Chapter representatives Austin Johnson (left) and Madison Suckstorf (right) being presented their award from Immediate Past President Elizabeth Farrington

For those unable to attend the 2023 ACCP Annual Meeting, the conference started Saturday morning with the Student Chapter Forum. We discussed all things student related, including how students can become more involved, and introduced our 2023–2024 Student Network Advisory Committee (SNAC) so that everyone could know a friendly face! We also were able to present the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy (UNMC) with the 2023 Outstanding Student Chapter of the Year Award!

Chapter representatives Austin Johnson and Madison Suckstorf kicked off the Student Chapter Forum by highlighting some of the amazing things their chapter had done to stand out during the 2022–2023 academic year. They provided information in each of the five categories outlined in the Outstanding Student Chapter award: patient care, clinical research, education, advocacy, and interprofessionalism. Their presentation provided other student leaders with information, ideas, and inspiration to bring back to their chapters!

UNMC is a smaller pharmacy school with 190 students. Despite a smaller student body, they have 83 members spread among first- through fourth-year students. Each month, they have chapter meetings where they host a variety of guest speakers from different areas of clinical pharmacy. Pharmacists discuss the path that led them to their specialty, the current roles and responsibilities in their practice, and the anticipated opportunities within the field. Examples of speakers they host include pharmacists from emergency medicine, pediatrics, pain and opioid stewardship, oncology, infectious disease, and immunology.

UNMC focuses on patient care by participating in the SHARING Clinics, a student-run clinic that provides free, multidisciplinary health care to underprivileged populations within the Omaha, Nebraska, community. Students volunteer weekly, and this past year, 15 of UNMC’s ACCP members participated in the continuity program through the clinic, where they served to provide longitudinal care to assigned patients throughout the year. They are also heavily involved in clinical research at UNMC, and there were even seven students at the Annual Meeting this year presenting research. UNMC is committed to improving health care through research and had a robust participation in the Clinical Research Challenge earlier this year with 26 students competing across nine teams!

The UNMC student chapter focuses on education by hosting several events throughout the year to aid in students’ professional development. This year, these events included career path roundtables, which were adopted from ACCP; pharmacist-led journal clubs to help students better interpret and conduct journal clubs before their P4 rotations; and a P4 residency panel to offer advice on how to navigate the residency application process. UNMC offers a P1 executive position in their chapter to provide the opportunity for a first-year student to gain skills in organization and leadership. They also have a peer-to-peer mental health support service where third- and fourth-year students who are trained in mental health first aid provide counseling services to students at the college of pharmacy as part of their advocacy platform. Finally, UNMC is involved in an interprofessional education day in which they collaborate with other health professionals to learn more about the strengths and perspectives each profession has to offer.

UNMC is more than deserving of the 2023 ACCP Outstanding Student Chapter of the Year Award! Hopefully, you can take some new ideas from the UNMC student chapter and apply them to your student chapter. Congratulations again to the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy!