Aspiring Academics Program serves as a stepping stone to teaching future pharmacists for John Pham
Third-year Pharm.D. student John Pham has been selected as part of the second cohort of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s Aspiring Academics Program. Per an AACP news release, the program is “designed to facilitate a deeper understanding of career paths in academic pharmacy,” inspiring students and giving them insights on what a career as a pharmacy faculty member could look like and the skills they’d need to get there.
Pham, who earned his B.S. in Chemistry at VCU in 2022, said he looks forward to learning from experienced mentors and further exploring one of his passions in pharmacy.
“Academia is such an integral part of pharmacy – you need teachers to create pharmacists,” Pham said. “Being around 27 other like-minded peers gives me many different perspectives on how to get into academia.”
The program is just one step in Pham’s vision for his future. After graduation, Pham is interested in pursuing a PGY-1 residency, where he will have the opportunity to teach pharmacy students.
“From there, I want to teach in a pharmacy school as both an educator and a clinical pharmacist on other days. To me, burnout comes from doing the same things every day – so I love the idea of being able to go into the clinic on Monday/Wednesday, and then teach on Tuesday/Thursday,” Pham said describing his ideal schedule, similar to that of several pharmacy faculty at the School of Pharmacy.
The program will give Pham an opportunity to learn more about the expectations of faculty members across teaching, service and scholarship or research. At the end of the program, he will travel to Chicago to attend AACP’s Pharmacy Education 2025 conference and its Teachers’ Seminar. In the meantime, he’ll engage in learning modules, group mentorship, networking and a group project alongside 27 peers from other schools of pharmacy.
Pham said the encouragement of faculty members is part of what attracted him to apply for the Aspiring Academics Program. He first learned about the program from his faculty mentor Laura Morgan Frankart, Pharm.D., interim executive associate dean for academic affairs who completed AACP’s Academic Leadership Fellows Program this year. The program will allow him to learn from a faculty mentor at VCU – Krista Donohoe, Pharm.D., a professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science.
“Dr. Donohoe was gracious enough to become my mentor for the program,” Pham said. “She has been extremely helpful and supportive of everything I have done, giving me the confidence to even submit my application.”
As he prepares for a year full of learning about academic pharmacy opportunities, Pham is most looking forward to gaining a deeper understanding of the academic pharmacy field and its unique blend of teaching and research.
“I want to be comfortable with academia – to be able to say to myself exactly what academia is and understand the field, to be able to fully commit in the future,” said Pham, who serves as co-scholarship chair for VCU’s Rho Chi Pharmacy Honor Society. “I want to be able to help the P1 students the best I can. Having been in their shoes, I know the type of stress and pressure they might be feeling. If I can make their day just a little bit easier, I believe it can go a long way.”
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