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All programming will be held at the JW Marriott Houston by The Galleria Hotel
All programming will be held at the JW Marriott Houston by The Galleria Hotel
The Rufus A. Lyman Award is presented annually to the author(s) of the best paper published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.
The award shall consist of an appropriately inscribed plaque. If the paper selected is authored by more than one person, each author shall receive a plaque. Recipients are honored during the AACP Annual Meeting.
Authors: Diana M. Sobieraj, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS; Aleda M.H. Chen, Pharm.D., Ph.D., FAPhA; Michael P. Kelsch, Pharm.D., BCPS; Lisa Lebovitz, J.D., M.S.; Sarah A. Spinler, Pharm.D., FAHA, FCCP, FSHP, AACC; Mary E. Ray, Pharm.D.
Institutions: University of Connecticut; Cedarville University; North Dakota State University; University of Maryland; Binghamton University, The State University of New York; The University of Iowa
“Deficiencies of Traditional Grading Systems and Recommendations for the Future”
Authors: Jeff Cain. Ed.D.; Melissa S. Medina, Ed.D.; Frank Romanelli, Pharm.D.; Adam M. Persky, Ph.D.
Institutions: University of Kentucky; University of Oklahoma; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Addressing the Need for Ethnic and Racial Diversity in the Pipeline for Pharmacy Faculty”
Authors: Hope E. Campbell, Pharm.D,; Angela M. Hagan, Ph.D.; Caroline A. Gaither, Ph.D.
Institutions: Belmont University; University of Minnesota
"A Historical Discourse Analysis of Pharmacist Identity in Pharmacy Education"
Authors: Jamie Kellar, Pharm.D; Elise Paradis, Ph.D; Cees P.M. van der Vleuten, Ph.D; Mirjam G.A. oude Egbrink, Ph.D; Zubin Austin, Ph.D, MISc
Institutions: University of Toronto (Canada) and Maastricht University (Netherlands)
Authors: Claire Kolar, Pharm.D, Ph.D and Kristin K. Janke, Ph.D
Institution: University of Minnesota
"Assessing Students Impressions of the Cultural Awareness of Pharmacy Faculty and Students"
Authors: Nicholas G. Popovich, Ph.D.; Clara Okorie-Awé, Ph.D., Ed.D.; Stephanie Y. Crawford, Ph.D.; Fabricio E. Balcazar, Ph.D.; Rosalyn P. Vellurattil, Pharm.D.; Terry W. Moore, Ph.D.; Allison E. Schriever, Pharm.D.
Institution: University of Illinois at Chicago
"Blended Simulation Progress Testing for Assessment of Practice Readiness"
Authors: Neal Benedict, Pharm.D.; Pamela Smithburger, Pharm.D., M.S.; Amy Calabrese Donihi, Pharm.D.; Philip Empey, Pharm.D., Ph.D.; Lawrence Kobulinsky; Amy Seybert, Pharm.D.; Thomas Waters; Scott Drab, Pharm.D.; John Lutz, B.S; Deborah Farkas, Ph.D.; Susan Meyer, Ph.D.
Institutions: University of Pittsburgh and WISER Education and Simulation Facility, Pittsburgh
“Development and Application of a Stepwise Assessment Process for Rational Redesign of Sequential Skills-Based Courses”
Authors: Casey E. Gallimore, Pharm.D.; Andrea L. Porter, Pharm.D.; and Susanne G. Barnett, Pharm.D.
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
“Towards an Operational Definition of Clinical Competency in Pharmacy”
Authors: L. Douglas Ried, Ph.D. and Charles A. Douglas, Ph.D., MBA
Institutions: University of Texas at Tyler and Texas A&M University
“Is a Pharmacy Student the Customer or the Product?”
Author: David A. Holdford, Ph.D.
Institution: Virginia Commonwealth University
"Development and Validation of the Student Perceptions of Physician-Pharmacist Interprofessional Clinical Education (SPICE) Instrument"
Authors: David S. Fike, Ph.D.; Joseph A. Zorek, Pharm.D.; Anitra A. MacLaughlin, Pharm.D.; Mohammed Samiuddin, M.D.; Rodney B. Young, M.D.; and Eric J. MacLaughlin, Pharm.D.
Institutions: University of the Incarnate Word, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Pharmacy SuRGE is an AACP initiative to bring together leaders from pharmacy schools to advance research, research training and graduate education. SuRGE meetings provide an opportunity to discuss and develop strategies for supporting research, identify opportunities for collaboration, and share experience in navigating the changing research regulation and funding landscape. SuRGE is envisioned as a starting point for activities that can be continued through AACP affiliate groups such as the Graduate Education Special Interest Group (SIG.)
Quarterly SuRGE meetings are held from 1–2:30 p.m. ET on the third Tuesday of March, June, September and December. Please contact Dorothy Farrell for more information.
The next Pharmacy SuRGE meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 16, 2026.
Please note: All times listed below are in Eastern Time.
Welcome and Update on AACP activities
Dorothy Farrell, Ph.D., Senior Director of Science Policy and Chief Science Officer, AACP
Overview of upcoming AACP programs and last call for comments on the SuRGE Community Statement padlet.
Setting the Stage
SuRGE Planning Group
Research Partnership with Industry
Ajay K. Banga, Ph.D., Chair and Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Co-Director of the Center for Drug Delivery, T.P. Haines Endowed Chair in Transdermal Delivery Systems, Mercer University College of Pharmacy
Tim Tracy, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, MoglingBio and Principal, Tracy Consultants
How can faculty and leaders engage partners in industry to support and advance research at pharmacy schools?
Discussion - Challenges and Opportunities for Research Partnerships
Moderator Mansoor M. Amiji, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor, Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bouve College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University
The June 2026 SuRGE meeting will focus on graduate training and instilling competencies for successful careers outside of academia.
A Pharmacy SuRGE Community Taskforce has been established for 2025-2026 by Graduate Education SIG Chair Om Perumal. The taskforce will develop a community statement and articulate the goals and objectives for the SuRGE initiative and community.
The goals and objectives of the initial SuRGE meetings have been to
Reimagining STEMM Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Career Development: A Summit, from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine
Preparing the Future Workforce in Drug Research and Development - A Workshop
Trends in Research and Graduate Programs in Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy, Part 1: Programs
Trends in Research and Graduate Affairs in Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy, Part 2: Students
Trends in Research and Graduate Affairs in Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy, Part 3: Underrepresented Minorities
Report of the 2023 AACP Council of Deans Taskforce on Pharmacy Research and Scholarship
Changing and Reframing the Norms of Pharmacy Graduate Education
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) is the national association for pharmacy education in the United States, and our 143 institutional members are the colleges and schools of pharmacy accredited by or with candidate status from the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE.) Our mission is to lead and partner with our members in advancing pharmacy education, research, scholarship, practice and service to improve societal health.
There are more than 6200 full and part-time faculty members in pharmacy schools in the United States, teaching in both professional and graduate programs. Enrollment in these programs includes more than 44,000 PharmD students, just over 3500 Ph.D. students, and nearly 1900 students enrolled in M.S. programs.
In 2022-23, programs in pharmacy schools conferred
The most common Ph.D. degrees conferred by discipline were
Other disciplines in which Ph.D. degrees were conferred include biological & medical informatics; biomolecular sciences; chemistry; drug discovery; immunology; industrial physical pharmacy; pharmacogenomics; pharmacotherapy; pharmacometrics and systems pharmacology; and translational science.
According to data collected through the AACP Funded Research Grant Data collection, in federal fiscal year 2023, 1772 investigators at pharmacy schools were principal or co-investigators on research grants or contracts originating outside their home school or college. These extramural grants totaled over $740 million dollars in NIH awards, $110 in other federal awards and $190 million in funding from non-federal sources.
Data on student enrollments and degrees conferred taken from AACP Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness “First Professional and Graduate Enrollment Trends Interactive Dashboard” and “Fall 2023 Degrees Conferred - Profile of Pharmacy Students”
Dr. Marlon "Doc" Fuller is a distinguished philanthropist, inventor, author, entrepreneur, pharmacist, keynote, and investor, who also balances life as a devoted father of four. With his wife, Christina, he co-founded CoolKids.org, a nonprofit that provides financial literacy education to children aged 8 to 16, impacting over 30,000 lives.
The Community Pharmacy Student Scholar Leaders participated in monthly 2-hour sessions, completed pre- and post-session assignments, and presented a graduation poster highlighting what they learned from the program and their vision for the future of community-based pharmacy practice.