Nancy Yousry is a final-year PharmD candidate at the St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
This mantra is a testament to the experiences and successes experienced by the executive board members of our APhA–ASP Chapter at the 2023 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in Phoenix this past March. It’s an ode to the prevailing work that has finally come to fruition. From what was a policy proposal that was not accepted at the 2022 Region 1 Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM) to a policy proposal that has achieved a status of referral and a continued topic of discussion, what may seem like the end of one journey is the beginning of another.
The successes of our chapter this year wouldn’t have been possible without our unity and unwavering support of each other’s vision in which we all had for our growth and development.
Digging deeper
Serving as APhA–ASP Chapter policy vice president and chapter delegate has been life-changing for me. It has opened doors to new experiences, skills, lifelong friendships, and most importantly growth.
After returning from the MRM, there was still a spark inside and a voice in me that pushed me to dig deeper into how I really wanted to leave a mark and contribute to my chapter as I was nearing the start of my final year in pharmacy school. As I look back, that voice was pushing me to believe in the power of unity. With the unity of my chapter, we were able to conduct a public health initiative raising awareness of the harm reduction movement through our chapter’s podcast as well as to speak with our chapter’s adviser, Jennifer Bhuiyan, PharmD, who is a pharmacist at Project Renewal, a nonprofit organization in New York that provides primary health care to the unhoused. Additionally, our policy committee and I launched the Awareness in Policy Series Social Media Initiative, which directly educated almost 200 student pharmacists on current legislative changes affecting our profession.
Most importantly, I was able to create a project bigger than I initially managed. Along with Chapter Vice President Sarah Adly, we worked to serve more than 250 unhoused people at the Bowery Mission, an organization founded in New York and dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness, hunger, and poverty.
Memorable trip to Phoenix
Attending APhA2023 provided an opportunity for us to learn and connect with established professionals and student pharmacists who share the same passion as us. Just when we didn’t think it would get any more eventful, we learned that our chapter had won the 2021–2022 OTC Medicine Safety Second Runner-Up Award. We have past OTC Committee Chair Vasssila Plakas to thank, as her unwavering dedication and hard work led to this Annual Meeting recognition.
I also appreciated the opportunity to further serve as an event moderator for the APhA2023 continuing pharmacy education event Queue Up the Quintuple Framework, which aimed to protect pharmacists and patients collectively in the workplace.
On a personal note, the time I shared with my fellow chapter members in Phoenix has created a lifetime of memories and adventures to be cherished forever.
Only the beginning
My work in policy has only just started. Upon my return home from the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, where I served as one of the selected International Pharmaceutical Students Federation delegates—I have begun to learn just how much work is ahead to further pursue equitable and accessible health care as pharmacists.
I would like to thank Vibhuti Arya, PharmD—a former national APhA–ASP national president, a current APhA Board of Trustee member, and my faculty advisor for policy—for always inspiring me and her students to do more with what we know and never stop searching for resolutions of questions that remain unanswered. Furthermore, I would like to thank our faculty advisers, Dr. Bhuiyan and Dr.Celia Lu, PharmD, for their unwavering dedication and support of their students’ growth. The strength in our chapter’s unity would not have been empowered without their exemplary leadership.