The mission of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) is to be the collective voice of student pharmacists, to provide opportunities for professional growth, to improve patient care, and to envision and advance the future of pharmacy.
Our main purpose as a student chapter is to provide means for student pharmacists to develop professionally and academically through leadership opportunities, patient care projects, professional activities, and social networking. The goal is that upon graduation, each student member will have become the most competent pharmacist that one could ask for—a practitioner who cares about his or her profession and a human being who cares for his or her patients.
Student pharmacists have an opportunity to become leaders in their profession at the local, regional, national, and international levels with APhA-ASP. Involvement also affords the students the opportunity to apply for a variety of awards and scholarships.
APhA-ASP has five patient care and community service projects: Generation Rx, Operation Diabetes, Operation Heart, Operation Immunization, and Operation Self-Care. The Generation Rx Initiative is an educational program that increases public awareness of prescription medication abuse and encourages health care providers, community leaders, parents, teens, and college students to actively work to prevent such abuse. Through Operation Diabetes, Operation Heart, Operation Immunization, and Operation Self-Care, student pharmacists have the opportunity to take their knowledge outside the classroom and make a difference in the community. We work in our school and local communities to encourage lifestyle modifications, monitor associated risk factors, and provide education about medications.
Professional development programs include the National Patient Counseling Competition and the PharmFlix Video Contest. APhA-ASP also offers international opportunities because we are the Full Member Organization representing the United States in the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF). As a member of APhA-ASP one is automatically a member of IPSF.
APhA has meetings for student pharmacists throughout the year and across the country. In the fall, our chapter attends the Midyear Regional Meeting. The APhA-ASP Midyear Regional Meetings (MRMs) are held every fall for each of the APhA-ASP regions in the country. The MRMs are the only meetings in the U.S. designed exclusively for student pharmacists. These meetings offer great networking, professional, and leadership development opportunities, as well as educational programming and much more. In the spring, we attend the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition. This APhA event has comprehensive pharmacy programming for pharmacists and student pharmacists alike, along with programming specifically for students and student chapters.
For more information, feel free to contact us at [email protected]!
