Ryan Kwok is a third-year PharmD candidate at the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
While listening to Rachel Lucky, APhA–ASP national president, detail her 2025–2026 theme, “Every Moment Matters: Celebrate, Cherish, Create,” at the 2025 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in Nashville, my mind flashed back to three instances when I encountered the moment that made my journey as a student pharmacist, a pharmacy advocate, and a chapter president remarkable.
Every moment matters in practice
Because we make a direct impact on patient care, even though we are early in our careers, every moment matters in practice. I once identified a patient who has little to no effective glucose control. The patient said that their glucose level fluctuated dramatically throughout the day, and with their impaired eyes, they could not administer insulin on their own. It is my duty to intervene and educate their son—who was helping them with their diabetes control—on differentiating between the long- and short-acting insulin, administering using the correct method, and connecting them with additional resources.
Every moment matters in advocacy
Because we serve as the voice of the future for the profession, every moment matters in advocacy. Through my role as legislative committee chair of the Orange County Pharmacists Association, I successfully organized multiple state legislator office visits and spoke about pertinent issues in pharmacy practice. One example is our recent visit to state Sen. Steven Choi’s office, where we provided important education on the role of pharmacists, our training, and the impact of PBM. This led to his “aye” vote at the state senate floor for SB 41, California’s PBM regulation bill.
Every moment matters at our APhA–ASP Chapter
Because we lead with purpose, uplift one another, and build a culture that inspires others to do the same, every moment matters at our APhA–ASP Chapter. As a newly established program now graduating its first class, our status as the “new kid on the block” calls on us—the founding cohorts—to lead with intention, fostering professionalism, cultivating relationships, and paving the way for sustained development.
Our chapter aims to address these needs by creating new initiatives, developing connections at national, state, and local levels, and generating a sense of professional belonging through the mission of APhA–ASP. From tripling our reported activities compared to previous years to marking milestones such as the first-ever in-person APhA–ASP National Executive Committee member to visit to our campus, the chapter has grown drastically in every aspect this past academic year.
As the upcoming chapter president, it is my goal to ensure we drive for more efforts to put ourselves as a leading example in making an impact to the profession while maintaining the standards we have set for ourselves.
The smallest actions hold meaning
To me, this isn’t just a theme—it’s a definition of the student pharmacist’s journey. Each patient interaction, every advocacy effort, and all the work within our chapter have shown me that even the smallest actions hold meaning. These moments shape the collective efforts that we build together toward a better future for the profession. Carrying this mindset forward, we should be committed to making the most of every opportunity—because in pharmacy, and in life, every moment truly does matter.