The Academic Pharmacy Section (AcPS) of FIP was founded in 1972. In the 50 years since its inception, the AcPS has provided a global platform for leaders in academia and for educators in practice and science. With opportunities for every educator and trainer to be engaged, the section enables sharing expertise and experience in pedagogy and in the science of teaching of pharmacy and it facilitates collaborations for the advancement of pharmacy.
One of the largest sections of FIP, the Academic Pharmacy Section has constantly encouraged member engagement. The AcPS celebrated 50 years with a member recognition at the FIP world congress in Seville, Spain, in 2022, and with publication of the first special supplement of the Pharmacy Education Journal, result of the vision of the AcPS leadership with significant contributions by members.
Strategic plan
The Academic Pharmacy Section’s Strategic Implementation Plan 2022-27 was approved by the AcPS membership on the 7th of October 2022 at the virtual Annual Business Meeting. This updated plan incorporated restructuring goals and objectives, and revisiting the vision and mission statement of the Section.
Mission
To create high quality, accessible, inclusive pharmaceutical education and training based upon scholarship and best practice in teaching and research that meets the needs of patients and societies around the world.
Vision
To provide opportunities for international networking, exchange, collaboration, scholarship, policy formulation, the development of expertise and innovation, and to inspire all those involved in pharmaceutical education, scholarship and training to excellence.
Statutes and structure
The current statutes were adopted by the FIP Bureau in April 2020. We support the vision of FIP and FIP Education by advancing pharmacy education and training to meet societal needs for improved health through medicines expertise.
The AcPS Executive Committee encourages engagement of members in section activities and works with members to identify opportunities and avenues to achieve the goals and objectives of the section’s strategic plan.
Executive Committee
President Dr Martin Henman, FFIP (Ireland)
Immediate past president Prof. Toyin Tofade, FFIP (USA)
Vice president Dr Arijana Mestrovic, FFIP (Croatia)
Secretary Dr Carl Schneider, FFIP (Australia)
Treasurer Dr Abdikarim Mohamed Abdi, FFIP (Turkey/Cyprus)
Newsletter editor Ms Mansi Doshi (India)
Member Prof. Barry Bleidt (USA)
Member Prof. Rula Darwish, FFIP (Jordan)
Member Dr Mohamed Elnaem (UK)
Member Ms Jeanine Abrons (USA)
Member Prof. Hoai-An Truong (USA)
ECPG AcPS liaison Obit (Wanda Putri)
Section highlights
Annual business meeting, elections and the AcPS dinner
The AcPS holds its annual business meeting at the FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences each year. Section elections are held at this meeting, which is followed by a section dinner, an opportunity for networking, exchanging ideas and celebrating membership and section achievements. The call for nominations for section elections is shared with members early in the business year through email and the section newsletter, the Mortar Board.
FIP fellows at the FIP world congress 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark
Partnerships and projects
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FIP-UNESCO UNITWIN Centre of Excellence (CfE) Africa Region
Among the different AcPS and collaborative projects with other FIP constituencies and/or member organisations, more recent deliverables and resources include:
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FIP Online Course on Digital Health in Pharmacy for Educators and Practitioners, the first online course for members on FIPx
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Nanjing Statements are undergoing consultation for update
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FIP Global Competency Framework for Educators & Trainers in Pharmacy
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FIP-IPA Vaccination Project, a hybrid course with an online component on FIPx and a face-to-face session for competency attainment.
We continue to support the great work that our academics do by sponsoring our ECPG/ Early Career Leadership initiatives by facilitating the online leadership development program (LDP2.0) and speaking/mentoring at the annual congress Leadership Development Workship (LDW).
Working groups
The Academic Pharmacy Section’s vision, mission, strategic plan and members form the foundation for innovative and extensive section activities led by the executive committee. AcPS working groups are structured to align with the goals and objectives of the AcPS strategic plan and include:
o Advocacy, Policy and Global Influence
o Collaboration and Communication
o Educational Programme Design and Assessment
o Educator and Career Development
o Membership
o Research and Scholarship
o World Congress and Webinar Planning
o CPD & Lifelong Learning
The Section has a new working group, CPD and Lifelong Learning, and the Section’s Strategic Implementation Monitoring and the Finance and Section Policies working groups have been reconstituted as sub-committees under the AcPS Executive.
If you are an AcPS member, please look out for the call to join our working groups each year via our newsletter, the Mortar Board, and our Annual Business Meeting booklet.
In the 2023-24 business year, the AcPS Executive Committee adopted a novel approach for the section by nominating a non-executive committee co-lead for each working group. This aims to increase member visibility, responsibility and leadership pathways within each working group, providing the opportunity to actively contribute in a leadership role within the section.
Meet out Co-leads who met with the outgoing and incoming executive committee at a meeting at the Congress in Copenhagen.
Activities and communication
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First ever Pharmacy Education Journal supplement published in 2022
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RxWriting Challenge
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Digital events and webinars
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Social Media-LinkedIn, Facebook, X
- Meet an academic (FIP member) on FIP social media
- Uniform posting across AcPS social media: LinkedIn, Facebook and X
- Additional information only for members is shared on the AcPS LinkedIn group and in the newsletter
▪ AcPS LinkedIn group membership is in itself a networking opportunity for members
▪ FIP AcPS members are requested to join the FIP AcPS LinkedIn group
- Live X Chats
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Newsletter, the Mortar Board
Digital events
Our section offers digital events like Town Hall meetings, webinars and Live X Chats. Some recent digital events are listed below.
Webinars
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October 2025 – Awardee Talk-Exceptional Award for Education-Early Career. Awardee: Praveen Devanandan, with Chair Arijana Mestrovic, and Martin Henman, Toyin Tofade, and Jaypal Reddy Thumma
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February 2025 – From Theory to Education or Practice: Change Management Using Health Behavior Theories and Models · Speakers: Barry Bleidt (Florida A&M University), Dr. Hoai-An Truong (University of Maryland Eastern Shore), Jeanine P. Abrons (University of Iowa).
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March 2025 – The Role of Academia in Promoting Medicine Quality in LMICs · Moderator: Dr. Jonathan Jato; Guest Speaker: Dr. Emmanuel Orman; Panellists from Somalia, Yemen, Malaysia, Brazil, and Turkey.
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May 2025 – Academic Integrity in Pharmacy Education – Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going? · Moderator: Dr. Norman E. Fenn III; Co-Moderator: Prof. Arinola Joda; Panellists from the Netherlands, Australia, and Nigeria.
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June 2025 – Harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Transforming Pharmacy Education and Research: Opportunities and Challenges · Chair: Mr. Jayapal Reddy Thumma; Speakers from Croatia, India, and Amneal Pharmaceuticals.
If you’d like to suggest a webinar topic or speaker, email acps@fip.org.
Town Hall
Town Hall is planned by the section’s executive committee with the support of working group members. The aim of town hall meetings is to collate and integrate members’ views in section activities and constantly enhance member engagement.
Earlier this year, a Town Hall meeting was hosted during two different time zones on the same day to accommodate as many members as possible. This Town Hall was hosted by the AcPS Vice President, Arijana Mestrovic, and AcPS Treasurer and Membership working group lead, Abdikarim Abdi. During this town hall, we had the opportunity to invite thoughts and ideas on the new working group focused on Life Long Learning under the leadership of Arijana Mestrovic. This has since led to the development of a new AcPS working group, CPD and Lifelong Learning.
Live X Chats
Follow @FIP_AcPS on X and join us in conversation
|
Year |
In Conversion with |
Focus |
|
2022 |
Joseph DiPiro |
Best Practices for Clinical Pharmacy Education: an Evolving Legacy |
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2023 |
Late FIP President Dominique Jordan |
One FIP Vision |
|
2024 |
FIP membership coordinator Sarra Khadir & AcPS membership lead, Abdikarim Abdi |
FIP & AcPS Membership |
|
2025 |
FIP AcPS President, Toyin Tofade & President Elect, Martin Henman |
AcPS Roadmap: Progress & Possibilities |
Contact, follow & join us
Contact us at acps@fip.org
Follow us and our activities on social media:
Join the FIP and AcPS
Join the FIP and AcPS, get access to the AcPS newsletter and collaborate with members on the Section’s LinkedIn group, during section activities and through our working groups and other networking opportunities.
Select Academic Pharmacy Section at the time of enrolling for FIP membership:
https://www.fip.org/join-fip
Annual report
The AcPS annual report is available here.
Some FIP Links
FIP Development Goals
https://developmentgoals.fip.org/
FIP Education
https://www.fip.org/pharmacy-education
FIP AIM
https://www.fip.org/academic-institutional-membership
FIP World List of Pharmacy Schools
https://www.fip.org/world-list-of-pharmacy-schools
UNITWIN network
FIP Education Transformation Toolkit: https://www.fip.org/educationtransformation
FIP Toolkit Inequities in Pharmacy Education: https://www.fip.org/inequitiesineducation
FIP UNITWIN Pathfinder Toolkit: https://www.fip.org/fip-unitwin-pathfinder-toolkit
FIP Library
https://www.fip.org/publications