Academic Pharmacy Now: 2019 Issue 1

Academic Pharmacy

The News Magazine of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

NOW

Volume 12 2019 Issue 1

Bright Ideas

Student pharmacists are developing business acumen, tapping into their creativity and demonstrating innovative thinking as they hone their entrepreneurial skills. 18

Also in this issue: Pharmacy at the Museum 8 Getting On Board With Informatics 14

Pharmacists Help People Live Healthier, Better Lives.

who we are @AACPharmacy

Academic Pharmacy The News Magazine of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

Pharmacists Help People Live Healthier, Better Lives.

1400 Crystal Drive, Suite 300 P Arlington, VA 22202 703-739-2330 P www.aacp.org Founded in 1900, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy is the national organization representing the interests of pharmacy education. AACP comprises all accredited colleges and schools of pharmacy, including more than 6,600 faculty, approximately 63,800 students enrolled in professional programs and 4,800 individuals pursuing graduate study.

NOW

CEO & Publisher

Lucinda L. Maine Editorial Advisor

Lynette R. Bradley-Baker

Editorial Director

Maureen Thielemans Managing Editor

Letters to the Editor

Jane E. Rooney

We welcome your comments. Please submit all letters to the editor to communications@aacp.org.

About Academic Pharmacy Now

Academic Pharmacy Now highlights the work of AACP member pharmacy schools and faculty. The magazine is published as a membership service.

Change of Address

For address changes, contact LaToya Casteel, Member Services Coordinator, at lcasteel@aacp.org.

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Editorial Assistant

Kyle R. Bagin

Communications Advisor

Stephanie Saunders Fouch

Art Director

Tricia Gordon Digital Designer

Sean Clark

©2019 by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

All rights reserved. Content may not be reprinted without prior written permission.

Freelance Writer

AACP’s Professional Supporter Program Achievement Supporter

Joseph Cantlupe

Promotion Supporter

Freelance Writer

Emily Jacobs

Freelance Writer

Athena Ponushis

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Academic Pharmacy NOW  2019 Issue 1

Volume 12 2019 Issue 1

@AACPharmacy a look inside

community impact

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News in Brief •

Auburn Doctoral Student Earns University’s First R36 Grant

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MCPHS Faculty Member Sheds Light on Wearable Technology + Pharmacy

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UF College of Pharmacy Receives Major Grant to Bolster Kratom Research

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Connecting the Dots Between Statins and Tendon Injuries Pharmacists are key to communicating the risk of Achilles tendon rupture from statin use.

On Display Museum exhibits improve social pharmacy skills of college students, ignite public knowledge and allow all ages to explore pharmacy up close.

campus connection

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All Aboard the Tech Train Educators are seeing growing enthusiasm among students in schools embracing emerging technologies significant to the future of pharmacy education.

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Bright Ideas

Student pharmacists are developing business acumen, tapping into their creativity and demonstrating innovative thinking as they hone their entrepreneurial skills.

@AACPharmacy

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Are You Ready to Get INvolved?

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Get Connect-ed to Best Practices with AACP Webinars Chart Your Leadership Course in 2019 Mark Your Calendars Filling Up Fast! Spring Institute 2019 New Addition: Mental Health First Aider Training Course

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community note publisher’s impact

Dear Colleagues: I trust your holidays were warm and the new year has gotten off to an excellent start! Virtually all of us endured the bitter cold associated with the Polar Vortex in late January. The groundhog reportedly did not see his shadow on February 2nd. I for one will welcome an early spring!

I also welcome the contents of this issue of Academic Pharmacy Now. Pharmacy is not alone in facing challenges that come with transitions in healthcare financing and organization. In our case, steeply eroding payments to traditional pharmacy operations have become so serious and disruptive to business that it has become a priority of the current Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar II. I believe it is a good thing that his point person on prescription drug pricing is Dr. John Michael O’Brien, a graduate of an AACP member school, whose professional career has afforded him unique and extensive insights into prescription pricing “behind the green curtain.” On the other hand, demand for pharmacists equipped to care for patients and contribute to teams in the ambulatory care/clinic environments is rising sharply.

In this issue you’ll find several stories that highlight what our members are doing with curricula in the important areas of informatics and entrepreneurship. It is interesting to reflect historically on the emphasis of these significant topics for pharmacy education. Pharmacists were among the first provider group to introduce computers into daily practice such that virtually 100 percent of community pharmacists were prepared for e-prescriptions as this moved into their practice. That said, electronic health records and the ability for pharmacists in all settings to read and write in their patients’ records has proven to be a long and challenging road. And entrepreneurship (or independent community pharmacy ownership) used to be the primary career track for most pharmacy graduates, albeit 50 years ago or so. This has certainly changed and not all colleges and schools have the faculty to teach and nurture entrepreneurship in our learners.

Organized pharmacy made a commitment almost 10 years ago to work collaboratively on pharmacy informatics at the national level. AACP was a founding organization for the Pharmacy Health Information Technology Collaborative (PHIT). By having one primary focal point for planning strategically about how to ensure pharmacists are connected to other components of patient care, the PHIT staff and workgroup members have brought us to a point of seeking recognition among standards organizations and HIT vendor for the Pharmacists’ E-Care Plan. Several of our faculty members contribute to the PHIT as members and leaders of workgroups.

The 2018 Argus Commission report [https://www.ajpe.org/doi/pdf/10.5688/ajpe7161] contains a recommendation that reflects an appreciation that there are key areas of the Pharm.D. curriculum quite unevenly addressed across our member schools. Informatics is specifically mentioned but there is also a need for education that can equip graduates to enter the workforce armed with the skills and confidence to build new services and business models as entrepreneurs. These two skillsets will set our graduates apart as the marketplace seeks new and more effective approaches to improving the impact and efficiency of healthcare in the digital age. The commission’s third recommendation calls upon AACP to build new faculty development programs to accelerate the capacity for teaching essential content and skills such as those featured in this issue. Plans to do so will emerge soon.

Sincerely,

Lucinda L. Maine, Ph.D., R.Ph. CEO and Publisher

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community impact

News in Brief Auburn Doctoral Student Earns University’s First R36 Grant

cists with an eye on improved clinical outcomes and patient safety.”

Tessa Hastings is the first Auburn University student to be awarded a highly competitive research grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Aungst explains that wearable technology has the potential to revolutionize the pharmacy field in many ways, including monitoring patients’ blood pressure, blood glucose and adherence to their prescribed pharmacotherapy.

A doctoral student in Auburn’s Harrison School of Pharmacy, Hastings is researching how Alabama pharmacies can share vaccine information with each other so they know how many residents are actually receiving vaccines, and how to educate and remind the public to re-vaccinate. Hastings receives a $42,424 award to support her dissertation research, “Assessing Barriers and Increasing Use of Immunization Registries in Pharmacies: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” The first phase of her study involves identifying barriers in utilization of immunization registries within a pharmacy context.

“Pharmacists are instrumental in improving adult immunization rates. However, with the role of pharmacists as vaccination providers expanding, documentation is key to maintaining complete and accurate immunization records,” she said. “It is critical that each provider administering vaccines, including pharmacists, participate and update the registry each time a vaccine is administered to a patient.

Many states, including Alabama, have limited pharmacy participation in the registry.”

Read more: http://bit.ly/AuburnR36Grant

MCPHS Faculty Member Sheds Light on Wearable Technology + Pharmacy Dr. Timothy D. Aungst is an associate professor of pharmacy practice at MCPHS University with a passion for understanding how healthcare’s biggest technological innovations can be applied to the field of pharmacy. In a recent article for ComputerTalk, Aungst discussed how wearables, or small, bio-reading sensors, can potentially be used to digitally monitor the clinical and health outcomes of patients.

“Many devices have entered the market that can be worn peripherally on the patient (e.g., wrist-mounted) or attached directly to the body for higher data collection (e.g., blood glucose),” says Aungst. “Of particular interest to the pharmacy field, these technologies may pave the way for increased opportunities for medication oversight by pharma-

Read more: http://bit.ly/WearablesAndPharmacy

UF College of Pharmacy Receives Major Grant to Bolster Kratom Research

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded researchers at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy a two-year, $3.5 million grant to bolster research on Mitragyna speciosa, or kratom, and its potential to treat opioid misuse and physical dependence.

UF College of Pharmacy researchers have studied kratom, which comes from the leaves of a tropical tree from Southeast Asia, as a potential therapy to wean addicts off heroin or prescription opioids. It activates the same opioid receptors and appears to satisfy the craving, while possibly lessening the risk of respiratory depression.

Next they will seek to identify the pharmacology of its 40 alkaloids, test the effects of these individual alkaloids on the brain’s receptors and continue to develop treatment strategies to help addicts quit opioids.

Principal investigators Dr. Lance McMahon, professor and chair of the college’s department of pharmacodynamics, and Dr. Chris McCurdy, professor of medicinal chemistry in the college, say the grant will renew and reinvigorate their research.

The next stage of kratom research involves identifying the pharmacology of its chemicals. Dr. Bonnie Avery, co-investigator and clinical professor of pharmaceutics at the college, identifies kratom’s alkaloids through chromatographic methods, to determine where they go in the body and how they are broken down into metabolites.

Read more: http://bit.ly/UFKratomGrant Academic Pharmacy NOW  2019 Issue 1

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Connecting the Dots Between Statins and Tendon Injuries Pharmacists are key to communicating the risk of Achilles tendon rupture from statin use.

By Emily Jacobs

One adverse drug reaction may be a coincidence.

Three or more adverse reactions in the same patient, however, and most researchers would suspect a link to the medication. Such was the case for one patient who experienced severe tendinopathy after receiving statin therapy.

A 40-year-old male patient was taking rosuvastatin for high cholesterol, but was otherwise healthy and athletic. Six months after starting the statin, he had a complete rupture of his left Achilles tendon during an indoor soccer match.

After being taken off the rosuvastatin and receiving surgical repair and physical therapy, the patient was back to normal.

Nine months after the rupture, he resumed rosuvastatin and within a month, began to experience severe tightness and pain in both Achilles tendons. Switching statins did not resolve this tightness. In fact, the patient reported that he could barely walk after only five days on the new statin.

“There was a clear link in our minds, as researchers, that this was statin-induced,” said case report lead author Dr. Nader H. Moniri, associate dean for research at Mercer University College of Pharmacy. “We started looking in the literature, and there were many more case reports that suggest that patients who are on statins can have symptoms ranging from tendonitis to bilateral spontaneous ruptures of the Achilles tendon.”

Additional research is needed to determine whether there is a significant association between statins and Achilles rupture and the possible mechanism behind it. So far, retrospective chart analyses have found no such link.

Pharmacists Can Warn of Potential Side Effects Moniri was especially concerned with the way a patient may learn—or not learn—about the reported link between statins and tendon injuries. Most statin prescriptions are

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written by general practitioners, followed by cardiologists.

General practitioners, however, are less familiar with the potential link between statin use and tendon rupture.

In Moniri’s case report, the patient’s orthopedic surgeon knew of the reported link between statin use and tendon rupture and brought it to the patient’s attention. The patient’s primary-care provider, however, had been unaware of any such connection. Moniri’s team recently published the case report in the October 2018 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings to help inform prescribers and the broader medical community of the possible risk of tendonopathys with statin use. Mercer’s College of Health Professions physical therapy faculty member Dr. Timothy McMahon, physical therapy faculty at Mercer’s College of Health Professions and director of Mercer’s Physical Therapy Clinic, also collaborated on the study.

This recent case report demonstrates pharmacists’ key role in spotting adverse events. Because of their direct contact with patients, pharmacists are often the first to learn about medication effects. Pharmacists can alert patients, prescribers and even researchers to potential adverse events, even from older drugs that are otherwise well-tolerated.

If previous studies have not confirmed such events and reports are not widely published, clinicians may not be aware of them.

Lack of communication from patients could be a significant reason why primary-care providers are unaware of the risk of tendon rupture with statin use, Moniri said. “Patients [with tendopathy] may not be making that link. They may be seeing an orthopedic surgeon for tendon issues and there may be a lack of communication back to the general practitioner,” he said. Pharmacists are vital in helping bridge this communication gap and increasing awareness of the potential link between statin use and Achilles tendon diseases, including rupture.

community impact

“There needs to be some thoughtfulness, both from the prescribers as well as patients. If there is any previous tendinopathy or tendon pain, then perhaps statins should be cautiously used.”

—Dr. Nader H. Moniri

Real-World Applications

statin use so they can consider the benefits or drawbacks for individual patients.

Moniri and his team hope that their published case will make providers more mindful of potential adverse events Case report co-author Dr. Ekta Nayee, who participated in when prescribing statins to individuals with previous the research as a student pharmacist, drew additional realtendinopathy or tendon pain. “Statins are definitely world lessons from the research. By examining the existing efficacious, so we shouldn’t lean toward not using statins,” literature on statin use and tendon injuries, Nayee said she he pointed out. Statin alternatives may be recommended gained a greater understanding of how drugs affect people’s for patients who are experiencing tendonitis but also lives. This was a helpful complement to pharmacy school, need cholesterol treatment. “There needs to be some where education is focused more on drug mechanism. thoughtfulness, both from the prescribers as well as patients.

If there is any previous tendinopathy or tendon pain, then “Just learning how a drug works is good, but focusing on that perhaps statins should be cautiously used.” alone will not tell you everything you need to know,” Nayee said. “You can just read about it, but when you’re part of it, you In many cases, patients using statins may not experience can appreciate how much time is put into these things, and you tendon issues at all. Therefore, it is vital for prescribers and appreciate the role of pharmacists and medication in life.” P pharmacists to be fully informed about the potential risks of

Emily Jacobs is a freelance writer based in Toledo, Ohio.

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On Display Museum exhibits improve social pharmacy skills of college students, ignite public knowledge and allow all ages to explore pharmacy up close.

By Athena Ponushis

Schools of pharmacy are partnering with museums to put pharmacy on display and educate the public about the science behind pharmacy.

Such exhibits are exposing younger students to science and engaging them in the scientific process. They are also honing the communication skills of the college students who cultivate them, as they learn to translate their knowledge into a language that people can understand.

photo: COSI

Museums are creative by nature, and partnering with them has given schools another way to mobilize students to lead outreach activities and exercise their own creativity.

Museum visitors have been intrigued and student pharmacists have been grateful for the practice.

“Who would have thought that as a pharmacy student you could learn how to talk about science at a museum? That’s a little unconventional, but it’s a great platform for the profession—to build advocates for pharmacy and show how safe medication usage can promote healthy lifestyles,” said Dr. Nicole Kwiek, assistant dean of undergraduate studies and director of Generation Rx at The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. “Kids of all ages understand what medicines are, they get the context immediately, but it helps to get them thinking about safe medication-taking practices and teach them, ‘Who is a pharmacist? Why is a pharmacist important? How can I talk with a pharmacist?’ With this museum partnership, we can start to instill these ideas at a very young age.”

An OSU student pharmacist helps museum visitors with an experiment at the Generation Rx Lab.

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community impact

Hands-On Learning The Generation Rx Lab, an active drug education and research space, sits in a glass pod within the Labs in Life exhibit at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, Ohio. Every day museum-goers come in and put on lab coats, white or tie-dyed, and wear stethoscopes around their necks and solve medicinal questions. The lab is staffed by Dr. Cynthia Canan, a postdoctoral fellow, and OSU student pharmacists who are enrolled in a science communication course or are on APPE rotation. Together, the team develops educational experiments for museum visitors to conduct during their visit, exposing them to the science behind drug action. Students lead the hands-on experiments, with a main attraction being Bob the Abra Cadaver, a medical robot that looks like a human patient.

Bob talks, he blinks, he breathes, he has a pulse and his pupils dilate. You can measure his vitals and put him in a medical crisis. Inconspicuous lab staff control Bob’s medical states from a computer off to the side. Visitors approach Bob much like they would a patient in grand rounds. Young children think of questions to ask Bob about how he’s feeling. Bob may say, “I have a headache. I ate some peanuts at a birthday party and I didn’t know it and now I feel a

little woozy.” Guests start collecting data, writing on the lab’s glass walls. The student puts Bob in a more emergent situation. He goes into anaphylactic shock. The team agrees on a drug therapy and gives him an epinephrine shot. Then they talk about why the allergy attack happened and how the drug helped Bob. The OSU College of Pharmacy started the Generation Rx Initiative in 2007 to address the problem of medication misuse and promote awareness of safe medication-taking practices. Partnering with and receiving funding from the Cardinal Health Foundation in 2009, the project has now grown to involve 120 schools of pharmacy with more than 60,000 students taking the message into their communities.

Kwiek believes the initiative has been successful because it hits right at the heart of pharmacy while harnessing the students’ energy.

Brainstorming innovative ways to spread the message, Kwiek had the idea: “Wouldn’t it be great if we could showcase drug science in a museum setting?” Her research had shown that people found pharmacology topics to be captivating. In her postdoctoral work, she saw that high school students connect better with science topics when

A visitor to the Generation Rx Lab examines a DNA sample.

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the science is introduced with a pharmacology spin, like learning a redox reaction not through rust but by learning how methamphetamines kill neurons. And she knew Columbus had an amazing science museum in COSI. Pharmacology may be a discipline that is normally taught at the postbaccalaureate level, but her thought was, “If we could find a way to take this content, distill it down and get it to the general public, to the children, parents and grandparents visiting COSI, then we could have them doing hands-on science, real experiments, learning basic scientific concepts and connecting it back to safe medicationtaking practices.”

COSI visitors are now saving Bob seven days a week. Since 2012, COSI guests have been conducting experiments, like isolating their DNA, putting it in a vial and walking away with it, or crafting and testing their own hand sanitizer and testing it out by pressing their hands on petri dishes before and after they use it—all the while learning the science that underlies medicines.

Pharmacy as a Gateway to Science

Wingate’s partnership with Discovery Place gives museum guests an opportunity to interact with hands-on displays.

Because drug topics spark interest, the Generation Rx Lab is researching whether teaching science through a pharmacology lens can serve as an effective platform for people of all ages to engage in the scientific process and learn basic science concepts. Surveys indicate that visitors find the learning experience compelling and better than learning about medicine via other modalities because they are able to think like scientists.

“This information that they might be getting by simply reading or listening is not being conveyed as well as it is in the lab, where they actually get to do it, they get to design an experiment to

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test the medicine’s action,” Kwiek said. “They’re being led through a guided experience by our students where they have to actually design the experiments.…We don’t just give them instructions and tell them to do it. We present a problem and they figure out a way to address that problem through the scientific process. This allows them to develop their own abilities to create datacollecting strategies to answer a given question.”

Kwiek was fortunate because the Labs in Life space in COSI is owned

by OSU. Those glass pods were built years ago with the premise that museum visitors needed to see what research looked like, so making that connection was easy. Kwiek recommends that pharmacy schools looking to form similar partnerships leverage their outreach departments to make connections with the museum community and see what their needs might be surrounding health and wellness. They can then figure out a way to work together and make pharmacists accessible to the community through yet another venue. She emphasizes that such work does take resources. And as a matter of semantics, she cautions schools to use the word “medicines” rather than “drugs.” In her experience, museums may be nervous to talk about drugs, but talking about medicines isn’t controversial.

“We have what I would call the Cadillac version of a museum lab pharmacy experience, but it doesn’t have to be like that. There are museums clamoring for people from the university to help them with programming, and a college could set up a little area on the main floor and be interacting with visitors that way,” Kwiek said.

“You don’t need a formal space. You

Student pharmacists at Wingate designed games to educate museum guests about the various roles pharmacists can have.

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“Kids of all ages understand what medicines are, they get the context immediately, but it helps to get them thinking about safe medication-taking practices and teach them, ‘Who is a pharmacist?

Why is a pharmacist important? How can I talk with a pharmacist?’”

—Dr. Nicole Kwiek

can begin with a very small-scale student project and watch it grow, because if our experience tells you anything, it’s going to grow.”

Drawing a Crowd Dr. Carolyn Ford, professor and director of Community Healthcare Outreach at Wingate University School of Pharmacy, saw how receptive the public was to her school’s first pharmaceutical museum exhibit, and now she’s dreaming up bigger hands-on-science displays for the future.

Discovery Place, Charlotte, invited Wingate to participate in its fall Pharmaceutical Month exhibit. Faculty made field trips to the museum, museum staff visited school laboratories and the partners talked about how to enhance displays. “We negotiated, because as faculty we had some lofty ideas, so they had to help us refine them,” Ford said.

“Our directive was to target third-to-sixth graders, but we knew all walks of life would be there—adults, babies, high schoolers—so we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to share the positive aspects of pharmacy and potential pharmacy careers with the public.”

pharmacist.” Of course, the museum staff thought the public would find dispensing interesting, so the school did include a simulation of filling prescriptions, with gel capsules and liquids and microliter pipettes, but insisted that filling prescriptions would not be the focus. “We tried to come up with activities that were simple and self-directed but also taught additional skills beyond pour this, count that,” Ford said.

Ford saw surprised reactions from museum visitors. She said many people did not know pharmacists were giving immunizations or they were not aware of the different roles available to pharmacists, so they were pleasantly surprised that these services and career paths were open to them. High school students working as museum volunteers reached out to Wingate faculty to learn more about the pharmacy profession. “These are juniors and seniors with advanced knowledge in science and math who are at that point where they’re about to decide what path they’re going to take and they are contacting our faculty to learn more about pharmacy,” Ford said. Likewise, Kwiek finds that her students staffing the Generation Rx Lab are showing self-reported gains in their abilities to talk about science and in their interests in pursuing teaching-type careers.

Wingate faculty brainstormed and student pharmacists brought their energy to create educational, engaging What surprised Ford most was the sheer volume of visitors. displays. They came up with a Wingate Jeopardy game to “One of the things from a pharmacy recruiting or pharmacy present the various roles in pharmacy to museum guests— exposure standpoint that was very interesting is that up nuclear pharmacists, embedded pharmacists, pharmacists to 2,000 people can come through Discovery Place in one on transitions of care teams. Students designed a “Know day. I’m thinking that if any school of pharmacy across the Your Pharmacist” game, lift-the-flap style, with statements country had an opportunity to partner, that would be a like, “Pharmacists give shots. Fact or fiction?” Another game, “Bugs and Drugs,” created by Dr. Heather Kehr and Dr. great opportunity because you’re getting students at that formative age, and you’re getting their parents, and they’re Olga Klibanov, matched common bugs to drug treatments coming here because they’re interested so it’s a self-selected based on color-coding. Visitors could match an orange audience,” Ford said. “It’s probably something that we have staphylococcus to an orange penicillin, for example, and not looked at as a profession to really share with the public place the pair on a full-size, human body puzzle on the skin, what our profession is about, but we should take advantage to learn why it is so crucial to wash your hands. of the volume of people who would come to interact with the “Our core goal was to convey that pharmacy is a lot more than science of pharmacy.” P dispensing,” Ford said. “And pharmacists have a lot of skills.

Athena Ponushis is a freelance writer based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

You need talents that most of the public is not aware of to be a

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Visitors learn from an OSU student pharmacist how to identify an asthma attack.

photo: COSI

Stay Tuned for More About

The Generation Rx Lab at COSI includes an interactive medical robot.

Generation Rx, a partnership between The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and the Cardinal Health Foundation, aims to educate people of all ages about the potential dangers of misusing prescription medications.

Pharmacists and student pharmacists around the country have embraced the program.

Academic Pharmacy Now will highlight other Generation Rx programs in a future issue.

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campus connection

All Aboard the Tech Train Educators are seeing growing enthusiasm among students in schools embracing emerging technologies significant to the future of pharmacy education.

By Joseph A. Cantlupe

The wide range of academic training for pharmacy has many tributaries, especially in health IT, that touch on data issues from electronic medical records to patient safety, not to mention the increasing need to work as a clinical team with practitioners to improve healthcare outcomes. As healthcare becomes more complex, academic studies in pharmacy informatics are necessary to prepare professionals who can navigate health information technology’s (HIT) contributions within healthcare delivery. While advocates say there is a greater need for informatics training, the movement has been slow, according to a recent progress report in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE). However, there are pharmacy schools working steadily to expand student opportunities because they see HIT as part of a dynamic future in healthcare.

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Informatics educators focus curricular efforts on the utilization of data, information and knowledge along with technology and automation, which is used across the medication-use process to change and enhance healthcare delivery and outcomes. Informatics is viewed as an emerging discipline with significant potential that touches every area of pharmacy practice.

Increased training in the pharmacy setting not only means improved safety and quality of care, but it also lays the foundation for increased employment possibilities, from health systems and hospitals to community pharmacies, industry, business and beyond. The ability to evaluate data and develop solutions using technology also presents an opening for potential entrepreneurs.

“We’ve approached curricular experiences through the lens that informatics is going to be foundational for any type of pharmacy career,” said Dr. Beth Breeden, associate professor in the department of pharmacy practice and director of graduate studies at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. “At a minimum, we want our students and residents to possess basic competencies in this area, while at the same time providing advanced opportunities for specialization in these programs if they choose.” The college’s informatics offerings include a dual Pharm.D. plus health informatics offerings include a dual Pharm.D. and master’s degree or certificate in health informatics, two residencies, required and elective courses in health informatics, IPPE/ APPE rotations and internships.

campus connection

Getting Up to Speed

coordinator for health information technology, Keck Graduate Institute In the AJPE study (co-authored by School of Pharmacy and Health Breeden), 132 programs met inclusion Sciences, agrees. KGI initiated a criteria for review. Of these, only 47 certificate program last year in (36 percent) included an informatics pharmacy informatics. “Pharmacy course; 64 percent were required has been a little bit behind in terms of while 47 percent were elective courses. informatics,” Roosan said, “and one of Some 20 percent of the programs the reasons is there has been a lack of provided advanced informatics and/or introductory practice experiences, while training programs. And there haven’t 20 percent offered informatics residency been a lot of people who have had an understanding or grasp of the idea of programs. Only 17 percent listed certificate and/or graduate programs in data analytics or innovative technology.” informatics. [read the full study: https:// Roosan recounted an exchange with www.ajpe.org/doi/pdf/10.5688/ajpe6332] someone a decade ago when he asked “Generally, [informatics] is still in a transition phase even though pharmacists are having more responsibility professionally in terms of informatics in implementation and maintenance of systems,” said Dr. Kevin Fuji, associate professor at Creighton University’s School of Pharmacy and Health Professions.

“I think we’re only going to see pharmacists’ role in IT increase, whether we are talking about practice or in leadership in healthcare.”

Dr. Don Roosan, assistant professor of administrative sciences and certificate

Roosan why he was getting into the field. “Why is there a need for someone with informatics when we have people who can fix the printer?” Roosan recalled being asked. “Every person I talk to about that laughs now, but that’s where informatics was in 2008 or 2009. That was the period when informatics was at the forefront force for The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was signed into law on February 17, 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. You can see the knowledge gaps.”

Seeing Promise in IT Despite the concerns and the history of pharmacy in IT, Roosan, Breeden and Fuji said they were optimistic about what they see as the trend of increasing numbers of students seeking studies that offer more specialized IT training or even advanced degrees. And, they said, there will be greater demand.

Indeed, employment sectors ranging from health systems and hospitals to community pharmacies to healthcare administration are hiring for positions that require the ability to evaluate, develop and interface with healthcare informatics tools, they added.

Lipscomb University cited Bureau of Labor Statistics projections that employment is expected to grow among medical and health service managers by 20 percent between 2016 and 2026.

Lipscomb started early in informatics instruction, launching programs within a year of its founding in 2007.

Its health informatics curriculum includes an offering of a dual Pharm.D. and Master’s of Science degree in Healthcare Informatics. It also has launched cooperative agreements with other organizations devoted to HIT. Besides offering a certificate program, Lipscomb is advancing in development

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and innovation in emerging technologies in healthcare informatics, including predictive analytics and block chain.

Through a partnership with Hashed Health, a Nashville block chain healthcare company, Lipscomb has developed an innovative block chainbased system that allows graduates and potential employers to verify the academic credentials of its healthcare informatics and student pharmacists, according to the university. Lipscomb also has partnered with other organizations, including IBM Watson, to develop curricular offerings in predictive analytics. The university launched a new Center for Analytics & Informatics to integrate the pharmacy school’s study of data analytics with other colleges at the university, including business and computing and technology.

With all these ventures, “we’ve definitely experienced increased interest from students taking courses and completing programs in healthcare informatics,” said Breeden. “We are delighted to see rapid return on investment for students and graduates of these programs.”

Instruction Innovations KGI graduated its first certificate program students last year. The school has four different certificate programs, including health informatics and data analysis. Roosan said the class has increased this year, reflecting the growing interest in informatics.

The program’s intent is to help students leverage data through the health information technology certificate program that school officials say exposes them to pharmacy automation, including robotic medication dispensing systems.

Belmont University College of Pharmacy Students Create Artificial Intelligence Software for Amazon Alexa

By Anthony Blash, Pharm.D. Amazon Alexa is an artificial intelligence platform capable of interacting with various types of information from thermostats to medical devices. According to Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, the purchase of individual Amazon smart speaker units has surpassed 20 million in the United States, up from 10.7 million in March 2017 and 5.1 million in Novem-

It’s important to help students learn the potential of informatics, Roosan said, citing electronic health records as an example. This allows pharmacists to identify patients who are at high risk for adverse effects and maybe should be placed on more effective therapies, with the ultimate goal of providing more efficient care in a team environment.

KGI said its pharmacy informatics program focuses on medication therapy-related knowledge and data within healthcare systems, including information from genomic data, according to Roosan. Pharmaceutical medication safety efforts include leveraging HIT tools that can help carry out medication error reduction plans through technology.

Instruction includes security and HIPAA privacy issues, especially covering different security measures to protect patients’ data and privacy, but

ber 2016. Now, Belmont students are adding to the body of knowledge that Alexa possesses.

Last May, 12 students from Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy were recognized by Amazon Alexa’s certification team for acceptance of their artificial intelligence submissions.

Since the inception of this initiative in fall 2017, Belmont’s team of student pharmacists has grown from eight initial members to a group of 20 skill-certified Amazon Alexa developers. To date, the student pharmacists have developed more than 25 skills that have been peer-reviewed and certified by the Amazon Alexa team and subsequently made available in the Amazon store.

Belmont has created a sequence of five courses and one-month intensive experiential rotations to prepare student pharmacists to become future leaders in healthcare informatics.

Students worked to develop voice activated applications, or “skills,” as part of a co-curricular component of the Introduction to Healthcare Informatics I course. Each skill can be downloaded and activated on-demand to answer drug information questions with accurate medical information. While none of Alexa’s skills should replace a consultation with a licensed healthcare professional, these skills can be downloaded for free online or through the Alexa app, which is now available for Amazon Fire, Apple and Android devices. (To download a skill, choose “Skills” from the Alexa app menu and search for the skill by name.)

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also what steps to take in the event of a security breach and how to maintain anonymity. Roosan added that block chain technology has the potential to reduce vulnerable security risks.

KGI has no immediate plans to change course load, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen, Roosan acknowledged.

“We are pretty well built up, but the way tech changes, it does so rapidly. I look at technology that is so integrated into our lives…it’s going to become a requirement rather than an option.”

Roosan senses the enthusiasm for health IT on campus. “I’m excited about the future, very optimistic. There are opportunities for improvement and I’m very excited about having more of these kinds of people in technology.”

Fuji said that while he sees enthusiasm for increased pharmacy study and Creighton University’s School of

Pharmacy and Health Professions is experiencing an uptick in interest, it is not enough to have a certificate program. “In terms of explicit course work, I see more interest in the area of informatics, so enrollment in my elective course has grown,” he said.

“We don’t have a specific certificate program in IT right now and we’re not in the process of considering one. I’m not aware of a lot of certificate programs in the context of pharmaceutical training. I don’t think informatics training has reached that level of widespread interest.”

stolen or improperly accessed and what safeguards can be established.

The school’s coursework includes an online informatics elective course to integrate into the doctor of pharmacy program, which Fuji and colleague Dr. Kimberly A. Galt outlined in a 2015 paper.

They noted the trend toward technology and pharmacy. “As pharmacists’ roles and involvement with HIT continue to evolve, pharmacy graduates must be prepared to engage it appropriately within their practice to ensure safe, quality care for patients,” they wrote.

“I think it will trickle down,” Fuji said of Fuji said he briefly covers IT security issues in his elective health informatics widespread informatics training. “Our graduates are going to practice and they courses and focuses on “how security are going to interact with technology. and privacy needs have changed with It’s going to happen. I don’t know what the increased use of health information the tipping point is, but I do think it’s technology and electronic patient coming.”

P health information.” As part of his lectures, he discusses security breaches Joseph A. Cantlupe is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C. in which patient data may have been

Team leader Mary Lankford was instrumental in keeping the project on schedule. “As a team, we created a series of artificial intelligence skills for Amazon Alexa. These skills will provide convenient and clinically accurate information to patients about their medications from the comfort of their own homes,” she said. “I was thrilled to be involved with this project, because it gave me the opportunity to combine my background in IT with my love of pharmacy and improving patient care.”

Newly certified developer Anmar AlJassani is a strong advocate for using Amazon’s smart speaker technology for population health. “As a clinically oriented pharmacy student team with an interest in healthcare informatics, the number one question for us has always been ‘How we can improve health outcomes on a large population scale?’ The answer was Alexa,” he said. “I think starting from scratch and working through the challenges that emerge during a project of this complexity was a great experience for all of us. The team did just a great job coordinating priorities, responsibilities, making the work smoothly flow from phase to phase and finally achieving the goal. We’re looking forward to using these skills to increase patient safety and engagement.”

Dr. Anthony Blash is an assistant professor at Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy and sponsor of the Belmont Amazon Alexa Initiative. Reprinted with permission.

Pharmacy Health Information Technology Collaborative In September 2010, nine national pharmacy organizations launched the Pharmacy Health Information Technology (PHIT) Collaborative. The Collaborative has focused on the pharmacy profession’s technology needs to ensure that they are addressed and integrated into the framework of the U.S. HIT infrastructure.

In doing so, the Collaborative is committed to creating a comprehensive and unified approach, ensuring optimal integration of pharmacy’s requirements and contributions into the electronic health record. AACP was a founding member and remains actively involved in helping to lead the organization.

Work groups comprised of volunteers with a wide range of expertise advance the work of the PHIT Collaborative. Pharmacy faculty from several colleges and schools of pharmacy participate in these groups. For more information about the Collaborative and how to become involved, go to http://www.pharmacyhit.org/.

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Bright Ideas

Student pharmacists are developing business acumen, tapping into their creativity and demonstrating innovative thinking as they hone their entrepreneurial skills.

By Jane E. Rooney

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The word entrepreneurism connotes leadership, innovation, creativity and taking initiative. It likely brings to mind new business ventures, perhaps tech start-up companies and risk takers in Silicon Valley. But entrepreneurship isn’t limited to one particular field or industry. Cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset is critical for healthcare professionals, not only in terms of product development but also when it comes to rethinking policies or reimagining organizational frameworks. In fact, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy trademarked the term “pharmapreneurship” to describe the school’s commitment to supporting and best positioning faculty and students to achieve their career goals and address the nation’s healthcare challenges.

“A lot of pharmacists are thinking that entrepreneurship can help us innovate so our patients are safer and reach better outcomes,” said Dr. Joey Mattingly, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. “I believe pharmacists overall think it can help us advance our oath. The well-being of our patients is our primary concern. Entrepreneurship can enhance our goal of improving patient care.”

Helping student pharmacists develop entrepreneurial skills is consistent with AACP’s Strategic Priority #3: innovation in education and practice. It also ties in with current AACP President Dr. David D. Allen’s goal for his term to focus on leadership skill development. With the inclusion of the

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“Pharmacists in general are very conservative. We tend to do things by the book. We want to encourage students to be open to all the things around them. When an idea comes about that could be a solution to a healthcare problem, be vision ready.” ­— George Zorich

CAPE outcomes in Standards 2016 (Standard 4 addresses innovation and entrepreneurship), more schools of pharmacy are taking steps to incorporate entrepreneurship into the curriculum or on a co-curricular level. George Zorich, CEO of ZEDpharma and a University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy alumnus, was inspired to write a book profiling pharmacy graduates who became entrepreneurs. Zorich said he wrote Entrepreneurs in Pharmacy and Other Leaders because “I didn’t think we did a very good job of telling the stories of all these pharmacists who took a risk to make an idea a reality. I interviewed 22 alumni and included stories of unconventional routes taken by someone with a pharmacy degree.” He also recalled a professor telling him he was wasting his degree by going to work in sales, which motivated him to write about nontraditional career paths. “Why are we limiting pharmacists to so few things? I asked people to share all the things you could do with a pharmacy degree and had them talk about how they got to be where they are.” (See sidebar, “Profiling Pharmacy Entrepreneurs.”)

These schools of pharmacy aren’t the only ones preparing their students to be entrepreneurs. Other institutions are entering teams in business competitions or even creating competitions of their own and drawing on alumni experiences to inspire students and teach them to be problem solvers and innovative thinkers.

Defining Entrepreneurship Mattingly received an AACP New Investigator Award in 2018 for his work on formalizing a definition of a pharmacy entrepreneur; identifying a list of knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) needed to be a successful pharmacy entrepreneur; and proposing a set of competencies and taxonomy for pharmacy entrepreneurship. “One of the reasons I was so interested in researching this is because I pursued an MBA while I was in pharmacy school,” he explained. “I noticed that sometimes when we talk about entrepreneurship, it gets saddled with making money and being all about profit. It’s much more than whether you make dollars, it’s, are you creating or adding value that has a broader societal perspective?

Maybe it cures a disease or gets people out of poverty. So the entrepreneur construct is much more encompassing.”

Mattingly is working with a panel to identify key concepts of that entrepreneurial construct, such as innovation. “One of the things that comes up quite a bit is being proactive,” he noted. “Being a self-starter and not having to wait on someone else to fix something. If we teach students about this, we’ll have a more proactive cohort of pharmacists who will seek and identify the problems that need to be solved.

Can they be creative to solve the problem, can they assess the financial costs and benefits of the solution and can they communicate what they did externally? It may not sound like you’re starting your own business but it’s about being a problem solver and doing it in a way that’s financially sustainable.”

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photo: Todd Brown

“I want to help shape and outline the specific layers of what it takes to increase our students’ ability to recall, understand, evaluate and create and what that means for entrepreneurship.” ­— Dr. Joey Mattingly

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photo: Todd Brown

The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy is putting more resources into this on a curricular level, reaching out to alumni who can talk to students about their experiences as pharmacy entrepreneurs. A task force is working on other ways to make entrepreneurism part of the curriculum. Mattingly recommends that colleges of pharmacy that want to promote innovation start by looking at their mission and what they want to achieve. “If you want to improve patients’ health outcomes, apply entrepreneurship through that lens and if that’s the big goal, think about

photo: Todd Brown

He emphasized that successful pharmacy entrepreneurs must have basic financial knowledge and solid communication skills. “Can you effectively write a proposal and communicate that? How good are you at marketing yourself or being able to sell an idea? How persuasive are you?” Mattingly hopes that having some standards and assessment around entrepreneurship will provide useful guidance. “I want to help shape and outline the specific layers of what it takes to increase our students’ ability to recall, understand, evaluate and create and what that means for entrepreneurship,” he said.

Dr. Beth Martin, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy professor (top), listens to a presentation by a SHARx Tank competitor. Judges included representatives from academia, business and industry.

photo: Todd Brown

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photo: Todd Brown

Members of the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy faculty, staff and alumni watch Pharm.D. students present their pitches.

George Zorich (bottom) was instrumental in developing the student organization that culminated in SHARx Tank.

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“As we look at how pharmacists can impact patient care and population health, a lot of those changes are going to occur in independent pharmacies. The pharmacists there can make those decisions about what’s best for the patient and what’s best for the community...When you’re the boss, you can make those decisions about how you care for patients.” ­— Dr. Schwanda Flowers how entrepreneurship fits in with that. Does that align with the overarching mission the school is trying to achieve?

Once schools start to implement, it’s important that they spend time up front creating some educational materials for faculty and students to explain what they mean by entrepreneur.” He hopes that a core set of KSAs—to include risk-taking, strategic planning, marketing, competitiveness and social responsibility—will serve as a starting point for making entrepreneurship part of the pharmacy curricula.

A Head for Business At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Pharmacy, students have been putting their entrepreneurial ideas to the test for several years through the Good Neighbor Pharmacy National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. The goal of this national competition is to motivate student pharmacists to create the blueprint necessary for buying an existing independent community pharmacy or developing a new pharmacy. The UAMS College of Pharmacy has had a team in the competition every year for the past decade and has advanced to the finals five times. Dr. Schwanda Flowers, the college’s interim dean and associate dean for administrative and academic affairs, has been an adviser to student teams since 2008. She and her co-adviser, Dr. Seth Heldenbrand, teach an entrepreneurship and ownership course, which helps teams prepare for the competition.

“We do have the luxury of using our course for students to springboard their ideas into a business plan,” she noted.

“We come to class and talk about pharmacy niche development and innovative areas of practice. Teams have to come up with the ideas on their own. We ask them to open a store or purchase an existing store. During the semester they have to come up with a niche idea, do location analysis, develop a marketing plan and present financial feasibility—all within

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one semester.” Flowers attributes students’ success in the competition partly to the fact that she and her co-adviser devote a lot of time to mentoring students and referring them to a supportive local network; having current owners as mentors is critical.

“We have a strong independent community pharmacy culture here in Arkansas,” she added. “We have a tremendous amount of support from preceptors and pharmacists around the state who will help students with their plan, give them feedback and even let them look at old financials. That helps a lot.” She predicts that entrepreneurship and innovation will drive the future of pharmacy. “As we look at how pharmacists can impact patient care and population health, a lot of those changes are going to occur in independent pharmacies. The pharmacists there can make those decisions about what’s best for the patient and what’s best for the community. A lot of the change we’re going to see will happen in community pharmacy. When you’re the boss, you can make those decisions about how you care for patients.”

The 2015 NCPA winning business plan team, Rhea Drug from UAMS: Kristen Belew, Luke Morrison, Christina Watkins and Brooklyn Pruett, all class of 2016.

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“One of the things that comes up quite a bit is being proactive. Being a self-starter and not having to wait on someone else to fix something. If we teach students about this, we’ll have a more proactive cohort of pharmacists who will seek and identify the problems that need to be solved.” ­— Dr. Joey Mattingly Even if student pharmacists do not plan to pursue ownership, Flowers’ and Heldenbrand’s course prepares them to be innovative thinkers regardless of practice setting. “Being able to carve out a space and be entrepreneurial is critical to finding the jobs that are going to be satisfying, where students can use what they’ve learned to improve patient outcomes,” she said. “They’ve got to understand reimbursement issues and the financial aspects along with the clinical aspect of pharmacy.” In addition to providing a leadership series through the curriculum, the college offers several electives that help students hone entrepreneurial skills, such as business planning and understanding market competition. “We walk through understanding community pharmacy financials, writing the business plan, how you market your business, how to present this idea to a financier,” she explained. “Presentation skills are a huge part of our course.

Students are not often geared to look at things from a business perspective but more from a clinical perspective.”

Flowers said that UAMS has about 13 percent of graduates each year who plan to own a pharmacy. These graduates often serve as local judges for the business plan competition or mentor current students. UAMS is preparing to offer a weeklong summer academy—the Pharmacy Ownership and Leadership Academy—that would bring students from around the country together to develop ideas to submit to the business plan competition the following year. The hope is that POLA will be endowed soon so the academy would be free for students and they would just cover their travel costs.

“One of the things Arkansas can provide is lifelong networking,” she said. “At most pharmacy schools it’s difficult to carve out a place for ownership. That space in the curriculum just keeps getting smaller. I really think most schools would love to have this opportunity for students to explore ownership and pharmacy innovation.”

Testing the Waters The popular reality show “Shark Tank”—where self-made tycoons assess business and product pitches from entrepreneurs and decide whether to invest—provided inspiration for the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy as faculty pondered how to meet the ACPE requirements around incorporating entrepreneurship into the pharmacy curriculum. Dr. Beth Martin, professor of pharmacy, said she brainstormed with alumni and students to determine how to promote entrepreneurship and build it in beyond the classroom. “In the spring of 2018, we started an entrepreneur club,” Martin said. “We didn’t want it to be an elective and we didn’t want it to be mandated. We needed it to percolate on its own and find its own momentum. It had to be like a seed within you that wants to keep growing. We created a survey for students to understand what they were thinking

Profiling Pharmacy Entrepreneurs George Zorich, CEO of ZEDpharma and University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy graduate, wrote Entrepreneurs in Pharmacy and Other Leaders to illustrate that pharmacy is a “limitless degree” and to spotlight how pharmacy entrepreneurs built their businesses. Zorich profiles 12 entrepreneurs and shares advice from leaders in the field who took nontraditional careers paths. To read chapter one, visit https://payhip. com/b/H6qi. For more about the book or to purchase, visit https://outskirtspress.com/ EntrepreneursinPharmacy.

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“Our younger students are the ones who participated in the competition last year. They are going into different pharmacy settings and their eyes are open. They are not taking anything for granted and they are thinking, could we do that better?... It’s about getting students to have a different mindset. How can you be an agent of change and do something more and not just check the box?” ­— Dr. Beth Martin

about. ‘Do you have ideas that could be a service or product that you want to pursue further?’” The co-curricular group met for five 120-minute sessions last spring to compete in the school’s first SHARx Tank.

George Zorich’s book served as the textbook for students, providing examples of entrepreneurial leaders and giving them a springboard to generate their own ideas. Zorich, a Board of Visitors member who also serves on the advisory board for the school’s Division of Pharmacy Professional Development, wants to see more schools executing these types of competitions, which is why 100 percent of the book’s proceeds will go toward developing entrepreneurship programs for pharmacists. “The more people we have doing this, the better off the economy is and the better off healthcare is,” he said.

“There are so many students today who are interested in health sciences but want to marry that with the business world,” Martin agreed. “We’re the first to partner with the School of Business to offer tracks focusing in that area. We’re trying to nurture that growth mindset.” Eight first- and second-year student pharmacists participated in the initial competition, with one team of three, one team of two and three entering as individuals. The first place winner received a $4,000 scholarship and second place received a $1,000 scholarship. Judges included the School of Pharmacy dean; a vice president of a pharmaceutical company; the director of clinical pharmacy services for UW Health; and a Walgreens executive.

Martin and Zorich agreed that the goal behind the competition—which they hope will continue, perhaps with some modifications—was to generate out-of-the-box thinking.

“It’s about coming up with a creative solution to a healthcare problem,” Zorich said. “We know healthcare costs are out of control. Could someone come up with an app that the

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pharmacist could use to help with that? We are overmedicating the elderly…how can pharmacists help those patients? Is there an idea behind that? Is there something the pharmacist could do working with the medical community to decrease the opioid epidemic? We want students taking a chance on coming up with that idea.”

Martin added, “Our younger students are the ones who participated in the competition last year. They are going into different pharmacy settings and their eyes are open. They are not taking anything for granted and they are thinking, could we do that better?” She said that the thread of entrepreneurism runs through some of the skills labs and other courses, particularly in taking innovative approaches to patient care.

“It’s about getting students to have a different mindset. How can you be an agent of change and do something more and not just check the box?”

Zorich emphasized that teaching entrepreneurism gives students a more creative mindset. “Pharmacists in general are very conservative. We tend to do things by the book.

We want to encourage students to be open to all the things around them. When an idea comes about that could be a solution to a healthcare problem, be vision ready.” He would like to see deans become more engaged on a national level, perhaps partnering with alumni who are entrepreneurs and connecting them with faculty to introduce Shark Tank-style competitions or other methods to expose students to entrepreneurial skills.

Martin was pleased with how well the students did in the first iteration of SHARx Tank. “They surpassed my expectations for the competition and they adapted. It was impressive,” she said. “Entrepreneurship is where our roots are as pharmacists.” P Jane E. Rooney is managing editor of Academic Pharmacy Now.

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@AACPharmacy

Are You Ready to Get INvolved? @AACPharmacy

#INterim19

February 23–26 | Tampa, Florida The 2019 AACP INterim Meeting lands in Tampa, Feb. 23–26, where attendees will connect with top minds in leadership. New this year is a special conference kick-off session that aims to empower current and emerging leaders to think innovatively around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. Fast-paced learning returns with 10-minute microsessions that will tackle the profession’s most pressing topics, including student leadership, regional campuses and preparing students for corporate cultures.

Attending the meeting in Tampa? You won’t want to miss the sessions that address:

• How to engage employees in conscious development of a positive culture while inspiring them to reach their potential

• • • •

How to involve more faculty by creating leadership development opportunities How to recognize and mitigate potential research misconduct How schools are adapting to meet the requirements of the 2016 ACPE standards How to implement innovative ways to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of your institution, and more.

We hope you join us at INvolve 2019, and future INterim Meetings, where we aim to Inspire, Innovate and Invigorate.

Register Now! www.aacp.org/involve19 Engage the Next-Gen Research Workforce at the 2019 Research Symposium: Arrive early at INvolve 2019 to discuss opportunities and challenges in research training during this Feb. 23 pre-session.

Leaders in research and training will show attendees how to engage students in research projects and strengthen the research pipeline, integrate basic and clinical sciences into pharmacy schools, demonstrate the value of research experience for building professional competences and more. Register today: http://bit.ly/IN19Registration

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AACP Annual Meeting The premier professional development meeting for pharmacy educators heads to Chicago, July 13–17. Registration for Pharmacy Education 2019 opens in April.

@AACPharmacy

AACP greatly appreciates the support from our meeting sponsors, whose contributions make this event possible: Educational Day Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

The NACDS Foundation utilizes education, research and philanthropy to help improve patient outcomes and advance public health. Through its collaboration with academic institutions and public health entities, the Foundation seeks to uncover innovative care delivery models that can be replicated and scaled into real-world solutions.

Enflux is a higher education software company that automatically extracts and integrates data from isolated sources into powerful dashboards, facilitating programmatic assessment and accreditation compliance processes. With Enflux, schools deliver the right data to the right educator at the right time. Simply put, we empower academic excellence.

Bronze Sponsors Boiron is a $852 million public company distributing homeopathic medicines in 59 countries. For more than 80 years, Boiron has been committed to funding scientific research and educating healthcare professionals. Boiron maintains the highest standards in manufacturing, complying with U.S. FDA regulations, the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States and Good Manufacturing Practices.

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MedHub LLC is the leading provider of healthcare education management solutions. Our eValue product, is a preferred Pharmacy Education solution, used by more than 30,000 students at nearly 70 Pharmacy Schools in North America to streamline program administration, ensure institutional oversight and accreditation, and improve learning outcomes.

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USP is an independent scientific organization that collaborates with the world’s top experts in health and science to develop quality standards for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients. Through our standards, advocacy and education, USP helps increase the availability of quality medicines, supplements and food for billions of people worldwide. Learn more at usp.org.

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@AACPharmacy

What’s the topic?

Updates to the NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program. Join us for breakfast and learn more!

NACDS Foundation Breakfast Connection Date: Monday, February 25 Time: 6:45 – 7:45 a.m Location: Grand Hyatt, White Ibis, First Floor

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Proud Education Sponsor of the AACP 2019 Interim Meeting Academic Pharmacy NOW  2019 Issue 1

@AACPharmacy

Get Connect-ed to Best Practices with AACP Webinars AACP hosts informative and educational webinars presented by members of our Sections and Special Interest Groups throughout the year. A full list of scheduled Webinars is available on AACP Connect at http://bit.ly/AACPConnectEvents.

NEW! Now earn CEUs during select AACP webinars.

Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education (CAPE) 2013 Outcomes, 0.050 CEU March 14th, 2019; 2:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET Cost: Free to AACP Members; $10 for Non-Members http://bit.ly/CAPEOutcomesWebinar

Chart Your Leadership Course in 2019 The Academic Leadership Fellows Program supports and contributes to the development of leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education by providing the knowledge, skills and network to foster personal and professional growth. Fellows will analyze and evaluate leadership theories and philosophies, and reflect upon those theories in case studies throughout the foursession program.

Applications to join the next cohort of ALFP are due Monday, March 18, at http://bit.ly/ALFP2019.

Key fellowship concepts include: •

Discussion of transformative and adaptive leadership styles

•

Reflection on fellows’ individual strengths and creating an action plan for implementing them in leadership opportunities

•

Incorporation of communication preferences, emotional intelligence and other knowledge into an executive presence

•

Development of key skills needed to produce effective professional arguments

Visit http://bit.ly/ALFP2019 to begin the application process now.

Mark Your Calendars Interested in presenting a school poster at Pharmacy Education 2019 or volunteering for a committee? Below are some important deadlines to add to your calendar.

More information can be found on the AACP website, www.aacp.org.

March

Pharmacy Education 2019 Roundtable Topics Deadline: March 7 The AACP Council of Sections invites AACP members to submit pressing, current topics important to the Academy for roundtable discussions at the 2019 Annual Meeting, July 13–17, in Chicago. http://bit.ly/AM19Roundtables Academic Leadership Fellows Program Deadline: March 18 Commit to enhancing your leadership skills in 2019: ALFP develops leaders in academic pharmacy and higher education by providing the knowledge, skills and network to foster personal and professional growth. http://bit.ly/ALFP2019 Pharmacy Education 2019 School Posters Deadline: March 29 The AACP Program Committee invites each AACP member institution to submit one poster addressing the 2019 school poster theme “Leading Change in Pharmacy Education” via four subcategories: global outreach, recruitment, curriculum, or wellness. http://bit.ly/AM19Submissions

April

Committee Volunteers Deadline: April 5 AACP President-elect Todd D. Sorensen is seeking volunteers to serve on AACP standing, awards selection and other committees. Dr. Sorensen aims to examine elements of AACP Strategic Priority #3, accelerating the transformation of pharmacy education and practice, as the general focus of the 2019–20 AACP standing committees. http://bit.ly/AACPCommittees Election Nominations Deadline: April 26 Guide the future of AACP! We are seeking nominations for President-elect; Chair-elect for the Council of Deans, Council of Faculties and Council of Sections; and more. Join the conversation by submitting your nomination materials. http://bit.ly/AACPElections

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Pharmacists Help People Live Healthier, Better Lives.

1400 Crystal Drive, Suite 300 P Arlington, VA 22202 703-739-2330 P www.aacp.org

Filling Up Fast!

Spring Institute 2019

Strategies to Promote a Culture of Well-being among Students, Faculty and Staff

May 20–22 | Herndon, Va.

Didn’t get a chance to attend the Institute last fall? Now you can register your team to attend the encore Spring Institute, Strategies to Promote a Culture of Well-being among Students, Faculty and Staff, May 20–22, in Herndon, Virginia, at http://bit.ly/StudentWellBeing.

Your team will learn about how stress, anxiety and tragedy are disruptive to student learning, and what colleges and schools of pharmacy should do to support an environment of well-being for students and faculty to minimize the impact of these pressures. Expert speakers will address student mental health programs that contribute to dealing with stress in order to facilitate learning.

New Addition: Mental Health First Aider Training Course AACP will be hosting an eight-hour Mental Health First Aider Training Course immediately following the Institute on Wednesday, May 22, from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and continuing Thursday, May 23, from 8:00 a.m. to Noon. This program, presented by a certified trainer, requires an additional registration cost, as well as an additional night of lodging at the Hyatt at the Institute rate of $179 plus tax.

Questions? Please e-mail John Ressler, director of academic programs and professional development, at jressler@aacp.org.