Report of the 2023 AACP Council of Deans Taskforce on Pharmacy Research and Scholarship

Abstract

ObjectivesThe objective of this review is to provide the conclusions from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Council of Deans (COD) Taskforce on Research and Scholarship. FindingsThe charges and the finding of the committee are: 1: Define the scholarship needs/opportunities to strengthen the outputs. The committee recommends that AACP update its definitions of research/scholarship to include discovery, integration, application/practice, and teaching/learning. A deployed survey demonstrated a high SIG research/scholarship interest. 2: Assemble a toolkit of grant and scholarship resources to assist colleges/schools. AACP should update the existing funding opportunity listing and combine with additional resources. 3: Create a framework for effective research collaboration and mentorship. AACP should identify key areas of pharmacy research and experts to serve as mentors and to meet with external stakeholders. 4 and 5: Consider the need for and purpose of a COD standing committee for research and scholarship. Explore the value of a formal research deans subcommittee. It was recommended that AACP form a research/scholarship committee or SIG and create the Pharmacy Scholarship, Research, and Graduate Education (Pharmacy SuRGE) pre-meeting to the Interim Meeting. 6: Identify key statements/outputs of the COD that need to be prepared for publication/sharing. We recommended the key statement/outputs in the areas of discovery, integration, application/practice, and teaching and learning. SummaryThe taskforce reviewed the state of research and scholarship across the academy and provided recommendations with the goal to advance research across all areas of the pharmacy profession