ACCP members Megan Musselman, Brent Reed, and Steven Smith were selected by the 2015 ACCP Awards Committee to receive the College’s prestigious 2015 New Clinical Practitioner, New Educator, and New Investigator awards, respectively. The awards will be presented in San Francisco, California, on Sunday, October 18, 2015, during the Opening Session of the 2015 ACCP Global Conference on Clinical Pharmacy.
The New Clinical Practitioner Award honors a new clinical practitioner who has made outstanding contributions to the health of patients, the practice of clinical pharmacy, or both. The awardee must have been a full member of ACCP at the time of nomination, as well as a member at any level for a minimum of 3 years; in addition, the awardee must have completed his or her terminal training or degree less than 6 years previously. Megan E. Musselman, Pharm.D., M.S., BCPS, is a clinical pharmacy specialist in emergency medicine/critical care at North Kansas City Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She also serves as a clinical instructor at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy. In her current position, Musselman has been responsible for establishing and extending clinical pharmacist services in both intensive care and emergency medicine settings. Matt Baker, pharmacy clinical supervisor at North Kansas City Hospital, described Musselman’s impact on the pharmacy department as follows:
Megan has established herself as a leader in our growing clinical program. Prior to her arrival, a consistent pharmacy presence in the emergency department (ED) at our facility was absent, despite being one of the busiest EDs in the metro area. Megan immediately immersed herself in practice, gained the trust of staff, and since then has constantly sought opportunities to improve patient care and provide enhanced services. Numerous individual processes have been developed or revamped including TPA administration during ischemic stroke, intranasal medication administration protocols, and an ED procedural sedation guideline…. Megan has focused on improving pharmacist attendance at both pediatric and adult codes by increasing staff training and comfort levels. For adult patients, Megan set up a rotating pager which travels with one pharmacist daily to alert him/her of opportunities for assistance…. For pediatric patients, Megan formed a group which is working toward the goal of making sure there is always a PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) trained pharmacist on site…. It would have been easy for Megan to simply ensure her own competency but she has taken it several steps further involving herself in both staff training and operational components in an effort to provide an increased level of care to patients…. Megan has also been heavily involved with interdisciplinary teams on facility wide initiatives to ensure both safe and appropriate use of agents to reverse novel oral anticoagulants, identify and treat septic patients at the earliest possible juncture, and streamline therapy for patients with pain, agitation, and delirium. To each of these projects she brings an evidence-based approach along with a desire to improve patient outcomes in the safest manner possible.
Musselman has also been very involved in ACCP-related activities, having served as secretary of the 2009 National Student Network Advisory Committee, member of the 2011 Residency Task Force, member of the 2013 Emergency Medicine PRN Programming Committee, item writer for the Clinical Pharmacy Challenge, and reviewer for the CV Review Service. At the time of her nomination, she had published seven papers in peer-reviewed journals and had cowritten two book chapters. Her work has been presented at national meetings, including the American College of Emergency Physicians Research Forum, the American Congress of Clinical Toxicology, and the ACCP Spring Forum.
The ACCP New Educator Award is given to recognize and honor a new educator for outstanding contributions to the discipline of teaching and to the education of health care practitioners. The awardee must have been a full member of ACCP at the time of nomination and a member at any level for a minimum of 3 years; in addition, the awardee must have completed his or her terminal training or degree less than 6 years previously. Brent N. Reed, Pharm.D., BCPS-AQ Cardiology, is an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and a clinical pharmacy specialist on the advanced heart failure service at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. He also serves as the program director for the institution’s PGY2 cardiology pharmacy practice residency program. Reed has excelled in both didactic and experiential settings, teaching in required and elective courses across the curriculum and serving as an exceptional preceptor for students and residents. University of Maryland Professor and Vice Chair for Academic Affairs Mary Lynn McPherson noted in her letter of support:
Dr. Reed receives very high ratings from our students for his teaching…. He serves as the course manager of our advanced practice rotation in Advanced Heart Failure for our P4 students, and PGY1 and PGY2 residents. In all of his teaching, he has embraced the idea of the “flipped classroom” where learners complete didactic work on their own time, in preparation for active learning in the classroom or rotation. He has applied this “flipped” concept to the Advanced Heart Failure rotation and created a list of concepts regarding heart failure that learners need a high degree of familiarity with. In addition to assigned readings, he has posted a series of short pre‐recorded videos that learners are asked to view…. Learners take a quick quiz when they present to clinic to assess their learning and to assure that pre‐assigned work has been completed. For this rotation and other learning experiences, Dr. Reed has asked learners to keep a “learning log” which they complete daily, documenting something they learned that day, including literature citation. In his role as co‐course manager of our first year course “Professionalism, Ethics and Pharmacy Practice,” Dr. Reed has introduced several new learning activities including one titled, “Empathy in Pharmacy Practice.” He has the students watch a video and write a 500 word essay centered on one of four themes from the video (poor communication, difficult decision‐making, affordability/accessibility of health care, conflicting goals). He has developed an innovative rubric that makes performance assessment very clear to the students.
Stuart Haines, professor and vice chair for clinical services at the University of Maryland, wrote in his letter of support for Reed:
Beyond being an exceptional role model that others should emulate, Dr. Reed is a superb preceptor who truly engages learners in the work of taking care of patients. He instills in his students a sense of responsibility—not only for ensuring optimal patient care outcomes but also for their own development…. He maintains a popular blog called “The Unit” and it’s become “required reading” for students and residents (not because he requires it, but because it [is] so thoughtful!). A practice experience with Dr. Reed is unquestionably rigorous and demanding but students rave about it…. Dr. Reed is a gifted speaker and classroom teacher. Anyone who’s attended his continuing education programs knows he’s able to explain complex concepts in a clear, concise manner and engages his audience with a variety of interactive elements. In the classroom he’s an early adopter of new instructional technologies—but not just to “replace” some older methodology but rather to “enhance” the learning environment to achieve something greater.
In addition to his teaching efforts, at the time of his nomination, Reed had published 13 papers in peer-reviewed journals, cowritten three book chapters, and presented his work at national professional and scientific meetings.
The New Investigator Award recognizes an ACCP member who has significantly affected an aspect of clinical pharmaceutical science. The awardee must have been a member of ACCP for more than 3 years, must have completed his or her terminal training or degree less than 6 years previously, and must have a research program with a substantial publication record that includes a programmatic theme or an especially noteworthy single publication. Steven M. Smith, Pharm.D., MPH, BCPS, is an assistant professor of pharmacy and medicine, Departments of Pharmacotherapy & Translational Research and Community Health & Family Medicine in the Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Smith’s research focuses on hypertension with an emphasis on treatment-resistant hypertension. At the time of his nomination, Smith had published 17 original papers and 11 book chapters, all as first or senior author. His work has been published in well-recognized, high-impact journals, including the Journal of the American Society of Hypertension, Journal of Hypertension, Journal of the American Heart Association, American Journal of Hypertension,and Journal of Clinical Hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.).
Anne Libby, associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy Center for Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research, highlighted Smith’s qualifications for the New Investigator Award in her letter supporting his nomination:
Dr. Smith exemplifies the qualities that the ACCP seeks: he is an active and accomplished clinician-scientist-educator and a leader in cardiovascular population-based health services research and policy. He has already developed a national reputation in his area of interest (hypertension, with a specific focus on treatment-resistant hypertension)…. Dr. Smith has an impressive record of academic and service accomplishments, including external funding and peer reviewed publications. He has demonstrated excellence in clinical pharmaceutical sciences research, including evidence-driven health care and cardiovascular population health interventions. He is already earning major leadership roles in national forums…. He has pursued additional research training in advanced cost effectiveness and published a manuscript that received accolades in the American Journal of Hypertension. He developed and directed a resistant hypertension clinic in a major primary care practice, and introduced research measures and student research into the environment…. He has a national reputation in resistant hypertension, having published seven original research papers in this area and presented related work at meetings of the American Heart Association, the American Society of Hypertension, ACCP, and ASHP…. His hypertension work is population-focused and evidence-based, two directions sorely needed in the US and global health care systems; he will certainly work to make a significant impact on major public health issues.
Julie Johnson, dean and distinguished professor at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, called further attention to Smith’s accomplishments.
Dr. Smith has quickly established himself as a leader in pharmacotherapy research in hypertension, and particularly in resistant hypertension, which is by definition a drug-related phenotype. Building on skills that he obtained during his postdoctoral fellowship and MPH degree, he is combining clinical studies with analyses in large clinical trial datasets to answer important questions…. In slightly more than 3 years since completing his postdoctoral work, Dr. Smith has received more than $375,000 in research funding as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator and well over $500,000 in overall funding as a junior faculty member…. It is also important to note that Dr. Smith has already garnered national recognition for his work and potential future contributions. Notably, he was the ACCP nominee (and recipient) of the Institute of Medicine Anniversary Pharmacy Fellowship (2014–2016) which positions him to garner substantial influence through his participation in IOM committees…. He was a “Great 8 Papers” finalist and runner-up at the 2014 ACCP Annual Meeting for his abstract describing collaborative practice in hypertension management. He also presented two abstracts at the 2014 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Acceptance of an abstract at this meeting in itself is a substantial accomplishment as only about 30% of submitted abstracts are accepted.
Smith will deliver the annual New Investigator Award lecture during the October 18 Opening Session in San Francisco.
Members of the 2015 ACCP Awards Committee were M. Shawn McFarland (chair), Krystal Edwards (vice chair), David Allen, Douglas Anderson, Judy Cheng, Jennifer Clements, Harminder Sikand, Adams Solola, and Julie Wilkinson.