The 2023–2024 ACCP-ASHP-VCU Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow, Wasem Gawish, D.Ph., BCPS, BCMTMS, has confirmed that he will be serving in the office of Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM). During his placement year, Gawish will advise the senator’s office on issues related to health care policy and pharmacy practice.

During their congressional placement, fellows are typically responsible for researching and writing briefs on health care issues, assisting with policy analyses, and drafting memoranda, floor speeches, and questions for panelists at congressional hearings, as well as planning, organizing, and contributing to the senator or representative’s office policy and management issues for the year.

The 2020–2021 fellow, Nimit Jindal, Pharm.D., is currently Health Policy Director in the office of Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO). Sarah Ray, Pharm.D., FAPhA, BCPS, Chair and Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Concordia University Wisconsin, School of Pharmacy, representing the ACCP Ambulatory Care PRN, spoke with Jindal about his experience working with health care policy and his path to get there. You can view the interview here. Thanks to the Ambulatory Care PRN for sharing this resource!

About the Fellow Program

The 14-month fellow program, the only one of its kind in the nation, is a joint initiative led by the Government Affairs teams at ACCP and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Pharmacy. It provides active mentorship and hands-on experience within the U.S. Congress and offers fellows the opportunity to develop skills in issue prioritization, policy, legislation evaluation, research, writing, and advocacy.

Alumni Fellows

After their service in the program, past fellows have gone on to engage in a variety of important roles in health care policy and government:

• Amanda Ferguson, Pharm.D., serves as Health Legislative Assistant in the office of Senator Tom Carper (D-DE)
• Tatiana Bujnoch, Pharm.D., M.S., BCPS, serves as Health Equity and Policy Associate at Morgan Health
• Rita (Habib) Livadas, Pharm.D., serves as Director, Global Public Health, Life Sciences at Becton, Dickinson and Co.

Applications for 2024–2025 Pharmacy Healthcare Policy Fellow Program

Interested candidates should visit the pharmacy Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow program website for more information and instructions on submitting an application. For more information, click here.