ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation this week launched its second round of funding for the Community Pharmacy Residency Expansion Project (Community PREP) and announced the winners of the 2011 Pharmacy Student Scholarship Awards.
The NACDS Foundation said Wednesday that Community PREP will award another $750,000 in grants to support 15 new residencies for recent pharmacy school graduates.
Established in December 2010, Community PREP aims to fund 30 fully accredited, post-graduate community pharmacy residencies through grants to nonprofit and public academic institutions. The project supported 15 residencies in 2011 and is slated to award an additional 15 grants this year with $50,000 each for new residencies that will start in July 2013.
The $1.5 million program is designed to help expand educational opportunities for recent pharmacy school graduates by pairing them with faculty members and preceptors to oversee residents’ learning experiences in patient-centered pharmacy practice sites.
"Community PREP provides essential funding to expand hands-on clinical research and education opportunities for community pharmacy’s future leaders," NACDS Foundation president Kathleen Jaeger stated. "Under the expert guidance of pharmacy veterans, residents will hone their abilities to deliver patient-centered health services and contribute to the evidence-base for community pharmacy-based clinical practice. These educational partnerships between pharmacy schools and community pharmacy practice sites provide exceptional opportunities to advance research and pharmacy education and, ultimately, improve patient health care outcomes.”
An independent review committee of representatives from the NACDS Foundation, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) determine grant recipients. Applications for NACDS Foundation Community PREP residency grants will be accepted through June 1, and award decisions are expected to be made in September.
On Tuesday, the NACDS Foundation said that in 2011 it awarded 58 scholarships, totaling $190,000, to pharmacy schools representing 42 colleges and schools of pharmacy.
"These students exemplify one of the key missions of the NACDS Foundation in supporting continuing education programs that focus on patient-centered care in the community pharmacy setting," Jaeger commented. "As the future of pharmacy, we applaud these students for their academic accomplishments and are delighted to honor these exceptional students with scholarships to assist them in continuing their pharmacy education."
Among the 2011 recipients of the scholarship awards, eight top students were chosen to receive named-scholarships that honor distinguished pharmacy leaders and companies that share the foundation’s commitment to education, research and charitable work.
Scott Beeman of Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Sarah Thune of Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences received the Leonard J. DeMino Pharmacy Student Scholarships, while Kyle Burcher of the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy and Natasha Petry of North Dakota State University College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Allied Sciences received the Edmond Fougera Scholarships.
Laurin Dixon of the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and Laura Lourenco of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences-Boston Campus were awarded the Taro Research Foundation Scholarships, and Logan Fiscus of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy and Louchard Lamothe of Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy were presented with the Teva Pharmaceuticals Robert J. Bolger Scholarships.
