Pharmacists: Mid-Career Leadership Development Program Opportunities in Pharmacy & Healthcare

The early career pharmacists have thousands of different career choices — residencies, fellowships, and/or going straight into the working world with the rest of us. While it’s debatable at this time that there are or aren’t enough of these opportunities for early career professionals is for another day and another post.

The late-career pharmacy professionals also have a lot of options for pharmacy career distinction — I’m thinking mainly of fellow status, which again many societies and associations provide to their long-term leaders.

I’m also not going to discuss certificates, certifications, and/or board certifications here either. While there are hundreds of opportunities in this space, today, I want to focus specifically on mid-career leadership programs for pharmacists and healthcare professionals.

What I want to share today is for those of us in the middle of our careers in pharmacy and healthcare, and leadership, specifically. What’s out there for us in healthcare, particularly for those of us who want to level up on our leadership skills?

I’ve been studying these for several years now, and here’s what I’ve seen out there. Also, if you, like me, are thinking ahead to 2022 on your professional personal development, now is an excellent time to shop around and see if any of these mid-career professional leadership programs are for you…

Ready?

• The Diplomat, American Society for Pharmacy Law Program — Full disclosure, I’m involved in this new program. However, it’s a year-long and running for the first time ever in 2022, due to our members wanting something for those of us who are mid-career. It’s for those who have been in pharmacy with a passion for law, pharmacy law, or both for at least 5 years. Why 5 years? Because that’s enough time to get established in your day job, but focus on the next level of your development — in leadership — for your career through more educational pharmacy law content, a mentoring program, and a personal project in pharmacy law to share at the ASPL 2022 annual conference November 3–6, 2022 in Naples, FL. The application is now open for 2022, but will be closing at the end of 2021, so hurry if you want to participate and apply. More at this link.
• FACHE through the American College of Healthcare Executives — is really the program to go through the administrative leadership track for all of allied healthcare. Those who have gone through this program have nothing but fantastic things to say about it — so if you’re on the administrative or executive track for healthcare, this could be a great program for you.
• ASAE DELP Program — This is the association of associations’ diversity, executive leadership program. Not in healthcare exclusively per se, there are many associations within healthcare.
• ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Leadership Academy — Is currently as of the end of November 2021 taking applications for its 2022 leadership program, which you can learn more about at the ASHP website.
• American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy has an Academic Leadership Fellows Program and applications are coming up for it in December 2021. If you teach in a college or school of pharmacy, check this program out.

Are there others out there in pharmacy? Not sure. These were what I found when I looked several years ago. But, they are places for the rest of us — those of us who have the beginning of our careers in the rearview mirror but have retirement nowhere in sight yet either. Cheers to the middle!

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Erin L. Albert is a writer, pharmacist, attorney, podcaster, and president of the American Society for Pharmacy Law. The opinions above are her own, and not necessarily those of any employers or associations she partners with or works for at this time.