Amina Abubakar Named Recipient of Sharlea Leatherwood Memorial Trailblazer Award

Amina Abubakar, president of Avant Institute and owner/manager of Avant Pharmacy & Wellness Center with locations in North Carolina, has received the Sharlea Leatherwood Memorial Trailblazer Award from the National Community Pharmacists Association Foundation as part of NCPA’s Annual Convention, being held Oct. 26-29 in Columbus, Ohio. 

The Trailblazer Award recognizes an outstanding pharmacy owner whose pharmacy practice blazes a trail for other independent pharmacy owners and future generations of independent pharmacy owners. The award is in recognition of Sharlea Leatherwood, former NCPA and NCPA Foundation President. 

Abubakar grew up in Kenya, where her interest in pharmacy and healing began. She came to the United States to pursue her dream and study pharmacy, receiving her degree in 2005 from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy University of the Sciences. She is an internationally recognized award-winning clinical pharmacist, a certified HIV Specialty Pharmacist, and a preceptor to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill residents and students from several schools of pharmacy. She is currently sharing her passion for advancements in pharmacogenomics with pharmacists, patients and policymakers all over the country. 

Her activity within the pharmacy community has included roles on the NCPA Emerging Models Committee, the Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition Committee, the American Pharmacists Association’s PharmTANK Competition for Annual Meeting Committee, and the Academia-CPESN Transformation Pharmacy Collaborative Task Force. Abubakar was previously named NCPA’s Willard B. Simmons Independent Pharmacist of the Year in 2020 and received the 2020 Bowl of Hygeia from the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists for outstanding service to the community.