UW School of Pharmacy Student Receives APhA Foundation Scholarship

A third-year University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy student is the recipient of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation Scholarship.

Abigail Fry, from Afton, is among 22 students nationwide receiving scholarships through APhA. The scholarship recognizes students who invest their time through active involvement with their schools’ American Pharmacist Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) chapters to help shape the future of the profession while, at the same time, managing the demands of a full-time pharmacy curriculum.

She is president of the UW School of Pharmacy’s APhA-ASP chapter. The chapter is composed of about 44 pharmacy student members with 12 specific committees who promote education and awareness on different health care-related topics. The committees focus on pharmacy-related outreach within the surrounding community, as well as on campus.

Fry will receive her scholarship at the annual APhA conference in Orlando, Fla., later this month.

“I am immensely grateful for this prestigious honor and am excited to use the funding to further my educational and professional goals,” Fry says. “A significant portion of the scholarship will be allocated toward covering the expenses associated with my trip to Orlando, where I will have the distinct privilege of physically receiving the award.”

The scholarship also will play a crucial role in supporting Fry’s clinical rotations during her fourth year, providing financial assistance for essential resources, materials and experiences that will contribute to her growth as a future pharmacist.

“I am committed to maximizing the impact of this scholarship on both my personal and academic development, and I am deeply appreciative of the APhA Foundation’s support in advancing my pharmacy education,” Fry adds.

In addition to the academic work involved with being in her third year of a four-year doctoral pharmacy curriculum, Fry helps incoming freshmen through UW’s Student Success and Graduation Hub as a Cowboy Coach. Cowboy Coaching is designed to help first-year students connect with upperclassmen to help ensure better academic outcomes and retention rates during their college experience.

“As the Cowboy Coaching program was just getting underway, I sometimes worked with nearly 100 freshmen students, meeting each for a one-session visit each semester,” Fry says. As the program has successfully expanded, she now meets with about 70 students each semester.

Antoinette Brown, coordinator of experiential education in the School of Pharmacy and APhA-ASP’s adviser, encouraged Fry to apply for the scholarship.

“Abigail has served as president-elect and is the current president of our APhA-ASP chapter,” Brown says. “She also serves as a school student ambassador, the Phi Lambda Sigma faculty liaison and a Cowboy Coach for the University of Wyoming. Abby has shown great dedication to her academic endeavors, all while taking on these active leadership roles. She has a true spirit of giving back to her community, school and profession, thus exemplifying the type of student who should receive an APhA Foundation Student Scholarship.”

Following graduation, Fry will seek postgraduate pharmacy residency programs with future career interests in academic pharmacy.

“I am interested in expanding the focus on women’s health,” Fry says. “While that focus isn’t as common currently as a pharmacy discipline, I would love to be a part of that aspect of patient care in the future.”

Kem Krueger, dean of UW’s School of Pharmacy, recognizes Fry’s accomplishments and the importance of the APhA Foundation Scholarship.

“I am grateful to the APhA Foundation for recognizing and honoring students, such as Abigail, who have contributed so much to their campus communities and our profession,” Krueger says. “Abigail inspires all of us in the School of Pharmacy, and I am grateful to her for building up our ‘UWSOP pharmily.’”

About the UW College of Health Sciences

UW’s College of Health Sciences trains health and wellness professionals and researchers in a wide variety of disciplines, including medicine, nursing, pharmacy, speech-language pathology, social work, kinesiology, public health, health administration and disability studies. The college also oversees residency and fellowship programs in Casper and Cheyenne, as well as operating a speech/hearing clinic in Laramie and primary care clinics in Laramie, Casper and Cheyenne.

With more than 1,600 undergraduate, graduate and professional students, the college is dedicated to training the health and wellness workforce of Wyoming and conducting high-quality research and community engagement, with a particular focus on rural and frontier populations.