The History of APhA-ASP

The APhA-Academy of Student Pharmacists unofficially began in 1921 when students from the University of North Carolina petitioned the APhA Council to be recognized as an APhA student branch. Since then, the student section of APhA has gone through a steady evolutionary process. After the first student branch was recognized, many other schools and colleges of pharmacy began to form their own student branches.

In 1954, a formal student section was created due largely to the efforts of the late Dr. Linwood F. Tice of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, who felt that students needed a voice in the nation’s professional society of pharmacists. At the 2004 Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, APhA-ASP celebrated 35 years as an official academy of APhA . During the meeting, the 2004 APhA-ASP House of Delegates voted in favor of a proposed resolution to change the Academy’s name to the American Pharmacists Association - Academy of Student Pharmacists, in order to better define the professional role of student pharmacists and to emphasize students’ commitment to the profession of pharmacy.  Presently, APhA-ASP has 28 votes in the APhA House of Delegates, which allows students to have a large part in the policy process of APhA.

Currently, there are 99 chapters of APhA-ASP nationwide.  Student pharmacists everywhere are working to enhance medication use and advance patient care through projects like Operation Immunization, Operation Diabetes, and the Heartburn Awareness Challenge.  In 2007, APhA-ASP membership topped 28,000, making it the largest organization for student pharmacists in the world.

The ULM Chapter of APhA-ASP

The 2006-2007 school year was an eventful and productive one for members of APhA-ASP.  One of our proudest accomplishments is the pending adoption of new language with the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy concerning the ability of student pharmacists to immunize.  This is a valuable extension of the work already being done through Operation Immunization, educating the public on the importance of childhood and adult immunizations. 

The second is our receipt of an APhA-ASP/HRSA PSSC Project Award to start a patient education and screening program for peripheral arterial disease at EA Conway Hospital, one of only eight such awards given this year across the country.  Our chapter also revived the Vial of Life project, a convenient, yet complete medication record targeted for use by the elderly population of Northeast Louisiana, especially in times of emergency.  Student pharmacists practiced their patient care skills by assisting the elderly in completing their medication record as part of our service learning experiences. 

ULM APhA-ASP also hosted Dr. Bruce Canaday, APhA Immediate Past President, to address the student body about the future of pharmacy practice, Medication Therapy Management.  These activities are in addition to our participation in the Heartburn Awareness Challenge and Operation Diabetes, as well as sending twenty-four students to Dallas, Texas for the Region 6 Midyear Regional Meeting and thirty-four students to the APhA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.  It is the commitment and active participation of all our members that made this year such a successful one.