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.