From the President

Thankful. That is the theme of my column for this Journal. As I write this column we are entering the holiday season. We are getting ready to spend time with family and friends and reflect on our lives. Much of the reflection is personal and family focused, but we can also do the same in regards to our professional lives. I am thankful and humbled to serve the profession as the state association president. In my short tenure as president, I have worked with a great group of leaders. At the center of our professional association is our Executive Director, Penny Shelton. She has been with us for a little more than a year. She has been instrumental in working with the Education Committee to revise the annual meeting and our continuing education programs. In addition, her leadership has brought renewed energy to the Association. She has reviewed membership benefits, by-laws, finances, resources and committees for the Association. She has been heavily involved in advocacy. NCAP has benefited tremendously from her leadership in a short period of time. For this, I am extremely thankful. I have had the pleasure of working with Penny from her start date. Given the change in leadership at NCAP, the Executive Committee decided to have the president and president-elect serve 18-month terms instead of the typical 12-month term. Stephen Eckel concluded his term as president in June 2017, and I will assume the role through December 2018. I want to thank Stephen for his leadership and mentorship. I am looking forward to our continued relationship as he transitions to past-president. As I assume the presidential role, I look forward to working with the Board on behalf of the members of NCAP. I will have two main initiatives during my 18-month term. The first will be to increase membership. We have had a decline in membership in the past 3-4 years. Given the turnover in leadership and the uncertainty of the Association, this is completely understandable. However, I can assure you NCAP is in a great place, and we need ideas from our members to make it even greater! I challenge current members to recruit just one non-member to join. I have a couple of folks that I will personally be bugging to renew; Watch out: I’m coming for you! Increasing membership will help with my second initiative, which is advocacy. All of the practice settings in North Carolina require an advocate to seek public support for causes or a particular policy. The past year NCAP hired a part-time lobbyist, Tony Adams, to advocate for the profession. Tony has been working in Raleigh to make sure our voices are heard. NCAP needs your help to continue this advocacy role. Therefore, funds raised at the annual meeting from the silent auction and the 50-50 are going toward advocacy efforts. I am thankful for those who participated in those fundraisers. Transform through Innovation. That was the theme of the NCAP annual meeting in September in Winston-Salem. North Carolina has been a leader in transforming pharmacy practice through innovation. The roundtables, posters, workshops, and networking activities were great opportunities to learn from others. If you have not been to a meeting in recent years, consider placing it on your calendar for next year! While there will always be frustrations in your professional lives, the positives of our profession and what is happening in our state far outweigh our concerns. Now I need to hear from you! What ideas do you have? What changes do you want to see? How do you want to get involved? Feel free to let me know your thoughts via email at stefanie_ferreri@unc. edu or follow me on Twitter @ stefanieferreri I want to wish each of you a Healthy and Happy Holiday Season, and I am thankful that I get to serve our state association this year.

Stefanie Ferreri, PharmD