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The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy had four representatives invited to the Walmart Scholars Program at the annual American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) national conference July 11-15 in National Harbor, Maryland.

Clinical Associate Professors of Pharmacy Practice Dr. Lakesha M. Butler and Dr. Lisa Lubsch, along with 2015 pharmacy graduates Emily McMahill and HollyAnn Russell, were among 85 student/faculty pairs selected for the event. Butler teamed with McMahill, while Lubsch paired with Russell.  

The Walmart program provides $1,000 travel scholarships to the student/faculty pairs from AACP member institutions to attend the annual event. The program continues to grow each year with Walmart’s support and dedication.

 “The most impressive aspect of the conference was the wealth of knowledge gained on different topics in pharmacy academia,” Butler said. “Emily and I discovered some new concepts within pharmacy academia such as assessing metacognition. We were also able to network with pharmacy academicians from across the nation.”

McMahill valued the experience. “I truly appreciated the diversity of the individuals who spoke during the Walmart Scholars session,” she said. “For example, one of the women that spoke was not a pharmacist. Instead, she had a degree in aviation. She probably knows very little about pharmacy practice, but she knew a great deal about teaching. I loved hearing her speak about how the human brain works and the ways we can change how we learn to better retain material.”

“I loved having yet another reminder of how hard our professors work to provide us with the best education possible,” McMahill added. All of the SIUE professors, who came to the conference, were attending seminars about new teaching styles, sharing ideas at poster sessions and making curricular changes during committee meetings. Seeing their dedication to pharmacy education empowers me to be a better pharmacist and, maybe one day, a better teacher.”

Although it is unusual for a School of Pharmacy to have two teams represented, Lubsch understands how it came about. “SIUE has an education specialization to ignite an academic interest in our students,” she said.  “Furthermore, HollyAnn shares my pediatric pharmacy and academia interests, and is the first student to complete both the education and pediatric specializations. She is amazing to work with, and I am so happy she chose to work with me, too.”

“Since it was a smaller conference, networking was much easier to accomplish,” said Russell. “I also presented a poster, and so many people stopped by. As a recent graduate, I found the meeting to be impactful in that it gave me a glimpse of my hopeful future as a potential pharmacy educator.”

AACP and Walmart share the commitment to help colleges and schools of pharmacy ensure there are an adequate number of well-prepared individuals who aspire to join the faculties of expanding pharmacy programs across the country. The scholarship program’s goal is to strengthen the participants’ skills and commitment to a career in academic pharmacy through participation in AACP’s programming.

During the conference, Butler was installed as the chair of the AACP Health Disparities and Cultural Competence Special Interest Group for 2015-16. The three-year commitment involved Butler serving as the chair-elect for 2014-2015 and then as the immediate past-chair during 2016-2017.

Photo (L-R):  Dr. Lisa Lubsch, SIUE clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice, SIUE School of Pharmacy alums HollyAnn Russell and Emily McMahill, and Dr. Lakesha Butler, SIUE clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice.