GNP funds new university chair to boost entrepreneurial pharmacy
VALLEY FORGE, Pa. AmerisourceBergen Corp.’s Good Neighbor Pharmacy division has pledged what company sources describe as a substantial gift to the University of the Pacific’s Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The donation will endow “The Good Neighbor Pharmacy Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurial Pharmacy Practice” at the school.
GNP is a network of nearly 2,800 independently owned and operated pharmacies supplied by AmerisourceBergen, with common marketing and merchandising themes. Its donation was announced at an alumni and donor event at the annual meeting of the California Pharmacists Association in Sacramento last weekend.
“We are excited to have this opportunity to partner with Pacific,” said David Neu, ABC’s senior vice president of retail sales and marketing. “This GNP chair reinforces our commitment to community pharmacy. Furthermore, the University’s programs align with Good Neighbor Pharmacy and its objective of expanding the role of the independent pharmacist.”
The Stockton, Calif.-based college grants degrees to approximately 200 pharmacy graduates each year. The new GNP-sponsored chair will enable the school to launch a specialized track in entrepreneurial pharmacy practice, which will prepare future pharmacists for innovative practice models, and “to assume ownership of private practice pharmacies offering specialized services that enhance patient care,” according to ABC.
“University of the Pacific has been a leader in producing practice-ready pharmacists for over fifty years,” said Phillip Oppenheimer, dean of the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. “This generous gift and the program it supports will allow us to meet our students’ needs to obtain education in entrepreneurial practice, which will ultimately lead to better consumer service and patient care.”
The donor has requested that the gift amount be kept confidential, but said it will cover “a significant portion of the estimated cost of establishing the new chair and its related programs.”