The American Pharmacists Association: A short history
Founded as the American Pharmaceutical Association in 1852, APhA
today represents more than 60,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical
scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and others
interested in advancing the profession. APhA, dedicated to helping all
pharmacists improve medication use and advance patient care, is the
first-established and largest association of pharmacists in the United
States. Three academies—Pharmacy Practice and Management,
Pharmaceutical Research and Science, and Student Pharmacists—make
up APhA.
Since its founding on October 6, 1852, in Philadelphia, APhA has been
the home for all of pharmacy. Virtually every pharmacy specialty
organization traces its roots to APhA and the many sections and interest
groups it has served over the years, 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.
Policy for APhA and the profession of pharmacy as a whole is
developed by the APhA House of Delegates. Comprising representatives
from all major national pharmacy organizations, state pharmacy
associations, federal pharmacy, and APhA’s three academies, the
APhA House of Delegates meets during the APhA annual meeting each spring
to consider matters of timely and critical importance to pharmacy. The
House was first organized in 1912.
A spinoff of APhA’s centennial celebration was the APhA
Foundation, created in 1953. The Foundation, recognized as a 501(c)3
charitable/educational nonprofit organization, conducts research
demonstration projects, such as its Project ImPACT, and its latest
initiative, the HealthMapRX, a project that aims to combat the effects
that chronic diseases have on America’s workforce. Along with
demonstration projects, the Foundation 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 was able to secure coveted land on the
National Mall in Washington, D.C., 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 later, being
dedicated in 1960. Today, the annex has been demolished and has made way
for a new addition to the original Pope building, completed in 2009.
As it has done for more than 150 years, APhA continues today to lead
the profession of pharmacy. Medication therapy management, a component
of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit launched in 2006,
provides the means for pharmacists to complete the transformation of
their profession from one focused on the drug product to a clinical
service focused on the patient. As APhA Executive Vice President and CEO
John A. Gans, PharmD, puts it, pharmacists have gone from “making
medicines” to “making medicines work.” Through the
programs, publications, and services provided through APhA, pharmacists
across America and around the world are in the forefront of making this
change happen each day, one patient at a time.
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