Pitt’s School of Pharmacy received a national community service award

This story is adapted from an article that will appear in the next issue of Pitt Pharmacy magazine.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy’s dedication to the community was recognized with a prestigious national accolade on July 19. Granted by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the Lawrence C. Weaver Transformative Community Service Award is given to one college or school of pharmacy annually for its commitment to addressing unmet community needs through education, practice and research.

A contingent of the school’s leaders and faculty members, including Amy L. Seybert, dean and Dr. Gordon J. Vanscoy Professor of Pharmacy, and Lucas Berenbrok, associate professor and director of the Community Leadership and Innovation in Practice (CLIP) Center, accepted the award at the AACP’s annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas.

In selecting Pitt Pharmacy as the 2026 recipient, the AACP noted that it was “impressed with the school’s ability to initiate, implement, evaluate and revise programs to meet and sustain the needs of the communities that it serves.”

The school’s faculty, students and staff do all this — and more — not because they have to, but because the spirit of community service is deeply embedded in the school and its mission “to improve the health and well-being of the world around us.”

Seybert said the Weaver Award embodies the spirit of Pitt Pharmacy and reflects an extraordinary team whose commitment reaches far beyond the walls of Salk Hall.

“Through powerful collaborations in education, research and service, alongside invaluable partners within and beyond Pitt, this team is making a real, lasting difference,” she said. That difference is made possible through six exceptional programs within the School of Pharmacy that were cited by the AACP award committee for their long, impactful records of expanding the traditional service roles of academic pharmacy.

The Grace Lamsam Pharmacy Program for the Underserved, founded in 1995, and the CLIP Center, established in 2016, are school-based initiatives that bring students into the community and research, training and education to community pharmacies.

The Vaccination and Health Connection Hub, which began in 2021, and the Medication Education and Wellness Center at the University’s Homewood Community Engagement Center, opened in 2020, are collaborations with other Pitt health professionals to meet specific needs of students and other members of the local community.

Pitt Pharmacy’s partnership with the Allegheny County Health Department, which began in 2019, and its leadership at the Pittsburgh Poison Center, which has existed for more than 50 years, serve as other strong examples of the school’s dedication to meeting the needs of individuals and communities in the greater Pittsburgh area.

Yet these efforts aren’t just for the greater good. There are significant academic and professional development goals at work, too.

“One of the reasons Pitt Pharmacy was selected as the winner of this award is that we not only provide transformative community service, but we also get students involved,” Berenbrok said. “Because we have embedded community service into our curriculum, we are able to offer students a pathway — and a powerful example — for them to follow throughout their careers.”

Photo courtesy of AACP; Pitt Pharmacy leaders, including Dean Amy L. Seybert, accept the Lawrence C. Weaver Transformative Community Service Award at the AACP annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas.