February 1, 2011
Ashley Branham, PharmD, a preceptor for the School and an alumna of the School’s Community Pharmacy Residency Program, has received honorary mention in the American Pharmacists Association Immunization Champion Award program.
The award recognizes individuals and organizations in the profession of pharmacy that have made extraordinary contributions toward improved vaccination rates within their communities. Branham, who is the director of clinical services at Moose Pharmacy in Concord, North Carolina, received the award in the Individual Practitioner category. She will receive a plaque, a $100 gift card, and complimentary registration for the 2011 APhA Annual Meeting in Seattle, where she will receive the award on March 27. This is the second time a preceptor at the School has earned the honor.
Branham has worked to improve immunization rates in a number of ways:
- In her role as co-chair of the Immunization Task Force for the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists, she helped create legislative proposals seeking to expand pharmacists’ ability to administer immunizations, as well as the age range of patients whom pharmacists can vaccinate.
- At Moose Pharmacy, she oversees and maintains the immunizing credentials of pharmacists for five stores and compliance with prescriber protocols. She recruits churches and businesses to offer flu clinics to their employees or congregations. She also uses social-media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to share immunization data and advice and to communicate vaccine information to the public.
- Through the Charlotte Project — an interdisciplinary program for the city’s diabetic patients — she works with two family-medicine clinics in providing comprehensive medication reviews to patients, which includes assessing their immunization status and recommending immunizations when appropriate.
- She serves as a preceptor for two community pharmacy residents and pharmacy students from three schools of pharmacy in North Carolina, which gives her the opportunity to help young pharmacists develop immunization skills and a passion for broadening the scope of pharmacist-administered immunization.