A UMKC School of Pharmacy student group has been named among the best in the country for the fourth year in a row.

The UMKC chapter of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) won the Division AA National Chapter Achievement Award for 2013-2014. This placed UMKC in the top four out of 129 APhA-ASP chapters, announced recently at the American Pharmacists Association annual meeting in San Diego. Last year, the UMKC chapter was in the top 10; in 2013, it was in the top four and in 2012, the UMKC chapter received National Student Chapter of the Year.

UMKC School of Pharmacy Dean Russell Melchert compares the achievements to winning a national championship in NCAA athletics.

Through numerous events and activities, UMKC student pharmacists and their faculty mentors make a huge difference in the health of thousands of people throughout the Kansas City area and across Missouri, Melchert said. “The continued national recognition for that is a nice bonus.”

Each year, the award is given to APhA-ASP chapters across the nation based on originality of programs, number of chapter members involved, impact on the community, benefit to student pharmacists and collaboration with other healthcare organizations. Faculty advisers during the 2013-2014 school year include professors Kelly Cochran and Angela Brownfield at the Columbia campus and professors Cameron Lindsey, Valerie Ruehter and Andrew Bzowyckyj in Kansas City.

A few of the activities and accomplishments that earned recognition for the UMKC APhA-ASP chapter this year include:

• The chapter held a total of 259 events across its campuses in Kansas City and Columbia.
• Of the events, 60 were new events and 199 were sustained events from previous years.
• The student pharmacists reached 14,256 patients at events.
• A total of 10,488,041 patients were educated through public relations’ efforts.
• Region award winners for 3 of the 4 national APhA-ASP Patient Care initiatives.