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As a follow-up to my previous hit of a blog post, I wanted to take a minute and expand upon some of the activities that I got to take part in while in Denver for the ASHP Summer Meetings, as well as a general description of my new role in Bethesda, MD at ASHP's headquarters. The first day of the meeting consisted of the various ASHP Sections and Forums having their bi-annual face-to-face meeting to discuss the status of their respective groups and the plans for the months ahead. It was very humbling to look around the conference rooms and see so many pharmacy directors, presidents, and leaders within the field all gathered in one place. I also had the ability to interact with the appointed Pharmacy Student Forum Executive Committee members and hear their opinions and goals for the student side of ASHP, which was highly motivational.

Once the meeting kicked off, I got to sit in on several phenomenal sessions regarding the opioid crisis, new PCSK9 inhibitors, and several on resilience and the strives we’re making to promote a thriving and healthy workforce for everyone in the healthcare field. We also had the honor of hearing the former Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, share his thoughts on the current state of healthcare, the future for compassionate pharmacists, and patient wellbeing. I got to witness several policies approved across ASHP, though the House of Delegates process itself tends to be be more procedure heavy the action of change is interactive, interesting, and formative for the future of pharmacy.

Several of the affiliate meetings had a focus on ways to get involved at the state level which fueled my passion to continue and build a stronger relationship between my school, the other two West Virginian schools, and with WVSHP. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and networking with several state affiliate leaders who gave me some incredibly poignant advice for the future of my career and for building stronger statewide Health-System relationships. Not only did I meet influential people throughout the field of pharmacy, but I also met so many amazing students at various stages of their pharmacy education.  I look forward to seeing all of them at this year’s Midyear Clinical Meeting (shout out to all the amazing people I met from Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Florida, North Carolina, and Colorado, just to name a few).

One of the most interesting things about Denver was the ability to check out some of its legendary culture. Alongside some of my fellow students, we got to experience the famous Denver Chalk-Art Festival, some outrageous restaurants, breweries, and of course nature. Upon landing, I made a beeline for the city. Three hours after landing I was in a car with a few of the ASHP staff on our way to Red Rocks amphitheater. Unfortunately, after a few wrong turns, we would have had to purchase tickets to the Colorado Symphony to get into the actual amphitheater.  In this case however, it was more about the journey then the destination.

Now, I’m back in Maryland ready to do anything and everything to help benefit the team here by providing a student perspective to discussions and developing new ideas to take back to my SSHP chapter. I will be posting some follow up blogs detailing the tasks/projects that I get to work on as well as a general reflection of my P2 year. For those of you reading, have a fantastic duration of Summer! (For picture context from left to right: Judith Lovince Pharmacy Student Forum Chair, Sara Loftus Pharmacy Student Forum Vice Chair, myself the tall one, Dip Patel Pharmacy Student Forum Member, and Maggie Lau Pharmacy Student Forum Member and last years summer intern)