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Pharmacy schools are putting action behind commitments to diversity and inclusion to serve and support communities.

In early June, AACP issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to foster an inclusive community, with diversity of thought, background, perspective and experience. Later that month, AACP joined with several national pharmacy organizations in taking a stand and vowing action against racial injustice, and updated that statement in mid-October with collective actions that all co-signing organizations have taken to-date.

The year 2020 is one like none other we have experienced. A global pandemic dawned early in the year and brought its full force to the United States in February and March. Forced shutdowns, except for “essential services” that included the work of pharmacists on the frontlines, shuttered businesses and imposed economic hardship on individuals and commerce.

The Jie Du Center for Innovation and Excellence for Drug Development will promote innovation through education, training and mentorship. Pharmaceutical entrepreneur and University of the Pacific alumna Dr. Jie Du has donated $5 million to found the Jie Du Center for Innovation and Excellence for Drug Development at the university’s Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy in Stockton.

Pharmacy schools can help address the nation’s obesity crisis by incorporating competencies into the curriculum. Despite public health efforts at all levels of government, obesity continues to be a serious issue in the United States. Defined as having a body-mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher, obesity has been linked to numerous chronic health conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity affected 42.4 percent of U.S. adults in 2017–18.

While scientists frequently study and map out future healthcare models for pharmacists and physicians, something is often missing for years: delivering clinical care.

As this issue of Academic Pharmacy Now arrives in your digital inbox, most colleges and schools of pharmacy have celebrated the virtual commencement activities of the Class of 2020. The final weeks of their Pharm.D. education have been like no other class before them. Hopefully, no other group of students, faculty and preceptors will ever have the same experience.

Community-based pharmacy is evolving from a place of product distribution into a healthcare destination. Many pharmacists who spend time filling prescriptions keep hearing of a future where their role will be more focused on the patient, not the product.

As data science changes the way drugs are discovered and developed, pharmacy schools are exploring the possible benefits for research and patient care. At the Quantitative Biosciences Institute at the University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy, there were hints in January that the world was changing.

Dr. Melanie A. Felmlee, an assistant professor of pharmaceutics and medicinal chemistry at University of the Pacific’s Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy, has received a four-year, $1.15 million grant for research that focuses on the differences in the way males and females process GHB.

University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy festival brings scientific literacy to the community. Science is all around us, from the photosynthesis of our houseplants to our WiFi connection to the medicines we take. Yet many people take for granted the scientific principles that influence every facet of our lives.

In the midst of a national pandemic, pharmacy schools face extraordinary challenges as they work to make alternate arrangements for rotations, determine how students will graduate on time and ensure that learning continues.