ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation has announced the first three beneficiaries of the Community Pharmacy Residency Expansion Project.
Also known as Community PREP, the $1.5 million grant program is designed to expand community pharmacy residency programs for recent pharmacy school graduates. Each of the grant recipients will receive $50,000 over the next three years from the NACDS Foundation to support the development of a residency position for graduates of accredited schools and colleges of pharmacy.
The foundation said Thursday that the institutions receiving the Community PREP grants for this first round of awards were Purdue University, with practice sites at The Kroger Co.; the University of Missouri-Kansas City, with practice sites at Red Cross Pharmacy Inc.; and University of North Carolina, with practices sites at Kerr Drug Inc.
Established in 2010, Community PREP seeks to create 30 new, fully accredited post-graduate year-one community pharmacy residency opportunities through grants to nonprofit pharmacy schools and colleges. The NACDS Foundation said the grants are designed to foster the creation or expansion of a patient-focused residency program, in which a faculty member or a preceptor will oversee the selected pharmacy resident’s learning experience at a pharmacy practice site.
Grant recipients are determined based on the recommendations of an independent review committee comprised of representatives from the American Association of College of Pharmacy (AACP), American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and the NACDS Foundation.
"The Community PREP grant program was developed to provide expanded opportunities for pharmacy school graduates to pursue community pharmacy residencies and hone their skills in providing patient care services," Edith Rosato, president of the NACDS Foundation, said in a statement. "I commend these three prestigious recipients for their dedication to patient care and their laudable commitment to mentoring the next generation of pharmacy graduates."
Community PREP grant applications are accepted on a continuing basis, with a deadline of July 1. Twelve more grants will be awarded in 2011, and another 15 will be awarded next year, the foundation said.
