2022 pharmacy graduate selected for one-of-a-kind national fellowship

esther boadi is advocating for pharmacists on the national level at d.c. association.

janel shoun-smith | 615.966.7078 | 01/27/2023

dr. esther boadi, a may 2022 lipscomb college of pharmacy graduate from brentwood, tennessee, was selected as the 2022 executive fellow for the american pharmacists association foundation, a one-of-a-kind position in association management and leadership at the national level.  

the one-year postgraduate training program is conducted at the headquarters of the apha foundation in washington, dc. the program trains pharmacy graduates in various aspects of association management including leadership and advocacy, association management and operations, pharmacy practice advancement, and constituent engagement. 

with an undergraduate degree from the university of tennessee-knoxville in food science and technology and work experience as a pharmacy technician and intern, boadi was well down the pharmacist path when she realized after a fourth-year rotation at hca that she wanted to be a part of advancing the pharmacy profession itself.

during her rotation she asked an hca pharmacy leader “if she felt like pharmacists were acknowledged for their work as much as nurses and doctors. she said she felt that pharmacists do not advocate for themselves enough. she challenged everyone to be an advocate – to speak up, and that inspired me to pursue leadership,” she said.

“i realized that pharmacy is still developing in terms of rules and how we advance the profession, and i wanted to be on that side of things. i wanted to see a different perspective.”

boadi began the apha fellowship this past summer. the program offers experience in various leadership areas including government affairs, business development, education, governance, finance, member relations and pharmacy practice, among other areas.

“esther had a strong application based on our outstanding apha student chapter here and her work with the apha chapter,” said dr. sarah uroza, associate professor of pharmacy practice and sponsor of the apha on-campus student chapter. “another strength was found in the knowledge from the digital health elective she took. she included in her interview content on digital health, her interest in this area and how she could apply that in apha initiatives in the fellowship. they shared on the call that she was their top candidate.”

while at lipscomb, boadi also won scholarships from walgreens, and was active in the student national pharmaceutical association (snpha). boadi’s fellowship duties include implementing the apha foundation’s annual pinnacle awards program; incentive grants program; serving as liaison to the women in pharmacy committee, which also hosts various events; assisting with the apha annual meeting and coordinating the disbursement of student scholarships, she said.

“esther was a great student, always so happy, with a big smile on her face.  was very involved in multiple organizations and was always wanting to give back through health fairs, or other community outreach activities,” said uroza. “she is a perfect fit for something like that.”

in fact, during her first year as a student pharmacist at lipscomb, boadi was flexing her community outreach muscles in her own community of brentwood, tennessee. boadi started the william y. boadi education foundation, named after her minister father, and provided backpacks full of school supplies for anyone in the community who needed them for the school year. she gave away about 75 backpacks per year. 

boadi says she would be interested in staying in association management in her career and that the apha fellowship has been valuable for her future career goals. 

“i think this was great opportunity, especially with all the practitioners i have met. i have had so many interactions with so many different types of pharmacists that could open doors into different areas,” she said.