APHA “Paint the Town Orange” Event
Alumni, students and OSU faculty gathered to “Paint the Town Orange” in the haunted hallows of Kells Irish Pub Seattle on Saturday night, March 26th at the annual APHA Convention. Irish food, a fabulous antique bar and ghost stories told by the proprietor in her charming Irish brogue were the centerpiece of the evening. OSU themed door prizes won by students, faculty and alumni included embroidered OSU lab coats and OSU emblazoned folios. Lots of fun took place in the historic building in the Pike’s Place district of Seattle.
From the students:
The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting and Exposition was in Seattle March 25-28, and 60 Oregon State University College of Pharmacy students, as well as many faculty and alumni, took time during Spring Break (and a day out of Spring Term) to journey north and join in the fun.
This meeting includes pharmacists, technicians, industry and students in a weekend of seminars, networking, policy discussions and an exposition. The APhA Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) has a ‘meeting within the meeting’ with a focus on policy, leadership, professional development… and awards!
It is at this meeting every year that regional and national winners are named for all of the APhA-ASP committees: Operation Diabetes, Operation Immunization, Operation Heart, Heartburn Awareness, and the newest one, Generation Rx. National officers are elected at this meeting, and the policy process that began at the MRMs comes to fruition as the House of Delegates debates, amends and votes on the proposed resolutions.
Oregon State had a very successful showing at the Annual Meeting this year. All of our committees worked very hard and put together great reports this year. Thanks to all the committee chairs and everyone who participated in our patient care outreach projects!
- We were named Region 7 winner of the Heartburn Awareness Challenge. Congratulations to committee chairs Dani Hill (P3), David Chin (P2) and everyone who worked on this committee. We hope to see you repeat your success next year!
- P2 Abby Floeter was named the Robert Gibson Scholar and awarded an APhA Foundation Scholarship, one of only 9 students nationally to receive this honor.
- And out of the more than 40 entries in this year’s PharmFlix video contest, Oregon State made the top ten. Thanks go out to those who worked on the video: P4s Tammy Chan, Sierra Binek and Tony Tong did the writing, filming, editing, voiceover and choreography (plus acting and dancing) and P3s Adam Furman, Matt Leinbach, Katie Erickson, Jenifer Smith and Pamela Levine were also featured. Look for this video to appear on the APhA-ASP channel on YouTube in the near future.
OSU students were also involved in other aspects of the conference. P4 Sierra Binek represented OSU in the National Patient Counseling Competition. P3 Katie Erickson served as Chapter Delegate. P2 Amanda Meeker (Region 7 Delegate) served as a delegate to the APhA House and ran the Region 7 Caucus, while P3 Pamela Levine (Region 7 Member-at-large) served as Vice-Chair of the Reference Committee.
Other professional organizations hold their annual meetings during the APhA Annual Meeting, and OSU students also participated in the Phi Lambda Sigma Annual meeting (P3s Angela Scott, Kimberly Carnegie, Ben Kong, Lindsey Childress and P4 Yennie Quach) and the Rho Chi Annual meeting (P3s Adam Furman, Matt Leinbach, Mary Luttropp, Jeremy Dinh, Monica Sung and Matt Sono).
In addition to a lively policy debate (it’s true: policy discussions can be fun!) students were also able to enjoy a ‘March Madness’ themed welcome social, the closing reception at the Experience Music Project, the OSU Dinner at Kells Irish Pub, a multitude of receptions and breakfast/lunch/dinner seminars, and the opportunity to meet some of the nearly 3000 student pharmacists from around the nation.
Many thanks to our APhA-ASP Chapter Advisors, Dr. Gary DeLander and Dr. Juancho Ramirez, as well as all the faculty who were understanding about students missing the first day (or two) of class.
It was a jam-packed weekend of education, policy, networking and fun, but students were also able to get out and enjoy a little sunshine (and a little rain) in the Emerald City. Next year’s meeting will be in New Orleans – hope to see many of you there!
– Story and photos by Pamela Levine (P3) and Abby Floeter (P2)