We are excited to share the success of five outstanding VCU Pharmacy P3 students—Amanda Owens, Kim Trinh, Rola (Lulu) Elzein, Hannah Reynolds and Natacha Rangel-Ribeiro—as they presented their work at the ASHP Midyear conference. Students received the inaugural CPPI Travel Scholarship Award to attend and present their posters at the meeting. 

Amanda Owens and Kim Trinh (left) presented their project "Performance of the MAUQ-en-US in a Diverse, Urban Sample of Patients with Chronic Diseases." Through an international collaboration with the University of Porto faculty member Fernando Fernandez-Llimos, the study aimed to analyze the performance of the medication adherence instrument MAUQ-en-US among diverse populations. Future work will establish the validity and reliability of the MAUQ-en-US in a sample of individuals with chronic diseases, furthering their progress in establishing a universal medication adherence scale validated for the general patient population with chronic disease.

“Attending the ASHP Midyear Conference was a wonderful experience,” Amanda writes. “Presenting our research allowed me to emphasize the importance of effective medication adherence tools and resources that clinicians and patients can utilize to enhance their overall health and well-being. I am excited to attend the 2024 conference in New Orleans for more networking opportunities, and good food!”

Hannah Reynolds and Natacha Rangel-Ribeiro (below) presented their project "Impact of Pharmacy Students as Lifestyle Coaches on Delivery of National Diabetes Prevention Program" showcasing how pharmacy students can positively impact community health. Their research revealed improved retention rates among participants when pharmacy students served as individual lifestyle coaches. This underscores the significance of a Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) model that incorporates students as individual lifestyle coaches. 

"Midyear was an awesome experience," Hannah writes. "I was able to network with pharmacists, present our poster, learn more about the residency application process, speak with residency programs and explore California. Presenting our poster was daunting at first, but turned out to be great. We are passionate about our research, so it was easy to share and answer questions."

The CPPI Travel Scholarship Award recognizes academic excellence and supports the professional growth of our students. We are immensely proud of their contribution to advancing pharmacy practice. Congratulations to Amanda, Kim, Lulu, Hannah and Natacha for their outstanding contributions!

The Center for Pharmacy Practice Innovation at the VCU School of Pharmacy helps pharmacists optimize patient outcomes by being a leader in transforming ambulatory and community pharmacy practice and advancing pharmacists’ roles on patient-centered, collaborative care teams. Training our pharmacists and students to understand and implement these new strategies is key to pushing pharmacy practice forward. Learn more at cppi.pharmacy.vcu.edu/.