APhA Foundation names Jafari 2015 Boyle Family Scholar
Nilofar “Nellie” Jafari, a fourth-year Pharm.D. student at VCU School of Pharmacy, has been named the Boyle Family Scholar by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation.
Jafari is one of 12 pharmacy students nationwide selected as a recipient in the foundation’s 2015 Student Scholarship Program. The scholarships will be presented March 28 during the APhA-Academy of Student Pharmacists opening general session at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, Calif. Recipients also will be recognized March 30 during the APhA Foundation Contributors’ Breakfast.
“Nellie is an exceptional student leader,” says Tom Reinders, the School of Pharmacy’s associate dean for admissions and student services. “She has been a great role model for her peers with her ability to balance a demanding academic load while maintaining an active commitment to several student pharmacist organizations at both the school and national level.”
Currently Jafari is national project coordinator for APhA-ASP’s International Standing Committee.
In her first three years at the School of Pharmacy, she served in several leadership roles. During her tenure as president of the VCU chapter of the Student National Pharmaceutical Association, she helped organize and present SNPhA’s 2014 Regions I and II Meeting in Richmond. More than 350 students from about 40 schools and colleges of pharmacy attended the three-day meeting.
Jafari also co-created a video that was named a finalist in SNPhA’s national Prescription for Service Scholarship Competition. The grant that was awarded the chapter was used to help fund an interprofessional clinic for patient assessment at Richmond’s Center for High Blood Pressure.
During SNPhA’s 41st Annual Meeting in Arlington, Jafari received a Walgreens Diversity Advancement Award and was named a finalist for the SNPhA-Rite Aid Community Leader of the Year Award. At the 40th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, she and a classmate represented the school in the Patient Counseling Clinical Skills Competition.
Last year, faculty and peers at the School of Pharmacy selected Jafari for the P3 Professionalism Award. Her nomination commended her for “being active in professional organizations, respectful, organized, committed, dependable, caring, a shining example.”
The APhA Foundation awards scholarships to recognize exceptional demonstration of leadership skills and academics through active involvement in the Academy of Student Pharmacists: “These exceptional students help shape the future of the pharmacy profession while managing the demands of a full-time curriculum.”
The Boyle Family Scholarship is funded by Cynthia J. Boyle, interim dean at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Pharmacy and president-elect of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.
“My decision to fund the APhA Foundation scholarship is rooted in my desired to support student pharmacists who will provide much needed pharmaceutical care and to acknowledge the vital support of my family,” says Boyle. The scholarship was created in her husband John’s memory and in honor of families that will support future pharmacists.
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