IPSF
International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (IPSF) currently represents approximately 350,000 students from over 90 different countries. APhA-ASP is the member organization representing the United States to IPSF. As a member of APhA-ASP you are a member of IPSF. The objective of IPSF is to study and promote the interests of pharmaceutical students and to encourage international cooperation among them. IPSF accomplishes this objective by exchanging ideas with student pharmacists worldwide through the IPSF website, student exchanges, projects, and conferences. Projects include Pharmabridge, HIV/AIDS Awareness, Tobacco Awareness, and Stop TB Campaign. Additional information and resources are below:
APhA-ASP International Standing Committee
IPSF National Contact Person, Adrian Hughes, University of Washington: [email protected]
IPSF National Project Coordinator, Nellie Jafari, Virginia Commonwealth University: [email protected]
IPSF Student Exchange Officer, Ashley Potter, South Dakota State University: [email protected]
IPSF Student Exchange Officer-elect, Amanda Cavness, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center: [email protected]
IPSF Campaigns and Projects
IPSF offers multiple campaigns that can apply to pharmacy's role in public health, locally and globally. APhA-ASP currently sponsors the following IPSF Campaigns and Projects: Student Exchange Program, Tobacco Alert Campaign, HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign, Healthy Living and Diabetes Campaign, and Humanitarian Campaign. Other IPSF Campaigns and Projects that are not officially sponsored by APhA-ASP/IPSF are listed on the IPSF.org website. Please submit the confidential Event Form to your National Contact Person and National Project Coordinator throughout the year for any projects your chapter participates in, even if the projects are not officially sponsored.
Student Exchange Program (SEP)
The Student Exchange Program (SEP) is a mobility program that gives students from all over the world a chance to experience what pharmacy means outside their own borders. There are two ways to get involved in SEP: host a student at your school, or travel to another country. For every two students APhA-ASP chapters host, three APhA-ASP/IPSF members may take part in the SEP in another country. For this reason, we highly encourage the development of a host site at your local chapter!
APhA-ASP International Standing Committee
IPSF National Contact Person, Adrian Hughes, University of Washington: [email protected]
IPSF National Project Coordinator, Nellie Jafari, Virginia Commonwealth University: [email protected]
IPSF Student Exchange Officer, Ashley Potter, South Dakota State University: [email protected]
IPSF Student Exchange Officer-elect, Amanda Cavness, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center: [email protected]
IPSF Campaigns and Projects
IPSF offers multiple campaigns that can apply to pharmacy's role in public health, locally and globally. APhA-ASP currently sponsors the following IPSF Campaigns and Projects: Student Exchange Program, Tobacco Alert Campaign, HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign, Healthy Living and Diabetes Campaign, and Humanitarian Campaign. Other IPSF Campaigns and Projects that are not officially sponsored by APhA-ASP/IPSF are listed on the IPSF.org website. Please submit the confidential Event Form to your National Contact Person and National Project Coordinator throughout the year for any projects your chapter participates in, even if the projects are not officially sponsored.
Student Exchange Program (SEP)
The Student Exchange Program (SEP) is a mobility program that gives students from all over the world a chance to experience what pharmacy means outside their own borders. There are two ways to get involved in SEP: host a student at your school, or travel to another country. For every two students APhA-ASP chapters host, three APhA-ASP/IPSF members may take part in the SEP in another country. For this reason, we highly encourage the development of a host site at your local chapter!
- Pre-Application Form 2012
- Local Exchange Officer (LEO) Training Manual
- Guide to Creating a SEP Site
- SEP FAQs for US students
- Host Site Information
By: Adrian Hughes
As an APhA-ASP member you are also a member of IPSF, and who wouldn't want to be a member of an International Pharmaceutical Students Federation? But I always get two questions when I say that I am Chapter Liaison for IPSF at the University of Washington:
What exactly is IPSF?
How does what IPSF does apply to my local chapter?
After attending World Congress this summer in Utrecht, The Netherlands, I have a clearer picture of the answers to these two questions. If you have ever asked them yourself, read on:
What exactly is IPSF?
The International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (IPSF) is a completely student-run organization on an international scale, promoting public health projects, a student exchange program (SEP), and, more broadly, the sharing of cultural, educational, and professional development amongst student pharmacists from all around the world. The executive board of IPSF, made up of students from many different countries (including two from APhA-ASP!), works to promote and develop the programs and missions decided on at the General Assembly held at World Congress every summer. This is very similar to the APhA-ASP House of Delegates held at the Annual Meeting.
IPSF is then further broken down into regional offices, of which APhA-ASP is a member in the Pan-American Regional Office (PARO). This allows for geographically similar locations to work together on public health programs and develop their own regional symposia.
On a National level, the APhA-ASP International Standing Committee is made up of five student pharmacists from around the USA, working to help bring the international and regional public health projects and SEP to the attention of individual chapters throughout the country.
How does what IPSF does apply to my local chapter?
There are many benefits to working with IPSF on a local level, and the SEP and Public Health Projects are a great way to start!
The Student Exchange Program (SEP) put on through IPSF allows for APhA-ASP students to travel to other IPSF chapters all over the world in a massive exchange program. Even if you yourself or your chapter members cannot travel, your chapter can experience the cultural exchange of hosting your own student(s) from many places all over the world!
IPSF Public Health Projects tie in nicely with APhA-ASP Patient Care Projects, and expand the scope of the kinds of projects you can take on. You can also use these projects to draw focus on underserved populations in your community, including immigrant or refugee populations. There are many different IPSF projects, but our national officers have chosen the following five to focus on:
Tobacco Alert Campaign
HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign
Diabetes and Healthy Living Campaign
Humanitarian Campaign
Pharmacy Profession Awareness Campaign
Regionally, the PARO regional working group also focuses on Translation Committees, and a Malaria public health project.
These are the officially sanctioned projects, however, you can build your IPSF chapter into anything your chapter is interested in! At the University of Washington, we work closely with our Study Abroad Office to promote opportunities for our students, as well as our Office of Experiential Learning to expand internationally focused 4th year pharmacy rotations. Lastly, we capitalize on our own community of cultural experiences by curating a list of languages spoken by our students and by hosting a twice-quarterly journal club held at a different restaurant around Seattle.
I hope that this gives you a little of the IPSF spirit.
As an APhA-ASP member you are also a member of IPSF, and who wouldn't want to be a member of an International Pharmaceutical Students Federation? But I always get two questions when I say that I am Chapter Liaison for IPSF at the University of Washington:
What exactly is IPSF?
How does what IPSF does apply to my local chapter?
After attending World Congress this summer in Utrecht, The Netherlands, I have a clearer picture of the answers to these two questions. If you have ever asked them yourself, read on:
What exactly is IPSF?
The International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (IPSF) is a completely student-run organization on an international scale, promoting public health projects, a student exchange program (SEP), and, more broadly, the sharing of cultural, educational, and professional development amongst student pharmacists from all around the world. The executive board of IPSF, made up of students from many different countries (including two from APhA-ASP!), works to promote and develop the programs and missions decided on at the General Assembly held at World Congress every summer. This is very similar to the APhA-ASP House of Delegates held at the Annual Meeting.
IPSF is then further broken down into regional offices, of which APhA-ASP is a member in the Pan-American Regional Office (PARO). This allows for geographically similar locations to work together on public health programs and develop their own regional symposia.
On a National level, the APhA-ASP International Standing Committee is made up of five student pharmacists from around the USA, working to help bring the international and regional public health projects and SEP to the attention of individual chapters throughout the country.
How does what IPSF does apply to my local chapter?
There are many benefits to working with IPSF on a local level, and the SEP and Public Health Projects are a great way to start!
The Student Exchange Program (SEP) put on through IPSF allows for APhA-ASP students to travel to other IPSF chapters all over the world in a massive exchange program. Even if you yourself or your chapter members cannot travel, your chapter can experience the cultural exchange of hosting your own student(s) from many places all over the world!
IPSF Public Health Projects tie in nicely with APhA-ASP Patient Care Projects, and expand the scope of the kinds of projects you can take on. You can also use these projects to draw focus on underserved populations in your community, including immigrant or refugee populations. There are many different IPSF projects, but our national officers have chosen the following five to focus on:
Tobacco Alert Campaign
HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign
Diabetes and Healthy Living Campaign
Humanitarian Campaign
Pharmacy Profession Awareness Campaign
Regionally, the PARO regional working group also focuses on Translation Committees, and a Malaria public health project.
These are the officially sanctioned projects, however, you can build your IPSF chapter into anything your chapter is interested in! At the University of Washington, we work closely with our Study Abroad Office to promote opportunities for our students, as well as our Office of Experiential Learning to expand internationally focused 4th year pharmacy rotations. Lastly, we capitalize on our own community of cultural experiences by curating a list of languages spoken by our students and by hosting a twice-quarterly journal club held at a different restaurant around Seattle.
I hope that this gives you a little of the IPSF spirit.