SNPhA Meeting

Written by Relindis Ngwa, Immediate Past President of SNPhA

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) welcomed a

new President in September 2018 with a pharmacy background and

her name is Dr. Heidi Anderson. As members of the Student National

Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA), we were curious to find out

about her career path and how she as a pharmacist became the

president of UMES. To this end, an invitation was extended to her for a

professional meeting with the School of Pharmacy students, where she

could share with us her career path. Our invitation was accepted and

with great pleasure, we welcomed her for the professional meeting on

the 30th of April 2019 at 4:00 pm in Carver Hall.

She was introduced by the President of SNPhA (Relindis Ngwa)

and the title of her presentation was “My Crossroads, My Journey, My

Story.” From her presentation, we learned how throughout her career

she has always held a leadership position. Her leadership career

started when she founded the first SNPhA chapter at Purdue University

where she earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacy Administration, M.S. in

Education and B.S. in Pharmacy. She later became the first woman executive director for the National Pharmaceutical Association (NPhA)

for which SNPhA is the student affiliate. She served in that role for

15 years. She served on the Board of Directors for the Accreditation

Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). She served as a Provost on

two occasions which led her to becoming the President of UMES.

Throughout her journey, she has demonstrated leadership skills

by following one of Nelson Mandela’s quote which states “It is better

to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you

celebrate victories and when nice things occur. You take the front line

when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”

She ended the meeting by telling us the students that “your leadership

skills, your values and who you are, are within.” Throughout her

career she has had mentors and advised each of us to connect with

mentors because they see things in us that we do not necessarily

see in ourselves. It was a great pleasure for the School of Pharmacy

through SNPhA to have welcomed Dr. Heidi Anderson that evening as

we learned a lot from her career journey.

Back row, left to right: Chuchi, Loveline, Ankit, Kuele, Ludovic, Lorette Second row, left to write: Michael, Shahin, Dr. Wade, Sandra, Jennifer, Sylvia, Tasong First row, Left to right: Dr. Nonyel, Dr. Ayotunde-Jackson, Ms. Shawjohnson, Marianne, Ralphaelial, Relindis, Dr. Heidi, Elizabeth, Nancy, Noella, Douglas, Hope, Adit