Pharmacy schools’ positive local impact subject of award-winning research study

ALEXANDRIA, Va. An impact study of the contributions made by schools of pharmacy on local economies will nab top honors in an academic research competition sponsored by Merck & Co. and presented by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

In recognition of the research project, the 2009 AACP Rufus A. Lyman Award will go to a team of faculty members from The University of Tennessee and the University of Memphis at the association’s Annual Meeting and Seminars closing banquet, slated for July 21 at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. The award comes in recognition of the best paper published in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.

The paper, “Economic Impact of a College of Pharmacy,” puts a dollar value on the economic returns to a community when a college of pharmacy “attains its fourfold mission of research, service, patient care and education,” according to AACP. The report was authored by Dick Gourley, Pharm.D., and Shelley I. White-Means, Ph.D., both of The University of Tennessee Health Science Center; and Jeff Wallace, Ph.D., of the University of Memphis.

“With the rapid changes in the practice of pharmacy, there is a strong fundamental need for quality research and evaluation of the profession,” said David Miller, director of pharmacy affairs for Merck. “The Rufus A. Lyman Award acknowledges the importance of scholarly research within the profession.”

Supported by Merck, the Lyman award is presented annually as a framed certificate along with a stipend of $5,000 to be shared by the authors of the paper.