The CPNP Foundation is pleased to announce the funding of 20 student registration/travel grants, five more awards than in 2015! Each student recipient will receive a full student registration to the 2016 Annual meeting ($165 value) and $335 travel stipend. This increase is possible because of the generous support of CPNP members and the CPNP Past Presidents’ who have recently created the Destiny Fund within the Foundation specifically to support student registration/travel grants.
According to CPNP Immediate Past President Steve Burghart, “The CPNP Past Presidents are so impressed with the 80+ students on-site at CPNP 2015 and the amazing growth in student membership, now nearly 600 student members strong. They feel it is critical to support these individuals in pursuing careers in psychiatric pharmacy so that we can continue to grow our profession and continue our impact on the future of those living with mental illness.”
Applications for these grants will be accepted in the fall of 2015. To be eligible, a student applicant must be a full-time pharmacy student in pursuit of her/his first professional pharmacy degree, and an active student member of CPNP in good standing. Students applying for a registration/travel grant must complete an online application and provide a current curriculum vitae or résumé; a personal essay of no more than 500 words describing the applicant’s interest in CPNP and psychiatric pharmacy, including objectives for attending the meeting; and one letter of recommendation from either a clinical pharmacy practitioner or faculty member.
Recipients of the 2015 registration/travel grants have shared the impact these grants have made on their future. A few examples of their comments are shown below:
“I enjoyed the meeting tremendously. It opened my eyes to the vast world of neurological and psychiatric pharmacy, and I am so glad I attended. I want to go back every year! I enjoyed hearing the various treatment updates and hot topics in psych pharmacy, and it gave me some things to keep in mind as I enter my residency. Many of the different session topics interested me, and I found it hard at times to pick which sessions to attend during the overlapping slots. The student programming was engaging and informative. The general programming as well as the focus group lunch enabled me to meet many other students who are interested in psych pharmacy, and I look forward to staying in touch with them.”
“The trip definitely exposed me to a variety of career paths which I previously hadn't thought about that much. Psychiatry is a therapeutic area which I am most drawn to, and learning about how this could be applied to the pharmaceutical industry (say in an MSL role), was something that interested me. Overall, I would say that it made me more interested in going into a role that involves psychiatry and psychiatric pharmacy.”
“As a third year student interested in psychiatric pharmacy, I had an excellent experience at the annual meeting. I was honored to have received the grant, and it made my attendance much more feasible. As president of our newly found student chapter, my attendance was required, and our status as a new organization provided us minimal funding by our school to be used for conference reimbursement. My main goal for the meeting was to network with residency programs. I utilized my time to meet with numerous directors, preceptors, and residents. In retrospect, this opportunity exceeded my expectations. I spent the remainder of my time during those three days attending the programming. I enjoyed the student programming--especially the keynote speaker. Presenting a poster at this conference was also very worthwhile--this is something I am recommending to students who plan on participating in the conference in the future. Attending the meeting further fueled my interest and motivation to pursue a career in this field.”
“Out of the 3 meeting's I've attended, I can hands down say this year’s meeting was the most fascinating in terms of content, location, and networking abilities. One of the reasons I feel students in our chapter at UConn continue to show strong attendance is the fact that the meetings are small enough to be able to network on a smaller less intimidating scale, while having enough organized content to be relatable and clinically applicable. I remember the students and I discussing the presentations over dinner, and we all agreed compared to other pharmacy organizations (APhA, ASHP) content was well researched (presenters) and focused enough to not be redundant and bland. This is also due to the fact that psychiatric pharmacy is a very focused field. I enjoyed the addition of the resident track, and the continual implementation of feedback from years prior. From a student president perspective, I've never seen such desire for students to attend the talks as I did this year.”
Barbara Wells, President of the CPNP Foundation, commented, “The CPNP Foundation Board of Directors is very grateful to the CPNP membership and to the CPNP Past Presidents for their generous support of these grants. The Foundation Board firmly believes that these grants are critically important to the continuing growth of our discipline and the continuing improvement in the evidence-based care that individuals with psychiatric and neurologic disorders receive."