Current Students Student Organizations
Find Your Fit
Learn more about your profession, improve the health care of another individual, and deepen connections with your classmates. Learn more about yourself and your career interests while also hosting Reverse Trick-or-Treat, volunteering at Faith Pharmacy, participating in a Brown Bag event, hosting alumni for coffee chats, or attending an annual meeting.
Click on the organizations listed to see their focus and membership requirements. These are the organizations within the UK College of Pharmacy, but there are over 500 organizations at the University of Kentucky that are also open to students.
BBNvolved
Visit BBNvolved, the online hub for campus involvement. You're able to search and browse for student organizations to get involved in, connect with student leaders, request an involvement advising appointment, and more.
AAPS: American Associations of Pharmaceutical Scientists
Join an AAPS student chapter for all the features they can provide to you. Students bring senior pharmaceutical scientists to chapter meetings to speak and advise on careers. There are opportunities to network with fellow students locally, and you can meet senior scientists at AAPS PharmSci 360. As a member of a student chapter, you can have access to thousands of member scientists.
- Faculty Advisor: Patrick McNamara, PhD
APhA-ASP: American Pharmacists Association - Academy of Student Pharmacists
The American Pharmacists Association is the largest association of pharmacists in the United States and is the only organization advancing the entire pharmacy profession. The mission of the APhA Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) is to be the collective voice of student pharmacists, to provide opportunities for professional growth, to improve patient care, and to envision and advance the future of pharmacy.
From networking to developing leadership skills and gaining hands-on experience, student pharmacist membership in APhA helps you begin your career.
- Faculty Advisor: Clark Kebodeaux
ASHP: American Society of Health System Pharmacists
ASHP helps its members achieve this mission by advocating and supporting the professional practice of pharmacists in hospitals, health systems, ambulatory care clinics, and other settings spanning the full spectrum of medication use. ASHP serves its members as their collective voice on issues related to medication use and public health.
- Faculty Advisor: Brooke Herndon, PharmD
CPFI: Christian Pharmacist Fellowship International
The Christian Pharmacist student organization provides a spiritual outlet for student members of the Christian faith. CPFI meets weekly at noon. Meetings begin with a short devotion time, followed by fellowship and fun. CPFI also participates in service projects and socials. For more information, please visit our Facebook page.
FP4V: Future Pharmacists for Veterans
The purpose of Future Pharmacists for Veterans (FP4V) is to create a meaningful and impactful connection between University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy students and the veteran community throughout Kentucky. As a student organization, FP4V is committed to serving veterans through various initiatives that focus on volunteering, providing care packages, and actively participating in both VA-facilitated and non-VA-facilitated events that are dedicated to supporting veterans.
FP4V recognizes the immense contribution of veterans to our country and aims to express gratitude by fostering a close and compassionate relationship with them and the VA health system. Through involvement with the local veteran community, FP4V seeks to address the unique needs and challenges faced by veterans while showing appreciation for their service.
In summary, the overarching goal of FP4V is to bridge the gap between pharmacy students and veterans throughout Kentucky. By promising active engagement, volunteerism, and compassionate care, FP4V endeavors to give back to those who have served our nation while simultaneously providing a platform for students to grow personally and professionally. Through these collaborative efforts, FP4V aims to make a positive impact on veterans’ lives and contribute to the broader community’s well-being.
Advisor: Hannah Luttrell
IPhO: Industry Pharmacists Organization
IPhO National Student Members are recognized as the best prepared among all student pharmacists to pursue pharmaceutical industry-focused career opportunities. National Student Members have an excellent working knowledge of common industry pharmacist roles and key pharmaceutical industry driving forces, as well as an understanding of the skills and experiences necessary to become a successful industry pharmacist.
- Faculty Advisor: Younsoo Bae, PhD
Kappa Psi
The purposes and objectives of the Kappa Psi Foundation are exclusively charitable, scientific, educational, and literary. One of the foundation's initial goals is to develop a scholarship program to help deserving Kappa Psi brothers complete their pharmacy education and become contributing members of the pharmacy profession and society.
- Faculty Advisor: Kenneth Record, PharmDKappa Psi
KAPS: Kentucky Alliance of Pharmacy Students
The Kentucky Alliance of Pharmacy Students, or KAPS, is an umbrella organization formed as a merger in 1999 between the Kentucky chapter of the American Pharmacists Association – Academy of Student Pharmacists, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and the National Community Pharmacists Association. KAPS is currently the largest student organization at the College of Pharmacy and remains very active in the community as well as on campus.
Our mission is to promote the growth of pharmacy students into practitioners characterized by a commitment to patient care, service, ethical behavior, and continuous personal and professional improvement. As a KAPS member, students are given the opportunity to represent the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy at regional and national meetings. Students also have the chance to compete in local and national clinical skills and patient care competitions.
KAPS provides every student member, regardless of your stage of professional education, the opportunity to be actively involved in one of the KAPS committees. Within these committees, students can participate in activities that pique their interest and allow them to interact with students in other classes- all while providing professional growth opportunities. Students find that participation in these committees allows them to do their part in community service.
Faculty Advisors
- KAPS: Joseph Fink, BSPharm, JD
- APhA-ASP: Clark Kebodeaux, PharmD
- ASHP: Brooke Herndon, PharmD
- NCPA: Tera McIntosh, PharmD
LKS: Lambda Kappa Sigma, Alpha Nu Chapter
Lambda Kappa Sigma is an international pharmacy fraternity. The purpose of Lambda Kappa Sigma is to promote the profession of pharmacy among women and to aid its members in all areas. The object of the fraternity is to further the happiness and usefulness of its members and to create a center of enjoyment, friendship, and culture. Lambda Kappa Sigma is a vital and significant force in pharmacy today. It is the largest and only international fraternity that promotes women in pharmacy, and its basic concern is the development of members culturally, socially, intellectually, and professionally.
For more information, visit our Facebook page.
- Faculty Advisor: Stacy Taylor, PharmD
NCPA: National Community Pharmacists Association
Founded in 1898, the National Community Pharmacists Association is the voice for independent pharmacy, representing 21,000 pharmacies and employing more than 250,000 individuals nationwide. Independent pharmacy is a $75.8 Billion marketplace. Community pharmacists are local health care problem-solvers who can customize solutions to local health challenges for groups and employers.
They are rooted in the communities where they are located and are America’s most accessible health care providers.
Likewise, they are community leaders actively involved in community-oriented public health, civic, and volunteer projects. Many hold local elected offices; others serve as state legislators.
NCPA is the advocate for community pharmacists on the public policy issues that affect their patients and pharmacies. Whether it’s at Capitol Hill, state legislatures, regulatory agencies, or the courts, NCPA advocates on issues ranging from PBM abuses to pharmacists’ ability to practice at their full scope.
- Faculty Advisor: Tera McIntosh, PharmD
PediaKATS
PediaKATS’s main effort is to advocate for the proper health education of pediatric patients and their caregivers in the greater Lexington area. This mission will be to develop student pharmacists at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy into pharmacists that can integrate the lessons learned through this organization into their professional lives. The second purpose is to allow a streamlined avenue into shadowing opportunities for student pharmacists with current pediatric pharmacists. This will allow students a view into the daily aspects of a pediatric pharmacist and give students a further avenue to develop professionally.
- Faculty Advisor: Bob Kuhn, PharmD
PLS: Phi Lambda Sigma, Chi Chapter
The purpose of Phi Lambda Sigma, also known as the National Pharmacy Leadership Society, is to promote the development of leadership qualities. Phi Lambda Sigma serves as the highest goal that a student of pharmacy can achieve in the area of leadership and service. Prospective members are selected on the basis of their demonstration of dedication, service, and leadership in the advancement of pharmacy.
Phi Lambda Sigma is complementary to Rho Chi in that it honors leadership, while Rho Chi honors scholastic achievement. Members are selected by peer recognition. No greater honor can be bestowed upon an individual than to be recognized as a leader by one's peers. Such recognition instills and enhances self-confidence, encourages the less active student to take a more active role, and promotes greater effort toward the advancement of pharmacy. By promoting such recognition, Phi Lambda Sigma provides an incentive for the development of future leadership potential for the profession. Since membership crosses fraternal and organizational lines, the Society does not compete with other pharmacy organizations. For more information, please visit our Facebook page.
Rho Chi Honor Society, Alpha Xi Chapter
The fundamental objective of Rho Chi has always been to promote the advancement of the pharmaceutical sciences through the encouragement and recognition of sound scholarship. High standards of intellectual and scholarly attainments have been demanded for election to membership, and such election, symbolized by the award of the Rho Chi key, supplies a unique scholarship incentive.
Rho Chi seeks to promote scholarly fellowship in pharmacy by bringing undergraduate and graduate students and faculty members together in a fraternal and helpful association. Regular chapter meetings and other activities emphasize the professional aspects of pharmacy and point the way to instructive study and research. By such means, Rho Chi seeks to increase the awareness of the ethical and social responsibilities of the profession, and thereby to enhance the prestige of the profession.
- Faculty Advisor: Penni Black, PhD
SAC: Student Advisory Council
The Student Advisory Council, commonly known as SAC, is a council of student organization leaders designed to provide efficiency and cooperation among UKCOP student groups. Each organization and class has at least one representative to participate in SAC on behalf of its members. SAC serves to help facilitate student success in the college through many avenues such as student representation and student organization funding. SAC has set out to create goals to reach for during the 2014-2015 school year that will help promote student success and achievement in the college. Our goals for this year are:
- To increase student awareness and utilization of SAC by being more transparent towards students.
- To promote interaction between the PY1, PY2, and PY3 classes by facilitating camaraderie.
- Help promote interaction and build relationships between the alumni of the UK College of Pharmacy and the current students.
- Improve awareness about the profession of pharmacy by increasing attendance at meetings and events held both on local and national levels.
- To have the majority of students on OrgSync and to have the organizations start to utilize this as a means of communication with their members.
Advisor: Drew Ritzel, MPH
SCCP: Student Chapter of Clinical Pharmacy
The student chapter of Amerian College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), also known as SCCP, gives you access to clinical pharmacy practitioners engaged in a wide spectrum of specialty practices, academic institutions, and research programs. You can learn about the many career opportunities and pathways available to you as a clinical pharmacist and explore the world of clinical pharmacy with the Student Clinical Compass. This unique tool—designed by students for students—will enhance your understanding of the profession and help you prepare for your future career.
Faculty Advisors
- Komal Pandya, PharmD
- Elizabeth Autry, PharmD
Additional Information about SCCP
SNPhA: Student National Pharmaceutical Association
The Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) is a student organization of the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. The organization was founded on the campus of Florida A & M University in 1972, as a student affiliate of the National Pharmaceutical Association.
The purpose of SNPhA is to plan, organize, coordinate, and execute programs geared toward the improvement for the health, educational, and social environment of the community.
For more information, visit our Facebook page.
Faculty Advisors
- Melanie Dicks, PharmD
- Trenika Mitchell, PharmD
SSCP: Student Society of Consultant Pharmacists
The student chapter of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) is a membership association that represents students serving the unique medication needs of older adults.
A senior care pharmacist is a medication therapy management expert who provides advice on the use of medications by older adults, whether they live in the community or in long-term care facilities.
ASCP is excited to announce enhancements for students in 2020! New programs include:
- Career Development – the new ASCP SenioRx Career Center, bimonthly highlights to help students (resume writing, residency programs, preparing for interviews, clinical pearls), ASCP APPE rotation/Cano Internship/Fellowship
- Quarterly student newsletter
- Enhanced offers at the annual meeting – Residency Showcase, Mentor Program
- Student Chapters – more resources and help for student chapters
- Practice Resources – Medication Reference Card Book! Students can receive this resource for $20 by calling MED-PASS at 800-438-8884 and providing their ASCP number.
- Faculty Advisor: Daniela Moga, MD, PhD
World AIDS Day
#PharmFam
Operation Heart
PharmD Preview Day
We wish to remember and honor those who inhabited this Commonwealth before the arrival of the Europeans. Briefly occupying these lands were the Osage, Wyndott tribe, and Miami peoples. The Adena and Hopewell peoples, who are recognized by the naming of the time period in which they resided here, were here more permanently. Some of their mounds remain in the Lexington area, including at UK’s Adena Park.
In more recent years, the Cherokee occupied southeast Kentucky, the Yuchi southwest Kentucky, the Chickasaw extreme western Kentucky and the Shawnee central Kentucky including what is now the city of Lexington. The Shawnee left when colonization pushed through the Appalachian Mountains. Lower Shawnee Town ceremonial grounds are still visible in Greenup County.
We honor the first inhabitants who were here, respect their culture, and acknowledge the presence of their descendants who are here today in all walks of life including fellow pharmacists and healthcare professionals.