The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) is the only organization advancing the entire pharmacy profession, supporting practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical researchers, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians across all settings to better optimize medication use and patient health outcomes. The Academy of Student Pharmacists (ASP)—of which more than 140 chapters across the country call home—is just one of three Academies within the association and represents more than 30,000 student pharmacists.
The other two Academies within APhA are the Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APPM)—which serves practicing pharmacists who directly oversee or conduct patient care—and the Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science (APRS)—which serves members whose primary focus is conducting or managing pharmaceutical research and science. When professors and faculty at UGA say that they're members in APhA, they mean that they belong to one of these two Academies, not APhA-ASP!
Our APhA-ASP Chapter is proud to be the largest student organization at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy. Here at the college, we play a key role in helping students navigate pharmacy school, advocate for policies that improve pharmacy practice and patient care, explore careers throughout all sectors of pharmacy, and connect with other student pharmacists and pharmacists nationwide. Our members experience a variety of benefits including professional development resources, career guidance, networking opportunities, leadership development, and study resources for national board exams. Our mission is "to be the collective voice of student pharmacists, to provide opportunities for professional growth, to improve patient care, and to envision and advance the future of pharmacy."
Founded as the American Pharmaceutical Association on October 6, 1852, APhA today represents more than 60,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and others interested in advancing the profession.
Since its founding in Philadelphia, APhA has been the home for all of pharmacy. Virtually every pharmacy specialty organization traces its roots to APhA, including the National Community Pharmacy Association (founded in 1898 as the National Association of Retail Druggists), the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (founded in 1900 as the American Conference on Pharmaceutical Faculties), and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (founded in 1942 as the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists).
APhA’s reach goes far beyond the shores of the United States. An active participant in the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) since 1925, APhA has both hosted and attended dozens of meetings of pharmacists from around the world, and its staff and officers have held key positions in FIP and other international pharmacy organizations.
A spinoff of APhA’s centennial celebration was the APhA Foundation, created in 1953. The APhA Foundation, recognized as a 501(c)3 charitable/educational nonprofit organization, conducts research demonstration projects and offers programs to pharmacists such as the Advanced Practice Institute, National Clinical Issues Forum, and the Incentive Grants for Practitioner Innovation in Pharmaceutical Care. The Foundation also hosts the Pinnacle Awards each year to recognize health professionals’ contributions to the health care system.
In the 1920s and 1930s, APhA secured coveted land on the National Mall in Washington, DC, for construction of its national headquarters. Designed by famed architect John Russell Pope, the American Institute of Pharmacy was built at 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue and dedicated in 1934. An annex was constructed and dedicated in 1960. The annex was later demolished to make way for a new addition to the original Pope building, completed in 2009. Inscribed in marble, above the main doors, reads:
“Dedicated to those who have contributed their knowledge and endeavor to the preservation of public health and to the advancement of science in pharmacy.”
As it has done since the beginning, APhA continues today to lead the profession of pharmacy. Through the programs, publications, and services provided via APhA, pharmacists across America and around the world are at the forefront of making change happen each day, one patient at a time.
APhA-ASP 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. This voice started as one delegate in the APhA House of Delegates and has evolved to 28.
In 1969, when the APhA membership approved new bylaws creating three Association subdivisions, one of them was the Student American Pharmaceutical Association (SAPhA). SAPhA evolved over the years into the Academy known today, adding a House of Delegates in 1974 and Operation Immunization in 1997.
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.
The expansion of National Pharmacy Week to American Pharmacists Month for the entire month of October came about in 2004. Chapters in the northeast began to represent APhA-ASP and the profession on various morning shows like ABC’s Good Morning America. APhA-ASP also made great strides in enhancing communication to chapter leaders, chapter advisors, regional leaders, and student members. This is when the current monthly communication Student Pharmacist Connection was born.
From 2009 and on, APhA-ASP continued to grow with impactful polices, new patient care projects, and member engagement. In 2018, APhA-ASP was recognized in the international spotlight as the “Best Association of the Year” at the 64th IPSF Word Congress in Mendoza, Argentina. Today, APhA-ASP has celebrated more than 50 years of student involvement and professional development, and will continue to be an integral part of APhA.