VCU news

By Mary Kate Brogan
School of Pharmacy

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and its Academia-Community Transformation (ACT) Pharmacy Collaborative have named the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy an inaugural ACT Community Pharmacy Center of Excellence for its commitment to advancing community-based pharmacy through teaching, service, scholarship, leadership and partnerships.

The announcement, issued this month by AACP, states that the centers of excellence “will serve as ambassadors for pharmacy academia through convenings with pharmacy and health care industry leaders, uniting to mobilize and amplify community pharmacy practice transformation efforts.”

VCU School of Pharmacy is among 17 centers of excellence in the country recognized with this new designation.

“Over the last 126 years, our School of Pharmacy has been a leader and pioneer in innovation and transformation of community pharmacy practice and research,” said K.C. Ogbonna, Pharm.D., dean of the VCU School of Pharmacy. “This recognition affirms that our tradition of innovation in education and research continues.”

The designation follows a sustained commitment to strengthening community-based pharmacy practice. In 1995, VCU School of Pharmacy was one of the first schools of pharmacy to place faculty in community-based pharmacies to develop patient care services and was one of the first to sponsor a multi-site community-based pharmacy residency program.

Several programs, centers and initiatives within VCU School of Pharmacy contribute to a holistic approach to strengthening the practice of community-based pharmacy nationwide, including the:

• PGY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Practice Residency

• PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency

• VCU Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow Program

• Center for Pharmacy Practice Innovation

• Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan initiative through VCU’s Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry and Innovation (iCubed)

• Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Program and

• community outreach initiatives

VCU School of Pharmacy will be formally honored at AACP’s annual meeting, Pharmacy Education 2024, in Boston on July 23 during the session, “AACP Transformation Center: Accelerating Community-based Pharmacy Practice Transformation.”

As part of the announcement, AACP recognized Jean-Venable “Kelly” Goode, Pharm.D., VCU’s ACT Champion for this initiative. Goode, who serves as a director of VCU’s Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program and a professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, said the designation highlights the school’s collective presence in community-based pharmacy practice and the corresponding impact.

“United by purpose and driven by inclusion and impact, VCU School of Pharmacy has been at the forefront of community-based pharmacy practice advancement, innovation and transformation for decades,” Goode said. “We engage students through Pharm.D. and graduate-level courses, offer residencies and fellowships focused on community pharmacy practice, provide services to our community and develop the innovative patient-care strategies that providers put into practice across the country and around the world. Our school proves every day that different works.”

Individuals involved in community-based pharmacy practice efforts at VCU School of Pharmacy include Goode and the following faculty and staff:

• John D. Bucheit, Pharm.D., director of the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency Program and associate professor

• Lauren M. Caldas, Pharm.D., assistant director of the CCPR and associate professor

• Dave Dixon, Pharm.D., chair and professor of

• Krista L. Donohoe, Pharm.D., associate professor

• Barbara Exum, Pharm.D., director of the Center for Compounding Practice and Research and associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics

• Sharon Gatewood, Pharm.D., professor

• David A. Holdford, Ph.D., professor

• Lauren G. Pamulapati, Pharm.D., assistant professor

• Apryl N. Peddi, Pharm.D., assistant professor

• Emily P. Peron, Pharm.D., associate professor

• Elvin T. Price, Pharm.D., Ph.D., associate professor

• Teresa M. Salgado, M.Pharm., Ph.D., assistant professor and director of CPPI

• Evan M. Sisson, Pharm.D., professor and assistant director, CPPI

• Sarah Wheeler, Pharm.D., assistant professor

• Kristin M. Zimmerman, Pharm.D., associate professor and director of the ACCP/ASHP/VCU Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow Program

Learn more about VCU School of Pharmacy’s initiatives in community-based pharmacy practice.

This article was originally published on the School of Pharmacy’s website.