Community Pharmacy Foundation Is Looking for That Next Great Idea

Pharmacy Times® interviewed Anne Marie Kondic, PharmD, executive director of the Community Pharmacy Foundation (CPF), on the grant opportunities CPF is looking to that support the practice of pharmacy in the community setting.

Kondic explained that CPF is searching for that next great idea that has the potential to advance the practice of pharmacy.

"In my tenure here, I don't recall CPF ever giving out or putting out an RFP, [which is a] request for proposal, for a particular topic area and that's really because we know that that's what we'll get inundated with," Kondic said. "People will go for that grant funding opportunity and we're really looking at what's happening on the ground, what's happening in practice, what are the projects that everyone is working on and can be turned into something that could be transferable, shareable, and replicable to other pharmacies, and that's really meeting our criteria."

However, CPF does have a preference for grant applications that have pre-established partners aligned with the proposal, Kondic explained.

“Certainly, we do favor grant ideas that have partners, so be that sort of a clinical partner, a medical partner, [or] other groups that just show interest and collaboration,” she said. “So, that's always of interest, as well as co-funding, even if it's just a nominal amount, and even if the grant is only asking for a nominal amount, those that just show that research has been done, the topic has been really thought about, and there's other partners.”

Kondic noted that the process to apply for a grant from CPF is simplistic by design in order to support pharmacists’ schedules.

“It's a 2-step process where a 13-item application is completed and that goes in front of the board. If that topic is accepted, then it goes to a proposal, and that proposal is a maximum of 12 pages. Still not overly burdensome, but we wanted the process to be open to get these ideas flowing and not to take up a lot of time, particularly from practicing pharmacists, if they don't have an academic counterpart or don't really have that desk time to do that more administrative work for a grant. We wanted to sort of remove that barrier. So, that's why all incoming ideas are encouraged,” Kondic said.

Kondic also discussed details regarding one of CPF’s recently awarded grants for a mental health first aid training program, the value of the community pharmacist in patient care, and the value of community pharmacies for patients.