The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) is the organization whose members are recognized in society as essential in all patient care settings for optimal medication use that improves health, wellness, and quality of life. Through information, education, and advocacy APhA empowers its members to improve medication use and advance patient care by:

• Providing timely and accurate information that is vital to our members.
• Raising societal awareness about the role of pharmacists as essential in patient care for optimal medication use.
• Pro viding state-of-the-art resources to enhance our members' continuing professional development.
• Educating and influencing legislators, policy makers, regulators, and the public to advance our vision and mission.
• Creating unique opportunities for our members to connect and share with their peers across practice settings.

›› APhA's Mission, Vision, and Goals

APhA was the first-established national professional society of pharmacists, having been founded in 1852 as the American Pharmaceutical Association. It remains the largest association of pharmacists in the United States, boasting more than 60,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and others interested in advancing the profession. Through a House of Delegates that meets each year at the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition, APhA provides a forum for discussion, consensus building, and policy setting for the profession of pharmacy. In fact, nearly all of pharmacy's specialty organizations trace their roots to APhA, having originally been a section or part of this broad foundation of pharmacy.

The APhA Board of Trustees is responsible for broad direction setting of the Association. All members choose one of these three Academies when they join APhA:

›› APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA–APPM)
›› APhA Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science (APhA–APRS)
›› APhA Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA–ASP)

Day-to-day activities of APhA are conducted by Executive Vice President/CEO Thomas E. Menighan, BPharm, MBA, and more than 130 dedicated professionals who work at the Association's headquarters in Washington, D.C.