European Pharmaceutical Students' Association | www.epsa-online.org Bringing pharmacy knowledge and students together. Volume 22 | Edition 3 | April 2015
#EPSAgoeslocal: where have we been
Individual Mobility Project: are you in?
Chat with Professionals: now live!
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Table of contents Editor’s words Presidential words
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EPSA House 6 EPSA internships 7 #EPSAgoeslocal 8
Annual Reception 2015 38th Annual Congress 2015
10 12
Mentoring Project 14 Chat with Professionals 15 Public Health and Social service s 16
Interprofessional TWINNET Individual Mobility project
19 20
Where EPSA can bring you?
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Dear reader, It is my great pleasure to present to you the third and last Newsletter of the mandate 2014-2015. I can proudly say, that we again managed to put together some very interesting articles and reports for you. This year, the EPSA Team adopted the “EPSA goes local” motto and therefore we would really like to share with you a glimpse of what we have done, in an overview through photos and quotes from Team members visiting our members all over Europe. Next to that you will also find an article about team members visiting professional events in European cities, as official EPSA representatives. In March, both the EPSA Annual Reception and the EAHP congress took place. A report of the Annual Reception and an interview with the winner of the EAHP-EPSA award were written to be shared with you fresh from the oven for this edition. Do not forget to read about the mobility opportunities EPSA can offer in a report about the latest Interprofessional TWINNET and an article on EPSA’s very professional project, the Individual Mobility Project. For one last time, my thanks go out to all the authors of this newsletter edition, the editorial board for their quick proofreading, my great Public Relations Department and of course to you: the reader, as our efforts would be worthless without you. Yours in EPSA,
EPSA-EAHP award winner 24 IPSF 25 Representation 26 Map of Europe 29 Events Calendar 30 EPSA Executive contacts 31
Svenja Laarhuis
EPSA Vice President of Public Relations
vp.pr@epsa-online.com
Special thanks to: Barbora Kadlecová - Design and Editing, Maria Pace - Coeditor Editorial Board: Teresa Dominguez, Zane Jūra, Sultan Khan, Emma Bates, Turlough Heffernan, Carolina Alves www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Presidential words 4
Where do we go from here? The third edition of the EPSA Newsletter and the last one for the mandate 2014-2015 reminds us that the end of adventure is getting nearer and nearer. When I look back at the past year, there are many things that we were successful at, things we can be grateful for and most importantly things to learn from. Since the second edition of Newsletter, the EPSA Team gathered for another Team Meeting. We hosted a successful Annual Reception in Brussels and discussed healthcare workforce with our members, as well as our professional partners. The achievements of the Association were presented and a lot of positive and encouraging feedback was received. Final preparations for Annual Congress are still ongoing and we cannot wait to greet you in France! As we are summing up the year in the 2014-2015 mandate, I could not be more proud of the EPSA Team who have been working harder than ever to bring pharmacy, knowledge and students together. It has been a true privilege to work side by side with these inspiring, devoted, open-minded individuals. A big extended thanks goes to the Liaison Secretaries, without whom all of our efforts would not be visible to European pharmacy students at national and local levels.
This year has been all I could imagine, and more! It brought many exciting and inspiring moments, fresh perspectives and vision for the future, new friendships, smiles and laughs. There were ups and downs, fears and frustrations but we learnt how to cope with them and overcome them. We learnt how to motivate ourselves and each other, how to provide support and encouragement and how to give our best for the benefit of all pharmacy students in Europe. Most importantly, we have seen how students’ voice can be loud and how easy it can be to fight for better future. The time has come to pass on all our knowledge and experience to the next generation. Elections for next EPSA Team will be held at the Annual Congress and I hope to see many of you applying. I promise it will be an enriching experience that will change your life and change you for the better.
Start your EPSA adventure!
Svetlana Kolundžić EPSA President
president@epsa-online.org
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
EPSA House 6
The official EPSA project The idea behind the EPSA House is to bring the entire EPSA Executive to live in Brussels for the development of the Association, improving its presence at EU level in order to benefit students. The idea was in EPSA for many years and the EPSA House project was brought to reality in 2012, when another Team member (in addition to the Vice President of External Affairs) moved to Brussels and a new internship contract was signed. I am currently living in the EPSA House together with Sandra Hočevar, EPSA Vice President of Education. We are both doing our internships at the offices of our close partners the Pharmaceutical Group of European Union (PGEU) and the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP). The EPSA House is in the European neighbourhood of Brussels, a mere 5 minute walk to the European Parliament and European Commission and another 15 minutes to the EAHP and PGEU offices. Being in Brussels allows Sandra and me to directly interact with key European stakeholders in the pharmaceutical or health sector and represent EPSA on numerous occasions. The knowledge we gained about EU affairs and the monitoring that we are doing help us in our work for EPSA. On a more personal side, my and Sandra’s living styles are quite similar, and we are having a great time together! We have spent countless hours discussing literally all the aspects of our beloved association. We
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
carry out brainstorming sessions together very often and debates are conducted nearly every evening. The possibility to have a face to face interaction with one other executive member constantly provides a real push for our motivation. We had the chance to host many guests while being in the EPSA House this year. Some friends from external associations who visited include: Marco Mazevet, President of the European Dental Students’ Association (who visited twice!) and Jannis Papazoglou, President of the European Medical Students’ Association; the board of the European Law Students’ Association; Nele Van Lint, President of the VFSO, as well as EPSA Alumni and members. There is one rule that must be respected by visitors. Visitors must greet our 3rd flat-mate, the EPSA Roll-Up, which proudly adorns the EPSA House. Of course the EPSA Team itself went to the heart city of European affairs a few times. Svetlana, EPSA President, visited several times to attend important meetings and the EPSA Team members themselves came for the 4th Team Meeting and Annual Reception in Brussels. During such times when team members visit, the energy, ideas, motivation and work achieved while being altogether is incredible and really makes me cherish these times. I really look forward to the day when all the executive is living in Brussels for the association.
Lucas Besson
EPSA Vice President of External Affairs
vp.ea@epsa-online.com
EPSA internships
Executive members in Brussels In October 2014, I left my home town of Ljubljana and moved to Brussels in order to become an EPSA permanent representative. You might ask yourself: “What does it mean to be an EPSA permanent representative in Brussels?” I want to give you a brief answer and provide you with a personal insight into my experience.
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2) the EAHP-EPSA Student Science Award; and 3) EAHP’s hospital internship programme. Additionally, I have also been involved in various ad hoc projects developed by the policy and advocacy departments. The involvement in the policy department was especially important for me since, as you can imagine, my knowledge in European affairs and advocacy was limited since such matters are not extensively covered within the traditional pharmacy curriculum.
As an EPSA permanent intern, you commit yourself to work as a full time representative of EPSA in Brussels, in order to bring the association closer to its partners, to represent EPSA at pan-European stakeholder events Even though the internship has been and to raise pharmaceutical students’ a step away from daily studies, it has EAHP voice to the European institutions on key provided me with unique insights into Intern issues of our interest such as the future Sandra Hočevar the nature of the pharmacy profession of pharmacy education, the pharmacy at European and national levels, how profession and healthcare delivery. pharmacy education is provided across Europe and its direction of travel, European affairs and advocacy However, this is not all. I also joined the office of and indeed the variety of professional lives available the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists to pharmacy graduates - including in international (EAHP) which represents and develops the hospital representation. I am very grateful for this wonderful pharmacy profession within Europe. In the EAHP opportunity to develop as a professional and for the office, I have been in charge of three projects: mentorship I have received in the EAHP office. 1) the student participation at the 20th EAHP Congress; An interesting facet of the position of Vice President of External Affairs is the link with the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU). This position was the result of a joint venture to create an EPSA intern position in the PGEU. Each year the Vice President of External Affairs works for a period of 10 months for PGEU and EPSA in the PGEU Office in Brussels. That is why I have taken one year off from University to move to Brussels and dedicate my time for EPSA!
pharmaceutical sector thanks to the mentorship the PGEU secretariat provided me. I can easily get answers to my questions being in the secretariat and their support towards me and EPSA is invaluable.
Moreover, I can present them the students’ perspective on many issues throughout the year. I had the opportunity to participate in the working groups and General Assemblies of the PGEU where I could interact with national representatives of the pharmacy professions from all over Europe. I was PGEU The PGEU represents the community surprised and pleased to meet the first Intern pharmacists’ perspective at an EU level EPSA-PGEU intern here during one such Lucas Besson on legislative, policy and public health meeting! From his mandate in 2004/2005 matters affecting our profession. Since I arrived to ours, EPSA has grown significantly and I believe last September, I gained extensive knowledge on the collaboration between the professionals and the European affairs and legislation with regards to the students is one of the reasons.
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Visit to Uppsala | Sweden
8 Mobility Day at AEFFUL | Portugal
Czech-Norwegian TWINNET | Czech Republic
EPSA Presentation | Czech Republic
France-Belgium TWINNET | Belgium
IVEK congress | Turkey
TWINNET | United Kingdom European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
Attending BPhD General Assembly in Marburg | Germany
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1st CPSA Congress | Croatia
NoPSA National congress | Norway
Mobility Day | Slovenia Training New Trainers | Serbia
Meeting of USF | Czech Republic
EPSA Team 2014/2015
SEP Exchange | Romania www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
EPSA Annual Reception 2015 10
Healthcare workforce being discussed in Brussels My journey began the night before the day of the event at 10 pm as I caught a coach to London Gatwick Airport, I then took a 6 am flight to Brussels. Getting there seemed to take longer than the event itself! Despite the early start, I was really interested about this year’s theme on Healthcare Workforce which is a widely debated topic that many pharmacy students and professionals in the UK can relate to.
I got to Brussels early and met up with my friend from the BPSA, and we explored the lovely city of Brussels. We reached the Grand Place which was a majestic square framed by beautiful gothic architecture. We visited the Manneken Pis statue and all the time the irresistible aroma of tantalising Belgian waffles was surrounding us. Of course I could not resist the mouth-watering dough of goodness.
The reception At the International Auditorium the coffee greeted us at 4 pm and so did all the familiar faces I recognised from EPSA. It always feels like a family reunion at an EPSA event; surrounded by passionate, hardworking and yet incredibly humble individuals who share the same goals. Lucas Besson, the Vice President of External Affairs, chaired the session and began with apologies for the absence of the Members of Parliament (MEP), Nessa Childers and Cristian Busoi, who both encouraged utilisation of skills of the younger generation of the profession that could contribute to future goals. Svetlana Kolundžić, EPSA President, presented EPSA’s praise-worthy achievements within the last
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
year. One that particularly caught my interest was EPSA’s mobile Health position paper in response to the Green Paper consultation launched by the European Commission which you can read on EPSA’s website. Sandra Hočevar, the EPSA Vice President of Education, talked about students’ perspective on workforce management represented by their home associations. The BPSA was very humbled to have our consultation response to the matter featured in her presentation.
Michel Van Hoegaerden, Programme manager of the Joint Action on EU Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting, started the panel discussion with the factors that affect workforce planning. He
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specified that workforce planning should include educating students on the importance of it, which I personally think is a good idea. Darragh O’Loughlin, President of the Pharmaceutical Group of European Union (PGEU), said there are significant differences in challenges faced by healthcare workforce in different countries; such as UK facing an oversupply of pharmacists, whilst Senegal is facing an undersupply of healthcare professionals. He stated that the role of pharmacists has changed and suggested that politicians should be thinking about the long term goal when making decisions which resonates with the UK’s situation on capping student numbers. Alma Basokalte, Legal Advisor to European Commission, introduced the European Professional Card, an electronic procedure that accelerates the recognition of professional status in different countries; a positive direction for healthcare using a time-effective and standardised procedure for the screening of healthcare mobility.
Side programme of the AR EPSA Annual Reception was enriched with workshop on advocacy at European level. The participants were fortunate enough to meet Erin Nordal, Vice President of European Students’ Union and Sascha Marschang, Policy Manager for Health Systems at European Public Health Alliance (EPHA). The workshop gave us a good insight in the possibility we pharmacy students have to influence our education and profession at the European level. We got hands-on tips for a successful campaigning and an example from advocacy work of EPHA. It was really inspiring to meet Erin and Sascha and to learn from their work for better education and healthcare in Europe.
Dr Katrin Fjeldsted, President of the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), stated that our pharmacist training should work towards ensuring quality of care for patients. I particularly agreed with her statement on professional mobility which she believes should be recognised as a professional right. During the question round, I asked how we can change the public’s perception of pharmacy as I believe the public is not open to the changes that are happening. The replies I got from Darragh O’Loughlin and Dr Katrin Fjeldsted were that we should continuously promote our services; prove its effectiveness and work with other healthcare professionals to make that change. The plenary session ended with a group photo followed by a reception where I got to share further discussions on healthcare workforce with other knowledgeable participants.
Social night After the reception, we headed out to catch a few drinks and share more interesting conversations with everyone. The highlight of my night would have to be spending 2 hours getting lost on our way to the bar (it was only meant to take 20 minutes). We eventually found everyone and spent really good quality time sharing experiences and laughter but most of all, life long memories.
Acacia Leong Pik Kay Participant of the Annual Reception 2015
Gabriella Andersson www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Pharmacist of the 21st century 12
Topic of the Annual Congress 2015
The educational topic The European Statements of Hospith of the 38 EPSA Annual tal Pharmacy Congress is “Pharmacist European Association of Hospital Pharmacists of the 21st century”. This The (EAHP) aims to improve hospital pharmacy practice article highlights important around Europe. In May 2014, the EAHP accepted European initiatives, which will shape the The European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy, which are divided in 6 sections: future of the pharmacy profession. Pharmacy is a broad profession and pharmacists are faced with different challenges every day depending on their area of work. Pharmacists of the 21st century work every day to ensure the best pharmaceutical care for our patients and strive to improve the profession.
New pharmacy services in community pharmacies Pharmacists are highly trained professionals, who have an extensive knowledge about medicines and other health fields. However, their main role in community pharmacists is still dispensing medicines and patient counselling. Pharmacists can do more for the society and therefore Pharmaceutical Group of European Union (PGEU), representing community pharmacists at the European Level, promotes the implementation and remuneration of new pharmacy services, such as monitoring for diabetes, asthma, other chronic diseases and therapeutic adherence, flu vaccination initiated by the pharmacist, needle exchange and opioid substitution therapy in community pharmacies across Europe. EPSA members have discussed the implementation of new services extensively, in particular the flu vaccination. Students, future healthcare workers, will be delivering these services in case of successful implementation, so it is important that they are aware what is being discussed today.
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
1) Introductory Statements and Governance 2) Selection, Procurement and Distribution 3) Production and Compounding 4) Clinical Pharmacy Services 5) Patient Safety and Quality Assurance 6) Education and Research The last section is of particular interest to pharmacy students and EPSA who were involved in shaping the proposal. The EAHP advocates that undergraduate pharmacy curricula should include experience of hospital pharmacy practice.
PHAR-QA Project: Quality Assurance in European Pharmacy Education and Training Following the previous thought, EPSA took part in the PHAR-QA project, which looks at the quality assurance of education and training of the pharmacy profession. Thanks to students who participated in the questionnaire, a series of competence frameworks were produced, reflecting the students’ opinion as well.
Private-Public Partnerships The Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI 2) is Europe’s largest public-private initiative aiming to improve health by speeding up the development of better and safer medicines for patients. This is a new approach, which facilitates collaboration between the key players involved in healthcare research, including universities, the pharmaceuti-
For a pharmacist of the 21st century, I consider the following to be essential: Broad knowledge, broad influence A pharmacist is required at all levels which are connected to health; never narrow it down to “traditional paths”. Grab opportunities and raise awareness for the point of view we got trained to see. Our influence in society is needed and expected. Broad networking and support Collaboration is everything, healthcare is a multiplayer game. Network is crucial not only on (inter)national level between pharmacists, but also on a local level with other healthcare professionals. We complete each other’s knowledge and skills for the better health of the patient. Take a chance on that!
Interprofessionalism Politics, Technology, Psychology - pharmacists depend on external input. Talk regularly with non-pharma people about healthcare, find connections! It is an eye-opener and will broaden your pharmaceutical view.
cal industry and others, small and medium-sized enterprises, patient organisations and medicines regulators to ensure innovative medicines for unmet medical and social needs. This is an improvement over the traditional medicine development, which has already brought great results.
and PGEU and launch a social media campaign with the aim to inform the general public on appropriate medicines disposal. Make sure to stay tuned and get involved in this campaign, which is planned for the summer.
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment There are growing concerns surrounding the presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment, with the main question being if they pose a risk for nature and public health. EPSA was invited to participate in a joint public campaign together with EFPIA, GIRP, EGA, AESGP Pharmacists supervise medicines all throughout the circuit, controlling each step from manufacturing to dispensing. Over the years, the profession has reinforced its role in the patient follow-up and counselling. Community pharmacists have a key role in dispensing prescribed drugs as they come last in the care chain, but they have an even more predominant one in the primary health care, whereby they are the first health professionals patients have contact with in many cases. New roles could be defined, such as the use of point-of-care testing, administering seasonal vaccination and education, especially with chronic diseases. Pharmacists will for sure continue to be major actors in the health care system and their mission will continue to become more diverse in the next years.
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Go with the flow Stay on top of the newest developments in society around you and try to implement them in your daily work. Actively listen to what is expected from us. This will bring our profession forward and make it more trustworthy and respected. It will also increase trust in pharmacists, from patients and other professionals.
Daniela Kolberg, recent pharmacy graduate
Pharmacy and Social Media There is a new trend in using social media to promote pharmacy and health related topics, bring attention to health days, empower patients and so on. Social media could be also used to connect with fellow healthcare professionals and share good practice. With evolving eHealth and mHealth, the full potential of social media is yet to be explored and I am sure that today’s students will bring the area forward with many fresh ideas. Pharmacy is a dynamic profession and pharmacists will certainly remain key health professionals, and continue to develop to meet the needs of the ageing population. I welcome and encourage you to share your opinion during the panel discussion at the symposium during 38th EPSA Annual Congress in Toulouse.
Sandra Hočevar
EPSA Vice President of Education
vp.education@epsa-online.org
Mathieu Alcaide, pharmacy student www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Mentoring Project 14
Individual support from professionals Have you ever had the feeling that you are on your own? Been desperately seeking for guidance and advice? In EPSA, we have an answer for you: it is called the Mentoring Project. Its aim is to establish a bond between professionals and students in order to provide the latter with career guidance under an international perspective of development. Meaning what? Meaning, that you have the incredible opportunity to be in contact with somebody that already knows all the challenges and traps of the area you want to work in. Somebody you can, at any time, directly ask advice from, because he or she have been successfully facing similar issues for some years now. Our mentors are mostly past EPSA officials, working in a challenging environment, with experiences from various fields of pharmacy. So, how can you apply? Well, when there are free spots, we issue an open call and you can apply via the EPSA website. As the slots are limited, you have to include a motivational letter (more detailed instructions and criteria will be provided with the next call). Chosen mentees - you - are then paired with the mentors and what follows mostly depends on your needs, wishes and proactivity. Each field of work has its own challenges but the general idea is that you keep in touch regularly with your mentor via e-mail, Skype or any other communication channel you find fit. One period extends from a minimum of three months to up to a year - but it might also be an opportunity to develop a long lasting professional relationship. The Mentoring Project was launched at the end of 2014 and we are now planning to extend the number of the mentors and consequently the number of places for you. So even if you are all alone, stranded on the isle of confusion and ambiguity, fear not, for EPSA and our Mentors are here to guide you to your success!
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
Guilherme Monteiro Ferreira I think this project is great, and a perfect example on how EPSA is the perfect link between students and professional life. I was quite impressed with the amount of interested mentees in Public Affairs, being this a not-so-common area for a pharmacist to work on. Currently, I have two mentees that are eager to learn about Public Affairs, with whom I have shared my enthusiasm and the knowledge that I have gained so far in this area. Their interest and eagerness to learn is what I like the most, and what motivates me to continue to build the (awesome) relationship you can have with a mentee. Personally, it is also a factor of development as in our daily tasks we might lose touch with the basics, which we need to go back and recall when starting a mentorship. If it continues as such, I am sure it will be a(nother) long-lasting and successful EPSA project. Well done!
AnĹže Vasle
EPSA Professional Affairs Coordinator 2014/2015
prof.affairs@epsa-online.org
Chat with Professionals
Hands-on advice from the professionals Pharmacy is a vast area and a lot of us choose the field without knowing exactly where we will work after facing exams. However, one of the first questions we have all asked ourselves is where will we be able to use this knowledge. It is only in later years of study that you are able to get the experience of the numerous fields within pharmacy. However, would not it suit your career better if you were developing the required skills for your job from the very beginning of your pharmaceutical education? Do not worry, EPSA has developed some tools to help you out. One of the most interesting are the events we hold called Chat with Professionals (CwP). Meaning exactly what the title says - an opportunity to chat with pharmacy professionals from all of the fields. There are several versions of CwP; in the article, we are going to cover the online one and the live edition. They are now also being organised at a national and local level, organised by our member associations in partnership with EPSA. As browsing on the internet has become an everyday habit, it is rather suitable to join EPSA’s online events from the comfort of our homes. There are several online CwP sessions scheduled each year and the speakers cover most of the relevant fields of pharmacy. All you need to do is regularly check all of our media tools for the information. When you are signed up, you receive all the details on when and how to join the online session. So how does the event look like? Well, we strive towards the idea
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of having an interactive chat, starting with a short presentation of the speaker’s career and field of expertise. Followed by questions that you are more than welcome to ask. This is the most important part - a unique opportunity to ask the speakers anything you have been wondering throughout your studies, exam periods and internships. What is their current role, what skills and experiences they needed to ‘get the job’, what is their day-to-day work life and so forth. A very similar thing is the Chat with Professionals: Live. This event takes place twice a year, at our congresses. The aim is to get to know better past work and current work of EPSA Alumni and their current progression as young professionals. CwP: Live allows you to interact on a small group basis for a speed dating session lasting between 10 and 15 minutes giving you the opportunity to learn and understand how you can go onto to have a career in a variety of different sectors. As well as to ask questions and learn from their professional experiences. The professionals come from different fields within pharmacy and you are encouraged to check our congress booklets for further details about the professionals who will be present. To sum up, know that the EPSA Team and Alumni will always be here to help you find your way in the vast world, that is Big Pharma!
Anže Vasle
EPSA Professional Affairs Coordinator
Timothy Robinson
EPSA Alumni Coordinator
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Public Health and Social Services 16
What are we up to?
Some of EPSA’s most important and active fields are public health and social services. This mandate, I have been responsible for both. And honestly, I consider this year as very successful, full of creative ideas and many organised campaigns, as well as humanitarian events or social services in the whole of Europe. We got in touch with other associations: professional, youth and students’. So let’s go through what EPSA managed to do!
During Summer University in Macedonia, we presented Hygiene campaign, giving away fluffy bacteria-shaped teddy bears, since the incidence of bacterial infections of gastrointestinal tract is always higher during the summer.
Public health campaigns From April 2014 till March 2015, we chalked up to 39 public health campaigns by EPSA members, and EPSA organised 3 more with the fourth one coming up during the Annual Congress in Toulouse, France. Topics can vary a lot, we registered topics from World Health Day going through Parkinson disease, mental health, AIDS awareness and others, ending with Diabetes... Topics EPSA picked to present during the events were focused on current problems in destinations of events and also connected to the period of the year.
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
During the Autumn Assembly in Czech Republic, we rather focused on hypertension as this is one of the biggest issues in the country, one out of four Czechs suffer from hypertension. As part of the campaign, we were measuring blood pressure and in the end, we managed to test more than 100 participants. At the Annual Congress, we are aiming to raise awareness for skin cancer. A very unusual campaign was the traditional European Antibiotic Awareness Day campaign which was held online. Throughout one entire week, we shared posts on social media, participated at the press conference of European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and helped spreading the word about dangerous antibiotic resistance. To get to the final consumer – the patient – we created small informational leaflets with advice which were translated to several European languages and given out in pharmacies to patients with prescribed antibiotics. Therefore, patients could go through the information anytime they needed and get answered questions like “When can I stop taking antibiotics?”, “Can I share the pills with my family?” and many others.
With the help of our members, we also managed to publish EPSA Sets an Example photos - So far, we managed to have a post on World Cancer Day, World Aids Day, and with others to follow soon. The main idea of the project is to use photos taken by members to create shareable and remarkable posters to raise awareness for the problem in social medias.
their role in fighting against illnesses and diseases.
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Social services Social services and humanitarian events are more popular in some European countries than others. Therefore we felt a big need to develop a Social Services Poster Exhibition during EPSA Autumn Assembly. Participants shared ideas and inspiration. A very popular project in this section was the Teddy Bear Hospital which is carried out in collaboration with medical students. Both pharmacy and medical students meet together with children in kindergarten and help to heal the children’s teddy bears. This initiative helps to overcome the fear of white coats and healthcare professionals. Another social services-related project was the workshop on Communication with deaf patients which is necessary for future pharmacists, as well as a training on Communication with special groups, both held during Autumn Assembly in Czech Republic. When diving more into humanitarian events of our members, we would find traditional fundraisers to support different organisations, for example for children with cancer. Others even organised blood donations. This year, more space was given to Alcohol Policy Youth Network, a youth association fighting against irresponsible binge drinking which is an increasing tendency among young people. Together with European medical students, we created a poster campaign with the aim to decrease excessive drinking using funny and creative ways to promote the main idea. During the Autumn Assembly, we managed to have a workshop with the topic of alcohol-related harm, which was highly appreciated by students and also hopefully helped to light a spark in participants to start similar projects and recognise
Webinars Webinars are online seminars which can be broadcasted to any corner of Europe. Moreover, they are interactive - participants can use this unique opportunity to listen to professionals from all around Europe and to interact and ask the questions they are interested in. This year, we managed to have a webinar in collaboration with the European Industrial Pharmacists Group. The topic Subject of pharmaceutical industry was presented by the Maltese Professor Claude Farrugia, while Regulatory Affairs were brought to us by Dr. Georgina Gál from Hungary. Thanks to the huge interest of students, we repeated the webinar and altogether reached the amazing number of 200 participants. As you can see, this portfolio of EPSA is really wide and is planned to grow even more with the collaboration of member associations who are the main links of the chain in applying all these initiatives on a local level. However, there is still huge potential for collaboration with other professional organisations, to continue improving, developing and growing.
Adéla Firlová
EPSA Social Services and Public Health Coordinator pubsoc@epsa-online.org
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
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Bayer & Society
Responsibility. We value your health and well-being, which drives us to perform at our best – this is our commitment.
Bayer Consumer Care AG, Peter Merian-Strasse 84, CH-4002 Basel www.healthcare.basel.bayer.com European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
Interprofessional TWINNET Istanbul meets Belgrade The long-awaited TWINNET between pharmacy and medicine students has finally happened. EPSA and EMSA organised it and I, as one of participants, am very grateful for being a part of this unforgettable students’ exchange. In Serbia we are all very familiar with TWINNET projects, we already expected that we would have a good time. However, this TWINNET exceeded our expectations. We were overwhelmed by every part of this experience! The first part of the project was held in Istanbul from the 2nd till the 8th of March and a lucky group of 14 of us had the chance to participate in it. From the moment we landed there, we were fascinated with the hospitality of our hosts and till the end of our journey we could not get used to such hospitality.
The educational part of TWINNET was one of the highlights of our travel. We were warmly welcomed at Marmara University. As the theme was Interdisciplinary collaboration, the first lecture was about education in Turkey and its medicine study programme, how students are involved and what are the opportunities after the studies. The second lecture was about pharmacists - physicians collaboration, and we heard examples from everyday practice. We were so inspired and delighted by the lectures that we subsequently had very fruitful discussions after it. The most interesting part at the University was
19 the injection training. Our dear hosts organised it in a way that we learned a lot and had so much fun while learning it. They gave a short demonstration on a surgeon’s procedure of washing hands, putting gloves on and finally giving an injection and taking blood, using training dolls.
The unofficial part of TWINNET can be written in 14 different stories. We all experienced Istanbul through the eyes of our hosts. We stayed in their homes for 7 days, lived their lives and enjoyed every minute of it. We explored beautiful Istanbul in its best.The food was absolutely fantastic, lots of baklavas on the menu. Nights out made a special place in our memories as this city never sleeps! But from all of amazing sightseeing and new lessons that we learned we will cherish for lifetime the friendships that we made with our Turkish counterparts. In this short time we crossed a bridge between Europe and Asia on multiple occasions, but symbolically we made one of our own, the bridge between medicine and pharmacy students! I hope this project will become traditional for EPSA and EMSA! We can not wait for the second part of TWINNET in Belgrade.
Ivana Ilić
Participant of the interprofessional TWINNET
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Individual Mobility Project 20
Are you ready for an adventure? Want to explore the pharmaceutical sector but do not know how? Living abroad is something you would like to but still did not get the chance? Then IMP is the answer. This project offers you a combination of personal and professional experiences, as well as a range of skills you can hardly get in any other place. My experience in Asphalion has, for sure, exceeded all my expectations. Working in a consultancy gives you a perfect overview of what is currently being done in regulatory world. Stress and time management are put to the test everyday and profound self development is always guaranteed.
Ana Duarte
IMP participant at Asphalion Barcelona
Ana’s testimonial explains how international experiences are something you will cherish for the rest of your life and the people you meet on your path will leave their impression on you. The Individual Mobility Project was launched a few years ago, with a goal to provide internship possibilities to pharmacy students around Europe. Through the years, since the project was initiated, we have managed to successfully hold more than 50 internships. To put things into retrospect, we have facilitated internships in renowned pharmaceutical companies for 50 young ambitious pharmacy students which in turn gave them the opportunity to start building their careers in one of them as well. In addition it will make you grow as a person and move out of your comfort zone, where you will really start living and appreciating your life.
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
If you want to apply for IMP these are the steps you want to follow:
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Check the EPSA website or contact your National or Local IMP Coordinator if there are any current IMP Placements available.
Find out about all the requirements for the placement from your National or Local IMP Coordinator, who can confirm that you possess all the requirements and apply on the EPSA website, using the IMP Application form.
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Once your application form has been submitted, it will go to a process of preselection, where the final pool of chosen candidates will be sent to the appropriate IMP Partner. You will be informed about the results of this process by your IMP Coordinator. This is the part where the company will contact you to make their final evaluation and decide if they will choose you to be one of their interns. If chosen, you will be aided by Local IMP Coordinator from the area of the placement to aid with logistics.
IMP works on developing long term relationships with stakeholders in pharmacy, where we want to enable providing quality internships and contribute to the field on a larger scale. Our vision is to give pharmacy students possibilities to develop themselves in any kind of pharmaceutical field. Here is a testimony to that: GSK Consumer Healthcare has partnered with EPSA for a number of years now and we benefit hugely from the IMP role. Every year we welcome a new EPSA student into the organisation and every year we are rewarded with enthusiasm, passion and drive from those chosen to work at GSK.
On the other hand people are afraid of moving abroad or thinking that an experience abroad is something that you do not need. However if you talk to someone who has had an academic or work experience outside their country they will tell you that these kind of experiences make you grow the most and are respected by potential employers in the future. As well as this, teams nowadays are very diverse and international and people who can function in this kind of environment are very much needed. Regardless of the stage of your studies you are at, I would advise that every student starts building for the future and use the opportunities that are available to them.
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We believe that the EPSA placements add value to our organisation by bringing valuable experience and knowledge in particular to our pharmacy and expert channels. We have created a role that is both challenging and developing. The role is broad reaching to give the IMP intern experience in new fields such as sales, marketing, project management and training which will help them in future roles. We have many of the previous IMPs still within the organisation; most of them have gone on to find careers in GSK following the year’s placement and have found the skills developed in their placement year have given them the right foundation and a clearer understanding of what field they would like to work in longer term.
Marie O’Gara GSK
Many students and graduates have doubts about applying for IMP and the reasons are numerous. Some are afraid they are not good enough. Most of the applicants that have been chosen also had these doubts because they did not have all the requirements stated by the company. But in reality no one expects you to know everything, because you are just starting with your career. All you need to do is show that part of yourself that makes you special.
Jure Levstik
EPSA Central IMP Coordinator
Domen KutoĹĄa
EPSA Vice President of Mobility
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Where are they now? 22
Directly from the EPSA Alumni themselves Camilla Lavoll In the spring of 2013 when I was finishing my degree, I had no real clue what I wanted to do. Having worked part time in community pharmacies for 3 years, I wanted to try something different, and that is how I ended up at Novartis. During my studies I did not know a lot about what opportunities the industry held, but after one year in regulatory affairs my current position in medical information and patient relations opened up, and for me it is the perfect job! So my little advice is; just start somewhere. Even if you find a job opening that might not be exactly what you want to do, you gain experience and learn more about other opportunities that might interest you more.
I was part of the EPSA Team 2012/2013 as a Parliamentary Council Member and that was easily the best thing I did during my studies! It was a huge motivation having the congresses and the team meetings to look forward to, and my time in EPSA has helped me a lot. Experience from a multi cultural environment, being comfortable communicating in English and learning to manage your time well is very valuable, and is a huge plus as a recent graduate when you do not have a lot of work experience yet. So I would definitely recommend everyone to be active in EPSA or engage in other extracurricular activities. You will not regret missing a couple of lectures, but you will regret missing out on an EPSA event!
Gabriela ValentovĂĄ I did not know much about EPSA before my first congress in Birmingham in 2011 where I went as an Official Delegate for the Czech Republic, more by accident as no one else was available but then it all started! I was in the organising committee of World Healthcare Students Symposium, became National IMP Coordinator, later on Partnership Coordinator and shortly before my graduation I moved to Brussels as the EPSA Vice President of External Affairs. While I was working as an EPSA intern at the PGEU, I decided I wanted to stay abroad and started to look for jobs in pharmaceutical industry around Europe.
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
EPSA is a great start of as an international journey that gives you not only friends for life but lots of skills you barely learn at school. Working in international teams, practising your soft and communication skills on a daily basis, getting an overview on what is going on in the world of pharmacy in Europe - all this is a priceless experience, which you hardly learn anywhere else. Right from Brussels, I moved to Amsterdam and I am currently working in the EMEA Quality Assurance Batch release team in the biggest generic company with injectable medicines and biosimilars. I ensure that everything that is happening with medicines from the manufacturer until it reaches the final market is in accordance with cGMP and complies with local regulations and that all products that are reaching the patient are of the highest quality.
Ivana Mihajlovska I graduated last year in August in Skopje, Macedonia. Today I am working as a medical representative in the marketing sector for EL Pharma, a company of PHOENIX group - the leading pharmaceutical trader in Europe. I am currently working on Hemofarm STADA’s portfolio in Macedonia. In the past years of my student life, I was Liaison Secretary for MPSA, Macedonia for 2 years, and Official Delegate for almost 3 years. I was also the Chairperson of the 16th EPSA Summer University in Ohrid, 2014. Those years were truly a
unique experience to sense the professional side of pharmacy, to keep up with the novelties in the pharma world and to train and build up myself as a future professional. EPSA changed my life not only in a professional way, but also in terms of gaining friends for life.
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I have many friends all around Europe, some of whom went on to become some of my closest friends and we speak on a daily basis, while I keep in touch with many others via chatting or Skype. I advise any pharmacy student around Europe to take a chance and become part of EPSA, as well as to participate actively in their own association and to meet new and keep old friends at EPSA events. You have nothing TOULOUSE!
Bojan Davinic I am a pharmacist from Belgrade, and I have been involved in EPSA since 2007. It all started with the position of Design Officer, followed by organising the EPSA Annual Congress 2008 in Novi Sad, a beautiful city where I studied. Right after the congress I was elected as Vice President of Communication. These mandates taught me very much about communication and work. I got a job as medical representative where I used many of the skills obtained in EPSA. But soon after, a
call arrived from Brussels with the offer for EPSA Vice President of External Affairs and I moved to Brussels, until the Annual Congress in Istanbul. Needless to say, when someone quits a job with a pharmaceutical company to go back to EPSA means something. These days I am working as a Medical Marketing Manager at Kibid, a Serbian company representing Danone Early Life Nutrition, and I am using a lot of skills and knowledge gained from EPSA experiences. Of course I am still in touch with other alumni. I think, on average, I have met someone from EPSA every month for the last few years. It is an incredible experience and I would not change it for the world!
Slobodan Gigov The first job I got when I was still a student was working for Roche, Serbia in 2008. Upon graduating, I worked in a community pharmacy and from 2009 till 2012, I worked as Secretary General for Pharmaceutical Association of Vojvodina. Since 2012 I have worked as a teaching assistant at the European University - Faculty of Pharmacy.
During my studies I was Chairperson of the 31st EPSA Annual Congress held in Novi Sad of April 2008. This gave me priceless experience which opened my mind and gave me the opportunity to collaborate with great people, students and pharmacy experts around Europe. Since that congress in 2008, there is no task or project that seems impossible. I can only recommend to just join EPSA and open your mind for some great new experiences: social and professional!
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
EAHP-EPSA 24
Student Science Award The European Association of Hospital Why did you decide to submit an abstract for Pharmacists (EAHP), in collaboration with the EAHP-EPSA Student Science Award? the European Pharmaceutical Students’ The idea that the findings were my own work was Association (EPSA), recognises and exciting. When a colleague from my class put up honours the best scientific research details of the competition on Facebook, because my was based in clinical pharmacy, I decided authored by a pharmacy student via the research to apply. The prize (to be published in peer-reviewed annual EAHP-EPSA Student Science journal) really stood out for me as well. Award. What personal benefits do you think you can The award aims to recognise a student’s significant gain from entering the competition? intellectual contribution which promotes the pinnacle of hospital pharmacy and pharmaceutical research methods and theories. Any EPSA student can enter the award by submitting a short abstract of the research work they have been involved with. The abstracts are then evaluated by experienced editors of a peer-reviewed journal with the winning scientific manuscript published in the European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (EJHP). Furthermore, the winner is also awarded with free registration for the EAHP congress and is presented with their award during the congress closing ceremony. The 2015 winner is Claudine Aziz, a 4th year pharmacy student at Trinity College Dublin, with a passionate ambition to pursue a career in hospital pharmacy. Like many EPSA students too, she likes to travel, learn new languages, and make new international connections. She has kindly accepted our invitation for the following interview.
The interview process for the pharmacy national internship programme currently selects students from a central system called CAASP based on the students grades, achievements and experience, and I think being published in the EAHP journal will help me get interviews that I otherwise would not have gotten. It is something that I am really proud of. It is a privilege to win and be published. Actually it is the proudest thing I have ever done and I am very excited about the EAHP Congress in Hamburg!
Do you want to share anything else with our readers? I would urge everyone to take the initiative. Research is hard work but it is rewarding and I would urge anyone who has undertaken any research or project that they are proud of to go for it, and to enter competitions like the EPSA-EAHP Student science award. Believe in the unbelievable, which is what this experience has been like for me.
Sandra Hočevar
EPSA Vice President of Education 2014/2015
vp.education@epsa-online.org
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
IPSF
Student Exchange Program Dear EPSA members, Let me first introduce myself, my name is José Carvalho and I am the Chairperson of the European Regional Office for the 2014/2015 term. Some of you already know me from some IPSF and/or EPSA events and I was also present at the 11th EPSA Autumn Assembly in Hradec Králové. Today I will tell you about one of the biggest projects IPSF holds: The IPSF Student Exchange Program (SEP). Some of your associations already do it and some of you already have experienced it! The main goal of this program is to offer our members the opportunity of experience different pharmacy fields in another country from 2 weeks until 3 months. So far the project has 900 students worldwide (from 64 countries) participating, both as exchange or hosting students. During the program the students have a fantastic time getting to know different people, different cultures and the most important thing: they learn distinct ways of working in a specific pharmacy field. Who does not like to travel? I am sure everyone does and we are very pleased to be holding this project for so many years and providing our members with such a wonderful opportunity. Although pharmacy practice is completely different in each country, they all have the same main
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SEP Testimonial from a French pharmacy student in Ghana People can be wondering why I chose Ghana. Despite the fact I was interested in this program because of the possible personal and professional gains available, my goal was also to understand health care beyond the borders and how I could eventually make my own practice more efficient when I went back to France. I was also aware of Ghanaians hospitality and friendship. Moreover, for the few who are adventurous and like to be placed outside of their comfort zone, I would be tempted to say that: « Ghana 3y3 de! » (Ghana is sweet)! goal: patient healthcare. And that is the beauty of this program, to give students the opportunity to experience common areas in different environments! I am glad to have the opportunity to write such an article and I will be glad to help you or answer any further questions on my email below.
José Carvalho
IPSF Chairperson of the European Regional Office chairperson@euro.ipsf.org
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Official representation 26
EPSA represented at professional events EPSA needs to interact with the external world to ensure its legitimacy in the European scene and make the voice of European pharmacy students heard. Not only the external department, but the whole EPSA Team and the Liaison Secretaries of our members represent EPSA and what it stands for. Throughout the mandate the EPSA Team assures continual representation in different occasions, be it through our permanent presence in Brussels thanks to the EPSA Interns or by attending external events distributed over the mandate. Get an insight into this mandate’s experience and learn how EPSA works on future opportunities for our students.
APYN General Assembly and training Amsterdam | the Netherlands 7th - 11th Sep 2014
attended by Adela Firlová
EUFEPS Council Meeting Vienna | Austria 10 - 11th Oct 2014 th
attended by Sandra Hočevar EPSA Vice President of Education
The European Federation for Pharmaceutical Science (EUFEPS) is an association which brings together national societies for pharmaceutical research and aims to advance excellence in the pharmaceutical sciences and innovative drug research in Europe. EUFEPS is also the main supporter of EPSA scientific activities. In order to strengthen this relationship, the EPSA General Assembly approved of becoming an EUFEPS Member. I have attended their Council Meeting in Vienna, Austria and delivered an EPSA Presentation to the EUFEPS Executive Committee and Chairs of the Scientific Networks. They were impressed by our high activity and I was impressed by the results of their scientific networks.
EPSA Public Health and Social Services In the beginning of September, I had the chance to represent EPSA during the General Assembly of the Alcohol Policy Youth Network (APYN). During the General Assembly, I gained a deeper insight into APYN and how the association works which proved to be very useful for our future collaboration, for example during the Autumn Assembly, where a member of APYN held a workshop on the topic of Alcohol Related Harm and also helped with future development of EPSA’s opinion regarding alcohol. During the training which followed the General Assembly, I managed to start a collaboration with the European Medical Students’ Association and together, we created a “congress campaign” for participants to lower alcohol use in youth and also agreed on organising a European-wide campaign on drug and alcohol interactions.
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
EPEMED Annual Conference Amsterdam | the Netherlands 13th Nov 2014
attended by Sandra Hočevar EPSA Vice President of Education
The European Personalised Medicine Association (EPEMED) is an independent voice and a catalyst which acts for advancing personalised medicine in Europe and the breakthrough role of diagnostics and co-dependent drug-companion diagnostics technologies in improving patient outcomes. They have three Programmatic Committees, and EPSA will be active in the area of Education. During the symposium, speakers from Europe, Canada and USA discussed the implementation of personalised medicine and advance diagnostics into
patient care. An interesting symposium ended with a networking reception, where I talked with representatives of EPEMED and finalised the negotiation of the EPSA Membership. EPSA is now a proud member of EPEMED and will work towards providing a greater understanding of this area for undergraduate students as well.
43rd ESCP Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy Copenhagen | Denmark 21st - 23rd Oct 2014
attended by David Kološić
EPSA Educational Affairs Coordinator
The European Society of Clinical Pharmacy (ESCP) is an international association founded in 1979 by clinical practitioners, researchers and educators from several European countries. The overall mission of the society is to develop and promote the rational and appropriate use of medicines, medicinal products and devices by individuals and by society. The 43rd ESCP Symposium was held in Copenhagen Denmark. It was a very well organised congress. I attended 8 plenary sessions and 2 workshops where I identified and approached several quality speakers who would fit various topics of future EPSA events. Furthermore, I attended a meeting with the ESCP committee and established our
common goals. We identified areas where we can work together to support pharmacy students and young professionals.
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JAHWF Conference on Improving planning methodologies and data across Europe Rome | Italy 4th - 5th Dec 2014
attended by David Kološić
EPSA Educational Affairs Coordinator
Europe expects a shortage of approximately 1,000,000 health workers by 2020. Demand, need and supply of the health workforce are influenced by multiple factors such as: ageing populations, an ageing workforce, rising care use and rising costs despite budget constraints. The second conference of the Joint Action was held in Rome, Italy, with special support of the Italian Presidency of the EU. The aim of the conference was to support Member States and national-level stakeholders in improving their health workforce planning processes. In addition, they seek to develop conclusions to inform the political agenda for better health workforce planning mechanisms in the future. Increasing evidence and sharing of good practices emerging from the Joint Action, illustrated by the delivery of a handbook on planning methodologies, made the conference interactive and an excellent networking and learning experience for anyone involved in health workforce planning.
Adéla Firlová David Kološić Lucas Besson Sandra Hočevar EPSA Team
www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online
Map of Europe 28
The BPSA hosts ten area conferences each year, at a number of the 27 pharmacy schools throughout Great Britain. Each area conference has a theme, and a selection of external speakers attend to present their experiences within that speciality. The Spring Eastern Area Conference, based at the University of Nottingham on Saturday 21st February, was on Oncology. During the lunch of the conference there was a stand to promote EPSA. For this exhibition, slideshows were used to promote opportunities and events that EPSA hosts throughout the year. There was a lot of interest for EPSA’s Summer University 2015 and this proved to be a useful opportunity to spread the word of EPSA at a local level.
From 27th February until 1st March, English students visited Groningen on TWINNET. The weekend began great as many singing talents were discovered during the karaoke night and everybody danced the Muevelo. On Saturday we had an interesting symposium about the future of pharmacy and later some people exposed themselves as natural bowlers at the bowling alley. In the evening we went sightseeing, took a boat trip around the Groningen and finished the weekend all dressed up in orange!
On January 17th, one of the most important events for AFÖP took place in Vienna - the Ball of Pharmacy. Students and professionals gathered in elegant suits and dresses at Hofburg palace to spend an unforgettable night dancing in various ballrooms, admiring the imperial surrounding and having lots of fun. AFÖP invited students from all over the world to enjoy a wonderful night with us. Therefore we also organised side events for the whole ball weekend like ice skating, a guided city tour and a waltz dance course to spend as much time as possible together with our guests and have a fun weekend. For 4 weeks, from 16th March to 10th April 2015, students from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana, were offered a unique opportunity to find out more about their future employment possibilities thanks to a project called “Capsule of opportunity” which attracted more than 300 students, who attended lectures and workshops from all kinds of areas of pharmacy with the purpose of encouraging students to widen their knowledge and gain skills while still studying which could complement the theoretical knowledge.
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
Lithuanian Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (LtPSA or SFD) held its annual ‘Evening of Ladies and Gentlemen’ in a popular Kaunas restaurant on 11th December. Pharmaceutical students and professors were put together in an informal environment to encourage communication between them. Every participant looked classy: women wore fancy dresses and men costumes. There were various contests and prizes that were obtained from the sponsors of the event. Towards the end of the gala, the dancefloor replaced the little talks at the tables and everyone took the best memories back home with them.
In December 2014 USF Czech Republic moved to a completely new building. They are not sharing one little office anymore, but a part of the new pavilion of Pharmacy II. They have 2 big offices, toilets, shower, main hall and a very big social room with piano, great sofa, data projector and kitchen for all the members. In this room different workshops, trainings, film projections and team meetings will be held. The social room is of course a place for all the USF members where they can hang out during the day, waiting for the lectures to start or just chatting, chilling and listening to high-quality audio music. It is like heaven on earth! On 10th December 2014, over 10,000 students clogged Skopje, in what was considered to be the biggest student protest in the country’s history. Students expressed their disapproval at the Government’s proposal of the new high education law, which introduced mandatory externally supervised exams and other regulations confronting with the autonomy of the universities.The students demanded to be part of the dialogue and creation of the new law which directly affected them. They formed an independent Students plenum which organised public debates, lead an active social network campaign and formed so called ‘autonomous zones’ at many faculties. Support came from professors too. In the end, the efforts paid off – in February the government officials cancelled the implementation of the reform and agreed to work on a new proposal together with the students and academia. This is one of the many examples that, if persistent and well-justified, students’ opinion in society can be heard.
Last month, our members from AHUPS Turkey hosted 33 students from Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania in their faculty for a QUATRINO. The topic was “Personalised Medicine”. They had an amazing time together and learned a lot of things about the different cultures. Turkey has organised several TWINNETS before, but everybody agreed a QUATRINO was way better, for sure!
Events Calendar 30
See what is coming up in the next months International Health Sciences Conference
21st EAFP Annual Conference When? 14th - 16th May 2015 Where? Athens, Greece What? The Annual Conference of the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy is going to be organised in collaboration with the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Athens. The scientific programme will consist of lectures, workshops, trainings and poster exhibitions. How much? Student fee € 50 More info? eafponline.eu/conferences/ athens2015/
When? 6 - 8 May 2015 Where? Kaunas, Lithuania What? It is the 3rd International Health Sciences Conference organised by the Students’ Scientific Society of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. It is a good opportunity to learn more about the newest student researches in the fields of fundamental medicine, biomedicine, dentistry, pharmacy and public health. How much? 1st registration period: Active participant € 40 / Passive participant € 10 More info? ihsc.eu th
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Rencontres Pharmaceutiques Eté When? 28th June - 4th July 2015 Where? Soulac sur Mer, France What? The next RPE - Summer Pharmaceutical Meeting - is the best way to relax and meet new people! During the meeting, participants will attend symposiums, activities like sport competitions, inflatable games, beach, dance and each evening, there will be a theme party! How much? € 190 More info? vp-international@anepf.org
17th EPSA Summer University When? 20th - 26th July 2015 Where? Lisbon Seashore, Portugal What? European summer holidays in the sunny Portugal with soft skills trainings, a public health campaign, enjoyable social programme and lots of fun, of course! How much? 1st registration period (ends 24/05): € 230 More info? www.epsa-online.org
FIP World Congress Düsseldorf 2015 Students’ Package When? 29th September - 3rd October 2015 Where? Düsseldorf, Germany What? This already famous congress invites researchers, academics and practicioners from all over the world to discuss upon the topic “Better practice - Science based, evidence driven”. How much? Students’ package € 415 (all inclusive) More info? www.epsa-online.org/studentsfip2015/
19 International Pharmaceutical Summer Camp th
European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association
2015
When? 14th - 19th July 2015 Where? Portorož, Slovenia What? The topic is nutrition and its effects on the human body. The educational programme consists of lectures, workshops, soft-skills trainings, social events and a public health campaign. The main topic of the project is led by the connection between medicines treatment, nutrition and gastro-intestinal system. How much? € 140 More info? epsals.slo@gmail.com
Get to know more about these events via the Event Calendar on www.epsa-online.org. Would you like your event to appear here? Send us an email on events@epsa-online.org
EPSA Executive contacts 31
EPSA President Svetlana Kolundžić president@epsa-online.org EPSA VP of Internal Affairs Miglė Škadauskaitė vp.ia@epsa-online.org EPSA Secretary General Katarzyna Świderek secgen@epsa-online.org
EPSA VP of Public Relations Svenja Laarhuis vp.pr@epsa-online.org EPSA VP of External Affairs Lucas Besson vp.ea@epsa-online.org EPSA VP of Mobility Domen Kutoša vp.mobility@epsa-online.org
EPSA Treasurer Catarina Nobre treasurer@epsa-online.org EPSA VP of Education Sandra Hočevar vp.education@epsa-online.org
EPSA Office Rue du Luxembourg 19 bte.6, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
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