American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy - AACP

08/19/2026

🤝📢 Meet the 2026 Aspiring Academics!

We are proud to welcome 29 students from across the country to the fourth cohort of the AACP Aspiring Academics Program.

Over the next year, these students will explore the many possibilities of a career in academic pharmacy through guided learning modules, mentorship, networking, a collaborative group project and involvement with AACP, all culminating in attendance at Pharmacy Education 2027 ( ) and the Teachers’ Seminar in Toronto, Canada. 🍁

🆕 New for 2026: For the first time, graduate students pursuing Ph.D. degrees will participate alongside student pharmacists pursuing Pharm.D. degrees, all united by an interest in exploring careers in academic pharmacy.

Please join us in congratulating them all as 2026 Aspiring Academics: We can’t wait to see what they learn, create and contribute throughout the year ahead!

To meet the cohort and learn more about the program, visit the link in our comments.

08/14/2026

🤝🥼 AACP is proud to announce Lillian Pannell, a student at DeSoto Central High School in Mississippi, as a recipient of the 2026 HOSA Scholarship!

Sponsored by AACP, she received a $1,000 scholarship to support her continued education as she pursues a career in pharmacy.

"I am passionate about succeeding in my career and making a difference in health care," says Lillian.

HOSA-Future Health Professionals scholarships are awarded to exceptional HOSA members who are pursuing their education and preparing for careers as future health professionals. With support from her advisor, Lorna Golden, Lillian is working toward her goal of becoming a pediatric clinical pharmacist.

Congratulations to Lillian on this recognition and the next step in her pharmacy journey!

08/12/2026

AACP opposes the Administration’s new approach to childhood vaccine recommendations and supports the positions expressed by pharmacy practice partners, healthcare leaders, and public health organizations that have emphasized the importance of maintaining transparent, science-driven vaccine policymaking grounded in established evidence and expert review.

Childhood vaccine recommendations must be grounded in science. No new evidence has been found to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance, and decades of research involving millions of people show no link between vaccines and autism.

Pharmacists are trusted, accessible clinicians who bring essential expertise to the shared clinical decision-making process by interpreting evolving evidence and guidance, assessing each patient’s needs, answering questions, and helping families make informed decisions about vaccines.

Patients, parents, and caregivers can continue to turn to their pharmacist for clear, evidence-based guidance about what is right for them and their families.

APhA will continue to stand up for pharmacists’ clinical autonomy, champion their role as immunization experts, and advocate for their voices to remain central to vaccine policy and patient care.

08/10/2026

🥼 Congratulations to Dr. Andrea Sikora, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, for being selected as the 2026 National Academy of Medicine Fellow in Pharmacy!

Supported through an endowment from AACP and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy - ACCP, the fellowship aims to enable talented, early-career health science scholars to participate actively in the work of National Academy of Medicine and the National Academies and further their careers as future leaders in the field.

For the full list of 2026 NAM Fellows, visit the link in our comments below.

08/05/2026

“When I chose ‘Rise Forward and Thrive,’ I was not decorating difficulty with hope. I was naming what I believe this profession and the Academy are capable of.”

Highlights: During the first House of Delegates session, Dr. Margarita DiVall, AACP President, shared the personal journey behind her presidential theme and her vision for the year ahead.

Dr. DiVall reflected on her upbringing in the Soviet Union and the example set by her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who escaped occupied Minsk and joined the resistance.

💬 “She wanted us to learn that human dignity is not negotiable, that community is how you endure the unendurable, that we too are capable of doing difficult things.”

Those lessons carried Dr. DiVall through learning English while studying pharmacy, finding community and belonging, and rising to the roles of clinical professor at the Northeastern University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and senior associate dean for faculty affairs and belonging at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences over her 26-year career.

Now, they inform a theme centered not simply on weathering difficulty, but moving through it with purpose.

💬 “Rise does not mean the difficulty is over. It means you choose to move despite it. And pharmacy—our profession, our practice, our academy—has every reason to rise right now, because the moment is genuinely calling for us.”

💬 “Forward carries direction and intention. It says we are not nostalgic for a pharmacy education that no longer fits a changing world.”

💬 “Thrive is the most demanding word of the three. Surviving is necessary but insufficient.”

That vision will guide AACP’s work in the year ahead, in topics including competency-based pharmacy education, digital health and artificial intelligence, research and scholarship, advocacy, and the financial sustainability and value of pharmacy education.

Dr. DiVall also challenged the Academy to help the country make fuller use of one of its most accessible healthcare resources — — and to tell the profession’s story “loudly, persistently, and with evidence.”

💬 “This is the work. And I want us to Rise Forward and Thrive, together.”

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08/04/2026

“We are grateful to have Aleda on our faculty,” said Dr. Cindy Stowe, dean, UAMS College of Pharmacy, of Dr. Aleda Chen's reception of the 2026 AACP Distinguished Teaching Scholar award.

"She brings a lot of lived experiences and expertise that she leverages to make everyone around her better. I think the sky is the limit on the impact she can have for the UAMS College of Pharmacy."

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) recently honored Aleda Chen, Pharm.D., Ph.D., as one of three nationally recognized Distinguished Teaching Scholars.

07/31/2026

📢 Just Announced: Congratulations to Dr. Laura Waite (Saint Joseph's University) for being elected to serve as Speaker of the AACP House of Delegates, beginning July 2027.

"I am humbled and honored to serve the AACP membership as the next Speaker of the House," said Waite in a statement.

"We have so much to look forward to as an organization, and I believe strongly in the crucial role of the House of Delegates and member voices in shaping our future."

📝 In her role as Speaker, she will serve a 3-year term as the presiding officer of the HOD, overseeing its operations and ensuring business is conducted fairly, efficiently, and in accordance with AACP governing documents and Robert's Rules of Order.

Her duties will include communicating with delegates, orienting new delegates, managing House procedures and debate, establishing report formats and presentation time limits, ruling on procedural matters, as well as serving on the Board of Directors and key committees.

🔗 For more on Dr. Waite and the work of the AACP Speaker, see the link in our comments below.

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07/30/2026

📝 What were the results of a query into K-12 teachers' interests and needs in pharmacy career awareness?

That was topic of just one of the many innovative sessions and posters from The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy faculty at !

For their full recap, see the link in the post below 👇

07/29/2026

"Don’t let the existing paradigm define what you can do. Do what you think is right."

💡🔬 Highlights: How are artificial intelligence, advanced laboratory models, novel drug-delivery systems and systems pharmacology transforming drug discovery and the future of patient care?

During “Reimagining Therapeutic Innovation,” the Science Plenary at Pharmacy Education 2026, faculty panelists Dr. James Fraser (UCSF School of Pharmacy), Dr. Sam Lai (UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy) and Dr. Shilpa Sant (UIC Retzky College of Pharmacy) explored how emerging technologies are expanding treatment possibilities, reducing reliance on animal studies and helping researchers identify safety risks earlier.

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Before the panel began, AACP recognized two leaders in pharmacy research:

🏅 Session Moderator Dr. Jill Kolesar (University of Iowa College of Pharmacy) received the 2026 Volwiler Research Achievement Award, recognizing outstanding research by a pharmaceutical scientist and educator.

“Translational science is a team sport,” she said. “The world needs , and translational science needs your support”—whether as “a supportive leader, a talented collaborator or an enthusiastic supporter.”

🏅 Dr. Sonak Pastakia (Purdue College of Pharmacy), recipient of the 2026 Paul R. Dawson Award for Excellence in Patient Care Research, accepted his award by video from Kenya.

“Healthcare is never just about medicine,” he said.

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Following the awards, each panelist shared a distinct perspective on the future of therapeutic innovation, before convening for a full panel discussion and Q&A.

💬 “We’re not giving you enough drugs to prescribe!” Dr. Fraser joked in his opening, before emphasizing that AI-driven depends not only on better algorithms, but also on high-quality data.

💬 “Don’t let the existing paradigm define what you can do. Do what you think is right,” Dr. Lai ended his portion of the plenary with an appeal to considering different structures for finding solutions.

Emphasizing his point, Dr. Lai described his efforts to create a multidisciplinary “playground” where graduate students and postdoctoral researchers could understand problems and develop new solutions together.

💬 “Tomorrow’s innovators will not simply use emerging technologies,” said Dr. Sant, concluding her portion of the plenary by focusing on the importance of interdisciplinary training to advance and improve drug development processes.

“They will integrate biology, engineering, AI and clinical science to develop better therapies.”

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Stay tuned for further highlights from throughout the month!

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07/22/2026

📸 Official Photo Gallery Now Available: may be over, but the connections, conversation and lessons live on!

Access the professional gallery at the link in our comments, and download and share your own to re-live the fun from Grapevine.

Stay tuned to this space in coming weeks for further updates from the meeting, and stay connected to the Academy throughout the year with AACP Connect, the bi-weekly E-lert e-mail, AACP's professional development programs and more!