APhA 2025: Building Pharmacy's Future With Mentorship, Advocacy, and Professional Development

In an interview with Pharmacy Times®, Nancy Lyons, BSPharm, MBA, CDCES, vice president and chief pharmacy officer from Health Mart, discussed the importance of preparing pharmacy students for diverse career paths highlighting her presentation at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting & Exposition.

Lyons emphasized the role of mentorship and advocacy in the profession. She highlighted McKesson's efforts to support student development, including partnerships with historically black colleges and universities and a $4.1 million donation to support educational programs. Lyons stressed the significance of providing students with informed decision-making opportunities about community pharmacy practice and the various career options available. She also underscored the critical nature of advocacy at both national and state levels and teased upcoming announcements about the future of pharmacy at McKesson's annual meeting in July.

Pharmacy Times: What specific aspects of independent community pharmacy do you believe are most appealing to current pharmacy students, and how would you encourage them to pursue this path?

Nancy Lyons: Independent practice is unique, and one of the things that I think as all pharmacists we are responsible for is helping to make sure that those students have informed decision making as they enter practice. They need to be aware of the benefits and the challenges of community practice in general and any specific site. As a representative of pharmacies that do have 4600 independent community pharmacies across the country, we want to just make sure that they know that if they're choosing community practice, that there are options for them. It's one of the reasons that I'm so glad that we were able to be the national sponsor, so that they're aware of Health Mart and the opportunities that those independent community pharmacies bring. The oath of the pharmacist is something that I think all of us take so seriously when we enter practice, and that responsibility includes preparing the next generation of pharmacists.

Pharmacy Times: What are some of the most important ways pharmacy professionals can support the future of the profession, particularly in areas like student development and advocacy?

Lyons: I mean just drilling down, being at this meeting with the student pharmacists and being a role model. Whether it's just leading a CE program at the session, or just engaging with them and talking with them, finding out what their hopes and dreams are, and helping them to make those connections are critical. That leads to mentorships, either informal or formal mentorships, it happens on rotations, but I've been really excited about some of the work McKesson has done there as well. We've partnered with historically black colleges and universities to help with the diversity pipeline of trained health care professionals. Again, both from that career growth and opportunity perspective, and in just diversifying the pipeline of health care professionals that more closely match the communities that they're going to work in. McKesson has donated $4.1 million to 5 universities with programs that are focused on patient outreach and educational services. One of the programs is we were working with was just to raise awareness like we've been talking about, about the diverse career paths that pharmacists can take. Many of us at McKesson hold nontraditional roles. I was paired with a student from University of North Carolina and spent a wonderful 9 months with her just listening to her questions, letting her ask me questions, practicing for interviews, and just talking about her rotations and what her next steps in her career were. I'm hopeful that that has broadened her approach to looking for the job that she will take when she enters the workforce as well.

Pharmacy Times: Is there anything you would like to add?

Lyons: We were talking about advocacy. Another big part of the reason that I think pharmacists and pharmacy students come to APhA is to get aligned on that voice of one. APhA talks about the home for all of pharmacy being at the profession, but advocacy for the challenges that are real for the profession is critical. It goes at the national level, like at APhA, but it also falls into the state associations. I'm very proud of the McKesson Amplify program that we launched last year giving dedicated funding to state associations across all 50 states to let them do the things that are closest to their patient care and advocating for the providers that are so critical to be as part of that. We're gearing up for 2026 we've got some big announcements coming at our annual meeting, McKesson ideaShare in July, so much more to come with what’s next for pharmacy.