UF achieves national excellence in pharmacy professional programs

The University of Florida College of Pharmacy is one of eight schools to receive the first national recognition for exemplary partnerships that foster quality experiential education and patient care teaching environments for pharmacy students.

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy has awarded the Academic-Practice Partnerships for Learning Excellence award, known as the Crystal APPLE, to UF College of Pharmacy and its practice partner, Shands Jacksonville. David M. Angaran, M.S., a UF College of Pharmacy clinical professor of pharmacy, and two pharmacists from Shands Jacksonville - Thanh Hogan, Pharm.D., director of pharmacy and Sharon A. Basile, Pharm.D., a pharmacist and UF preceptor - received a Tiffany crystal apple and a plaque.

William Millard, Ph.D., executive associate dean for the College of Pharmacy, credits the recognition to a long-standing partnership between the college and the UF-affiliated medical center in Jacksonville.

"Our college developed a relationship with Shands Jacksonville as a clinical training site nearly 20 years ago," Millard said. "A culture of mutual respect and excellence exists in the provision of clinical services and an educational program for UF pharmacy students and clinical residents alike."

The AACP, with support from Merck & Company, created the Academic-Practice Partnership Initiative in 2004 to improve pharmacy education and practice by encouraging quality professional experience programs. Each of the colleges will be featured in US Pharmacist and in the Advanced Practice Experience Site Profiling System, a toolkit designed to help pharmacy schools identify, document and profile models of exemplary experiential education practice sites.