Erin McCarthy, a second-year student pharmacist at Washington State University, has been selected for a summer internship on the staff of Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers for Washington’s Fifth Congressional District. McCarthy had the opportunity to meet the Congresswoman after a panel discussion on health policy and health care advocacy hosted by the WSU College of Pharmacy in Spokane this October. McMorris Rodgers encouraged McCarthy to apply to the internship program after McCarthy said she was interested in learning more about the legislative process in order to be a better advocate for pharmacy, her future profession.
McCarthy will begin the four-week internship next June at the Congresswoman’s Washington, D.C., office. “Erin is a natural leader and I expect she will accomplish great things in the coming years,” said Jennifer Robinson, director of student services for the College of Pharmacy. “I have been continually impressed with her poise, professionalism and her passion for pharmacy.”
McCarthy is actively involved in the Pharmacists Provide Care campaign with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). For this campaign she is presenting information about HR 4190 to fellow classmates in the WSU Doctor of Pharmacy program, and encouraging the different classes to sign up and be engaged in the legislative process. HR 4190 is a bill currently in Congress that would amend the Social Security Act to provide access to pharmacists’ care services through Medicare coverage.
In addition McCarthy is working with the Spokane Pharmacy Association and Washington State Pharmacy Association to spread the word about this campaign to a wider, non-student audience, said Robinson.
[Jan. 7, 2015] Lori J. Maricle