Cardinal Health, APhA announce winners of annual GenerationRx Awards
DUBLIN, Ohio — The Cardinal Health Foundation and the American Pharmacists Association recently recognized pharmacists for their efforts in prescription medication misuse prevention.
During the APhA 2015 Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, the Cardinal Health Foundation and APhA awarded the fifth annual American Pharmacists Association – Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) GenerationRx Awards, which recognize use of the GenerationRx toolkit, a communications package including talking points, presentation materials and tips to enable users to raise awareness of prescription drug misuse in their communities.
The organizations also awarded the fourth annual APhA GenerationRx Award of Excellence, an award recognizing one pharmacist for his or her outstanding efforts in prescription medication misuse prevention.
The APhA-ASP GenerationRx award is part of a national competition among APhA-ASP chapters. This past year, student pharmacists from 82 chapters conducted more than 800 GenerationRx presentations and educated more than 134,000 children, teens, college students and adults. More than 12.7 million people were reached via public relations outreach.
The 2015 APhA-ASP GenerationRx national and regional awards were presented during the APhA-ASP Opening General Session. The chapters honored in this year's competition were:
National Award: East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy
National 1st Runner-Up Award: University of Florida College of Pharmacy
National 2nd Runner-Up Award: The University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy
Region 1 Award: MCPHS University - Boston
Region 2 Award: University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
Region 3 Award: The University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy
Region 4 Award: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy
Region 5 Award: Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Region 6 Award: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy
Region 7 Award: Idaho State University College of Pharmacy
Region 8 Award: University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
The 2015 recipient of the APhA GenerationRx Award of Excellence is Nathan Painter of La Jolla, California. Painter was selected in recognition of his commitment to community partnerships and interprofessional collaboration in providing substance misuse education. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, where he manages a pharmacist-run clinic for patients with chronic diseases. Painter serves as the faculty advisor for UCSD's APhA - Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) GenerationRx activities and created a prescription drug misuse elective course. He is an active member of the San Diego County Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force and has collaborated on an interprofessional team to evaluate the state's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
The awards mark a continuation of the APhA and Cardinal Health Foundation partnership to prevent the misuse of prescription medications. The organizations work together to provide a comprehensive education program to aid pharmacists and student pharmacists in educating their communities about the dangers of prescription drug misuse.
With more than 15 million people aged 12 or older using prescription drugs non-medically annually, prevention education is key to reversing the trend of misuse.