The APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition is always a showcase of student accomplishments. From patient care to advocacy initiatives, student pharmacists have an unbelievable impact on communities and the profession. This past March, more than 200 projects were presented by student pharmacists through APhA’s Contributed Papers Program, and several were chosen for recognition due to outstanding merit during APhA2019 in Seattle.    

One of the major aspects that drew me toward a career in pharmacy was the opportunity to educate and interact with patients. This passion motivated me to compete in the local APhA– ASP Patient Counseling Competition during my third year of pharmacy school at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) School of Pharmacy. I knew that this would be a great opportunity to help develop and improve my patient counseling skills, but I was still nervous to participate. However, our Patient Care Vice President encouraged me to challenge myself, and this led to the most memorable night of my pharmacy career: winning the APhA–ASP National Patient Counseling Competition at the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in Seattle this past March.

Andrew P. Traynor, PharmD, BCPS (University of Minnesota)

2003–04 APhA–ASP National President

As Executive Director Ambulatory and Managed Pharmacy Services at Banner Health in Phoenix, AZ, I work with health care payers, providers, and care management teams to design, deploy, and oversee the delivery of a number of clinical pharmacy services. This includes clinic-embedded pharmacists, pharmacist-operated MedCare Clinics, centralized pharmacy services, population health management services, and pharmacy benefit optimization. I am honored to lead a team of passionate pharmacists, pharmacy leaders, pharmacy technicians, and data scientists who are focused on improving medication use at the patient and population level. I also serve as the Residency Program Director for our health-system pharmacy administration residency program, and work closely with our ambulatory pharmacy residency program.