The Report of the 2021-2022 AACP Research and Graduate Affairs Committee

Abstract

The work of the 2021-2022 AACP Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) focused on barriers to graduate education and research-related careers in pharmacy education. AACP President Stuart Haines charged the RGAC with identifying the critical barriers that hinder current PharmD students/recent graduates as well as under-represented groups (e.g., Black and Latino) from pursuing advanced degrees and research-related career paths in the pharmaceutical, social & behavioral, and clinical sciences and recommending changes that might address these barriers — this may include recommendations to change the fundamental structure of graduate education. The committee began its work with a literature review to survey current perspectives on these barriers and assess the supporting evidence for effective solutions and programs, including their relevance to pharmacy education. Based on the review, the committee was able to identify numerous obstacles to entry into and progression through research training, for both underrepresented learners and student pharmacists. Obstacles are individual, e.g., lack of exposure to and self-efficacy in research, financial constraints, structural, e.g., lengthy training time, programmatic rigidity, and institutional, e.g.,implicit and explicit bias. The committee found evidence of effective approaches and programs to address these barriers that could be applied in pharmacy schools. These approaches include improvements to existing practices in recruitment, admissions and hiring practices as well as creation of new programs and structural changes to existing programs to increase accessibility to learners. The committee also recognized a need for more research and development of additional approaches to address these barriers. The committee makes a series of recommendations that AACP develop resource guides and programs to address key issues in the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students and student pharmacists into graduate education and research careers, including as faculty. The committee also proposes new AACP policies to support innovative graduate programs and early, longitudinal engagement of learners from elementary school onward to increase access to graduate education and to support environments and cultures of commitment to accessibility, diversity, equity, inclusiveness, antiracism in pharmacy education.