WVU Pharmacy professor receives national award
Elswick named Good Government Pharmacist of the Year
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Betsy Elswick, Pharm.D., is passionate about educating student pharmacists to become leaders in the profession, and she in turn leads by example.
Dr. Elswick, clinical associate professor in the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy Department of Clinical Pharmacy, has been recognized by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) for her work in educating important stakeholders in the state about the role of pharmacists and the profession of pharmacy with the APhA Good Government Pharmacist-of-the-Year award. The award honors pharmacists who are actively involved in professional advocacy and leadership efforts in order to better their community.
“I am humbled to be recognized by my peers and colleagues with this distinguished award. However, the award represents the work of many, including my student pharmacists, who strive to improve our profession and ultimately the lives of our patients every day,” Elswick said.
Elswick served as a member of an ad-hoc committee to the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy that was dedicated to finalizing the rules allowing pharmacists to provide immunizations in the state of West Virginia. Elswick inspired her students to get involved in the legislative process and educate legislators about the importance of pharmacists being able to provide these services to the community.
Because of these efforts, in March 2008, West Virginia became the 48th state to allow pharmacists to provide certain types of vaccinations. Elswick is currently working with important stakeholders in the state including the West Virginia Boards of Pharmacy and Medicine to provide feedback on revisions to West Virginia’s Pharmacy Practice Act, a document that outlines rules and regulations for practicing the profession of pharmacy in the state.
Elswick serves as director of the WVU-Rite Aid Community Pharmacy Practice Residency, the co-chair for the WVU School of Pharmacy Wigner Institute for Advanced Pharmacy Practice, Education and Research and as the president of the West Virginia Pharmacists Association (WVPA).
In 2010, she also received the Bowl of Hygeia award for outstanding community service and the National Community Pharmacists Association Leadership award. She currently serves as program faculty for the APhA Immunization Certification, a program in which she has trained approximately 300 pharmacists in the state of West Virginia to provide adult immunizations.
Elswick will be presented with the Good Government Pharmacist-of-the-Year award during the APhA 2011 Annual Meeting and Exposition in March in Seattle, Wash. As part of the award, she will receive an American flag that has been flown over the U.S. Capitol.