UGA professor named Rite Aid Professor in Community Pharmacy

By Sheila Roberson

Beth Phillips, a clinical professor in the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, has been named the first Rite Aid Professor in Community Pharmacy. The college’s newest professorship fosters excellence in community pharmacy practice in the clinical or tenure track. Phillips took on her new role Dec. 1.

“We are delighted for the support Rite Aid has shown in establishing this community pharmacy professorship,” said Svein Øie, dean of the College of Pharmacy. “The professorship will be key in our efforts to advance community pharmacy in our new health care environment.”

Phillips, who joined the faculty in 2007, is director of the college’s Postgraduate Year Two ambulatory care residency program and preceptor for the Postgraduate Year One community practice residency program for the college. Over her 18-year career she has developed two other residency programs and has trained more than 60 PGY1 and PGY2 residents. The collaboration between UGA and community sites within Athens provides a distinctive training environment for pharmacy students and residents by combining clinical practice with the development of teaching skills.

Phillips teaches didactic, laboratory and experiential courses in community and ambulatory care in the Doctor of Pharmacy and the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Pharmacy programs. She was named Teacher of the Year in 2012 and mentors students in scholarship of practice and teaching. These students present their scholarship at state and national pharmacy meetings, with many of them publishing their studies in pharmacy literature. 

Phillips is active on the national level promoting community/ambulatory pharmacy practice and residency training programs. She currently serves on the Specialty Council for Ambulatory Care Pharmacy within the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties, the organization that grants, promotes and oversees board certification for pharmacy specialties. As a council member, she participated in the initial development of the board certification process for ambulatory care pharmacy, including eligibility, examination construction and the recertification process. 

She is chair-elect of the Commission on Credentialing, the policymaking and accrediting body for pharmacy residency training programs in the U.S. and abroad within the American Society of Health System Pharmacists. The group is currently actively updating and revising the Postgraduate Year One Residency Standards. In 2010, Phillips was named Residency Preceptor of the Year by the ASHP.   

The Rite Aid Professorship in Community Pharmacy provides at $250,000 endowment for salary support, research or teaching assistance and travel expenses.

The college’s other endowed professorships include the Georgia Research Alliance, the Panoz Professorship in Pharmacy, the Millikan-Reeve Professorship, the Albert W. Jowdy Professorship, the Kroger Professorship in Community Pharmacy and the Georgia Athletic Association Professorship in Pharmacy.