President's Message from Alex Oschman

Think left and think right and think low and think high.  Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! 

- Dr. Seuss

Welcome summer (maybe, it still feels pretty spring-like outside)!  July often brings about change for a lot of us as we welcome in new residents and bid farewell to our former residents.  Children are out of school and many are planning summer vacations. As we move into summer, I hope you are all taking some time to enjoy the outdoors with friends and family.

The new MSHP board has been working hard to set our goals for the next year.  We held the annual strategic planning meeting on Saturday, June 22 in Kansas City.  This year, we invited Anne Policastri from ASHP to attend and she provided invaluable input that we plan on utilizing to develop innovative ideas for the upcoming year.  We had a productive, collaborative meeting and were able to develop a strategic plan with a goal of looking at where we would like to be as an organization in 3-5 years.  Some of the highlights of the meeting include: approval of the 2019-2020 budget; increased focus on advocacy for the profession;  discussion regard re-organization of our education committee to better provide education to pharmacists, preceptors, and technicians across the state; increasing involvement in our schools of pharmacy and new practitioners; and improving the MSHP website to allow for more communication and transparency with our members. 

We are continuing to work on our collaborative efforts with other organizations.  Some members of the board will be attending the Missouri Pharmacy Practice Workgroup sponsored by the Missouri Pharmacy Association (MPA) this summer.  We are also continuing our collaboration with MPA to co-brand a fall meeting this year in September.   The meeting will include content developed by MSHP and MPA.  The meeting is sure to be a lot of fun in the great city of St. Louis!  More information is available at: https://www.morx.com/conference

I hope everyone has a great summer and I look forward to seeing the strides MSHP will make this year.  As always, please feel free to reach out if you have questions or would like to get more involved in MSHP!

Alex Oschman, PharmD, BCPPS
MSHP President