Here is a quick update on ACCP Foundation activities since the last PRN Report. As always, thank you for your support and engagement.

Coming Soon: Plan Your Walk-Rounds Through the Scientific Poster Presentations

Many PRNs conduct “walk-rounds” during the Scientific Poster Presentations at the ACCP Annual Meeting each year. In these, small groups of PRN members move through preselected PRN members’ posters and discuss the findings and implications of the presentations with the authors. Again this year, each PRN will be provided with a complete list of posters to be presented, which will identify presenting authors and coauthors and respective PRN memberships. The lists are expected to be distributed to PRN officers in late September. If your PRN does not receive a copy, please contact Shelly Enders ([email protected]).

Futures Grants: Mentored Research Awards

The Futures Grants program for student, trainee, and early-career ACCP members is designed to support the development of research skills and establish sustained interest and careers in pharmacy research. The new amounts for Futures Grants awards will range from $20,000 to $80,000, depending on applicant eligibility and budget approval. Up to $100,000 in mentored, developmental research awards is expected to be distributed through the Futures Grants program in 2026.

The next grant application cycle will open May 15, 2026, and completed applications will be due no later than September 1, 2026. Grants will be reviewed and scored by translational category of the research in addition to the applicant’s eligibility level. For more information about this grant award program, visit www.accpfoundation.org/futures.

The 2025 Futures Grants application period closed September 1, and award recipients will be announced by November 15, 2025.

Investigator Development

The Foundation’s investigator development efforts continued in June 2025 on the campus of the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy. Fifteen mentees and mentors spent a productive week crafting and refining research projects. If you’re heading to Minneapolis for the 2025 ACCP Annual Meeting, please plan to attend the MeRIT poster presentations during Scientific Poster Session II on Sunday, October 19, from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (CDT) and the MeRIT Published Papers Platform session on Monday, October 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. (CDT).

Mentored Research Investigator Training (MeRIT) Program

This one-of-a-kind training program is designed to help pharmacists develop the abilities necessary to conduct investigator-initiated research, either independently as a principal investigator or as an active co-investigator within a research team. Ideal candidates for the MeRIT Program are pharmacy faculty or practitioners with limited research experience who are:

• Committed to incorporating research into their professional careers;
• Interested in generating research themes or obtaining preliminary data for larger funding opportunities; and
• Aspiring to be active principal investigators or co-investigators within a research team.

MeRIT is a 2-year longitudinal program that uses a combination of live and virtual teaching and mentoring methods to provide trainees with the support and education they need throughout the research experience (ie, from idea, proposal development, funding application, and project completion to presentation and publication).

The application period for the 2026 MeRIT Program will open in November 2025, with letters of intent due February 28, 2026, and full applications due March 31, 2026. The primer program will be held June 1-5, 2026, on the campus of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

Focused Investigator Training (FIT) Program

The Foundation’s flagship pharmacist investigator development program will also convene in the summer of 2026. If you plan to submit (or resubmit) a research proposal to the NIH or other major foundation/organization funding source, FIT should be on your agenda.

This 5-day, intensive, hands-on program has a strong history of participant success and pairs experienced and funded faculty mentors with investigator-participants. The program is geared to fine-tune R-type investigator-initiated proposals and K-type career development awards. The ideal applicant is a mid-career, fellowship-trained, tenure-track or research-focused pharmacist. The application period for the 2026 FIT Program will open in November 2025, with letters of intent due February 28, 2026, and full applications due March 31, 2026.

More information on MeRIT and FIT is available on the Foundation’s website here.