By Hanzhu Tang
The mentees of four faculty members from the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy, who include students and alumni of the School, were chosen as 2019 Walmart Scholars by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), among 85 pairs selected nationwide.
The award recognizes the commitment of graduate and pharmacy students, residents, and fellows to a career in academic pharmacy, as well as the important mentorship provided by their faculty advisors to guide their development into pharmacists, educators, and researchers. Each mentor-mentee pair receives $1,000 toward attending the 2019 AACP Annual Meeting in Chicago.
The four pairs of awardees from the School of Pharmacy include Meredith Frey (PharmD ’19), who is now a PGY-1 pharmacy resident at University of Iowa Health Care, with Assistant Professor Amanda Margolis (PharmD ’09, MS ’17); Magdalena Siodlak (PharmD ’18), PGY-1 resident at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital, with Associate Professor Andrea Porter (PharmD ’06); graduate student Taylor Watterson with Associate Professor Michelle Chui; and Cassandra Votruba, as a PGY-2 transplant specialty resident at UW Health, with Professor Mary Hayney.
Frey has been working with Margolis for the past two years on research projects; recently they have been finalizing their report on a project to improve hypertension managements in primary care for veterans.
As Frey’s faculty mentor, Margolis sees her professionalism and independence in conducting research as characteristics that will make Frey an excellent faculty member in the future. “She is very dedicated to becoming an independent investigator and has expressed enthusiasm for academia,” says Margolis. “I have faith that she will become a really successful researcher in the future.”
For Porter and her mentee Siodlak, 2019 marks their sixth year working together.
“Andrea has been my mentor and a strong academic role model since my first year of pharmacy school, ever since she opened her door to me when I was trying to sort through the overwhelming number of opportunities in the School while being realistic about what I could handle,” says Siodlak.
As a resident, Siodlak is collaborating with Porter on a program with researchers from the North Dakota State University School of Pharmacy to enhance pharmacy students’ exposure to telepharmacy. Attending the AACP conference will give the researchers another opportunity to connect about the project, which is funded by an AACP grant.
This was the second time that Watterson, a graduate student in the Health Services Research in Pharmacy program, applied for the Walmart Scholars program. Aiming to pursue a career in academia, she sees the meeting as a great chance to pave her path into the academic community, and decided to give the application a second try, with Chui as her faculty mentor.
“This is a unique opportunity to attend the AACP annual conference and network with others who share a passion for pharmacy student education,” says Watterson. “I’m excited to learn from students, faculty, and administrators and find ways to help students reach their maximum potential as future pharmacists.”
The mentees will be going into the conference to build connections and learn more about what’s happening on the cutting edge of pharmacy education — and the faculty mentors accompanying them are hoping for much the same.
“The conference focuses on different teaching techniques and activities that professors have found successful in the classroom with their students,” says Porter. “As educators, it’s great to hear about new activities that would make sense to implement here in the School.”
The Walmart Scholars hope that the conference will enable educators to kick off more conversations that can not only nourish an interest in becoming involved in pharmacy education but can also change the landscape of pharmacy education by fueling innovation through collaboration.
“This will be an opportunity to make connections with faculty and peers at other institutions, which will hopefully turn into collaborations in the future,” says Siodlak.
Learn about the School’s 2018 Walmart Scholars.