NACDS Foundation presents more than $220K in scholarships to improve patient care

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation has presented more than $220,000 in scholarships and grants through the NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program, recognizing 10 schools and colleges of pharmacy for their innovative and diverse educational programs.

“We are thrilled to announce this year’s NACDS Foundation scholarship awardees and the innovative, educational initiatives that these schools and colleges of pharmacy will launch to help improve community-based health outcomes and advance patient care,” said NACDS Foundation President Sara Roszak. “We are extremely grateful for our benefactors’ outstanding and ongoing support of the program. It is their contributions that continue to help empower future leaders in the pharmacy setting.”

[ Read more: NACDS, more than 65 groups urge Congress to continue funding COVID-related care ]

NACDS presented the awards recently at an event during the NACDS Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Fla. This year, the NACDS Foundation distributed six innovation-focused awards in the amount of $20,000 each in order to fund patient-centered, community-based programs or other curricular innovations.

In addition, three diversity scholarship winners were selected to each receive $15,000 grants. These scholarships encourage and support educational diversity by awarding institutions based on their current or proposed diversity programs to advance pharmacy education in underrepresented populations.

The NACDS Foundation also awarded $2,300 scholarships to each of the colleges and schools of pharmacy whose deans participated at the in-person event.

[ Read more: Good Neighbor Pharmacy’s Brian Nightengale to serve as NACDS board chair ]

Awardees were selected from a competitive pool of applications submitted from accredited colleges and schools of pharmacy across the country. 

The awardees of the 2022 NACDS Foundation innovation track scholarships include the following initiatives:

• Purdue University College of Pharmacy will partner with local food banks in rural Indiana to address health inequities and help improve access to care for individuals experiencing homelessness through provision of health services such as vaccinations, health screenings, point-of-care testing and additional wrap-around care support.

• St. John Fisher College Wegmans School of Pharmacy will launch a training program to prepare students to work with interpreters during patient interactions in an effort to enhance patient care and experience within the community and for underrepresented minorities in New York.

• Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy will develop a disease state management patient care program within the Nevada Department of Corrections to help establish health care in an effort to advance health equity and improve health outcomes.

• University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy will implement a community pharmacy-based training program to teach student pharmacists, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians how to effectively utilize digital health in patient care.

• Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy looks to advance health equity by enhancing access to critical chronic disease state management services — via telehealth services and a mobile clinic — to underserved, rural communities.

• High Point University Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy will offer real-life simulations for students in partnership with Notre Dame of Maryland University School of Pharmacy to further enhance their learning so that they may provide effective patient care and relevant counseling for continuous glucose monitoring.

The awardees of the 2022 NACDS Foundation diversity track scholarships include the following initiatives:

• Touro University California College of Pharmacy will create a mentorship program and additional opportunities for underrepresented minority students to learn more about the pharmacy profession and prepare them to begin pharmacy school.

• The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center College of Pharmacy will enhance a successful, student-led tutoring program for high school seniors to more broadly address academic and overall well-being challenges and to help prime students to pursue pharmacy school and higher education.

• University of the Pacific Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy will enhance pre-pharmacy exposure for underrepresented and disadvantaged high school students through a one-on-one mentorship program with pharmacists who identify with similar backgrounds. The School will also train students to become healthy lifestyle advocates in their communities.

[ Read more: Product showcase: New product and service innovations for attendees to see at NACDS Annual ]

The NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program is designed to fund prospective projects that have the potential to significantly advance patient care and engage pharmacy students. Accredited colleges and schools of pharmacy were asked to submit applications for projects that may include community-based research projects and patient-centered coursework, or other innovative curricula.

Since the inception of the NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program, more than $4.5 million in scholarships have been provided for pharmacy education.