New APhA-ASP Women’s Health Campaign
In 2018, APhA-ASP launched its new Women’s Health Campaign to address the health educational needs of women across the country. One area of focus for ASP chapters is to “provide education on the pharmacist role in reproductive health, including hormonal contraceptive options and access to hormonal contraceptives.”
This year at the University of Michigan – College of Pharmacy, our APhA-ASP chapter is working to promote women’s health at our college and within the university. Since women’s health pharmacy is a niche area within the profession, we wanted to provide a career development event for pharmacy students to be exposed to “The Pharmacist Role in Rxeproductive Health”.
On Monday, November 11th, our chapter hosted its first “Rxeproductive Health” event focusing on pharmacist involvement in a variety of fields within reproductive health. We invited Dr. Lauren Leader, PharmD, BCPS of Michigan Medicine and Dr. Brooke Griffin, PharmD, BCACP of Midwestern University and Birth Control Pharmacist to educate our students on topics of peripartum health, pharmacist prescribing of hormonal contraception, and policy to expand the pharmacist profession in women’s health. The event began with phast phacts (“fast facts”) on women’s health and where in the United States pharmacists have prescribing authority for hormonal contraceptives, followed by a question and answer between our panelists and audience. The program ended with a collaborative reflection with our guest speakers on a policy brainstorming session, asking ourselves: “What role or roles do we want to see pharmacists to have in women’s health and reproductive health?” Despite an all-day snow storm in Michigan that day, we had a lot of students attend and participate, making for a memorable and meaningful event.
As I reflect on my first three years of pharmacy school and as my interests in women’s health continues to grow, I have started to notice the lack of women’s health events outside of the lecture room. APhA-ASP launching their campaign last year has given our organization the opportunity to advocate for women’s health to the community and to our college of pharmacy. “The Pharmacist Role in Rxeproductive Health” was our first focused women’s health event for ASP, providing our students with the knowledge and networking to advocate for this population in health care. Given the success of our first event, I am excited to see where our ASP chapter will go from here.
For more information about the APhA-ASP Women’s Health campaign, visit: https://www.pharmacist.com/apha-asp-womens-health-campaign
Photo 1 from L to R: Dr. Lauren Leader and Dr. Brooke Griffin
Photo 2 from L to R: Tina Bednarz (APhA Policy Vice President), Dr. Brooke Griffin, Dr. Lauren Leader, Andy Van Waardhuizen (SNPhA Women’s Health Committee Chair), Lana Alhashimi (APhA Policy Liaison), Jacqueline Muscat (APhA Women’s Health Liaison)
About the Author:
Tina Bednarz, PharmD Candidate is a third-year pharmacy student at the University of Michigan – College of Pharmacy where she is the Policy Vice President of the chapter’s APhA-ASP organization.