: Public advocacy (sometimes called patient advocacy or public-affairs advocacy) is the set of actions by pharmacists or pharmacy organizations directed toward patients, caregivers, communities, and the public at large to ensure access, equity, education, and policy environments that optimize patient care and community health. This includes assisting patients in navigating the healthcare system, advocating for care and policies in the best interests of patients, promoting effective and collaborative communication across healthcare teams, and describing support networks/community health resources.
Self-Advocacy: Self-advocacy is the individual, purposeful act by a pharmacist (or student pharmacist) to represent their own professional interests — in the workplace, in their career development, or in engaging with professional and systemic issues — by actively understanding their role, setting goals, communicating needs, seeking resources, and participating in organizational or systemic opportunities.
The expected time to complete this survey is 5–10 minutes. Please complete the survey by January 12th, 2026. For questions, please reach out to the SEC Liaison, Olunife Akinmolayan. With your help, we can amplify the impact of pharmacy education.