NACDS Foundation announces $130K in scholarships

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation as announced $130,000 in scholarships and grants through the 25th Annual NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program as part of an ongoing commitment to advancing patient care through pharmacy education. This year, recipients were presented with their merit-based awards at a virtual awards ceremony hosted by the NACDS Foundation.

The NACDS Foundation distributed five 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, the Foundation presented two diversity-focused awards for $15,000 each. The diversity scholarships encourage and support educational diversity by awarding institutions based on their current or proposed diversity programs to advance pharmacy education in under-represented populations.

“Thanks to our benefactors’ outstanding commitment, schools and colleges of pharmacy nationwide have the opportunity to improve health outcomes and address existing care gaps in their own communities,” said NACDS Foundation president Kathleen Jaeger. “We are so appreciative of our sponsors’ generosity and tremendous support of the NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program as well as the students, faculty and upcoming public health champions it proudly promotes.”

The awardees of the 2020 NACDS Foundation Scholarships for excellence in education include the following initiatives:

• Purdue University College of Pharmacy students will focus on the identification, assessment and referral of housing insecure patients with substance use disorder and co-occurring mental health disorders.
• St. John Fisher College Wegmans School of Pharmacy will develop an online inclusive and community-centered immunization literacy program designed for an ethnically, racially and socio-economically diverse population. 
• Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at University of the Sciences will develop a community pharmacy-driven comprehensive care model to follow patients through the entire Hepatitis C care continuum from diagnosis to treatment. Students will conduct screenings, counsel patients on risk-reduction strategies and provide medication management interventions.
• Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy will engage students to provide innovative population health management and telepharmacy interventions at the Veteran’s Administration. Students will identify patients with diabetes who are experiencing gaps in care to address these barriers.
• Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy students will utilize telemedicine to provide medication therapy management and transitions of care interventions for patients who are post-hospital discharge to help improve outcomes and prevent hospital readmissions.

The awardees of the 2020 NACDS Foundation Scholarships for excellence in diversity programs include the following initiatives:

• University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy will expand the Early Assurance Program throughout the state by encouraging a diverse student pool to build connections to the college of pharmacy while pursuing undergraduate education at universities closer to home.  
• University of Missouri Kansas City School of Pharmacy will support a mentorship program where pharmacy students will be paired with pre-pharmacy students. Through this program, mentors will help under-represented minority students apply to pharmacy school, study for courses and prepare for the Pharmacy College Admission Test (PCAT).

The NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program is designed to fund prospective projects that have the potential to significantly advance patient care. 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.

The NACDS Foundation Scholarship Program began in 1997. Since then, nearly $4.5 million in scholarships have been provided for pharmacy education thanks to the generous support of the program’s benefactors.