L to R: Joni Carroll, Stephanie McGrath, Melissa McGivney, Kim Coley, and Sophia Cothrel
Associate Dean for Community Partnerships Melissa McGivney and the PittPharmacy team of Professor Kim Coley, Senior Program Manager Joni Carroll, Senior Program Manager Stephanie McGrath and Fellow Sophia Cothrel received a grant from Community Pharmacy Foundation entitled “Community Pharmacy Practice Transformation Initiative Facilitating partnerships between Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Networks (CPESN) and Schools of Pharmacy.” Through this grant and in coordination with initiative partners, the team founded the Academia-CPESN Transformation Pharmacy Collaborative (ACT), an operational learning collaborative between schools of pharmacy and community-based clinically integrated networks.
One of the outcomes of this project will be a blueprint that will lay out the work of the Collaborative and guide strategic partnerships between Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Networks and schools of pharmacy to facilitate and accelerate community pharmacy practice transformation. The Blueprint for Successful Partnerships was released in draft form at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, in July 2019.
Schools and colleges of pharmacy have been invited to join the Collaborative by submitting a Dean’s Statement of Commitment. As of August 12, 2019, 41 schools and colleges of pharmacy have joined ACT. A “Partnership Acceleration Year” will begin in August 2019 with a series of webinars and engagement opportunities for faculty, students, and pharmacists in the community, with the goal to inspire and accelerate community pharmacy practice transformation.
