A note from Julie Akers
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
While it has been a busy summer full of meetings and conferences, it has also been very inspiring. In July, Dean Leid and several faculty and staff attended the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Annual Meeting in Aurora, Colorado. Once again, our program was acknowledged for excellence through several awards, presentations, and recognitions of service. I couldn’t be prouder of our college. Some highlights include Kim Mickey presenting at the multiday admissions workshop also attended by Jennifer Miller (’15) and Laura Lagreid. Megan Undeberg (’01) gave a presentation at the History of Pharmacy Special Interest Group (SIG) meeting, and I was recognized for my service over the past year as chair of the Leadership Development SIG. A big congratulations goes to Kimberly McKeirnan (’08) for being one of five faculty nationwide awarded the AACP Council of Faculties Emerging Teaching Scholar Award. This award is designed to recognize excellence of academic pharmacy faculty engaged in and/or supporting scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. And, to top it off, the award was presented to Kim on her birthday! In addition, the Laboratory Instructors SIG awarded the Laboratory Innovation and Teaching Excellence (LITE) award to our faculty Kim McKeirnan, Alexa Powell, and Kavya Vaitla for their work related to the development of a mental health simulation for second-year pharmacy students. Congratulations!
August 12-14 was the National Association of Chain Drugstores (NACDS) Total Store Expo in San Diego, California. I was asked to present findings from a research project funded by the NACDS Foundation involving community pharmacists providing direct access to quality patient care for minor illnesses and conditions. There were many other sessions focused on food as medicine, social determinants of health, and sustainable business models, emphasizing the role pharmacists and technicians have in making their communities healthier. Discussions centered on Medicare Advantage offering qualifying patients financial assistance for healthy foods as well as how AI and automation can free up the pharmacist from traditional dispensing duties to allow more time to provide quality clinical services. Several attendees, including leadership from other national associations, were excited to see the progress the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act (ECAPS) bill is having at the federal level and seemed confident the bill could make it through congress this year. There was a genuine excitement for the profession of pharmacy, the transition from product to service, and a commitment by some of the largest pharmacy retailers in the nation to ensure their pharmacy staff have the support they need to navigate this change in a feasible and sustainable way.
In a time when so much focus is on the hardships some are facing in our profession, which are very real, it was inspiring to be surrounded by those who are dedicated to improving the pharmacy workplace while being innovative change agents, pushing the profession forward.
I couldn’t be more excited for our current and incoming student pharmacists, their future, and to see their impact on the health of our communities.
With my best and Go Cougs,

Julie Akers, Associate Dean of External Relations