XENIA — Vineeta Rao, a third-year professional pharmacy student from Indianapolis, Indiana, has been appointed to a national leadership position on the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) International Standing Committee. Rao will be one of four students in the country serving on this committee for the 2018-2019 term.
Rao will serve as the national contact person, representing the APhA-ASP to the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF). She will be the point of contact for communication from the international organization through the national one, down to the regional and local levels and back up to the international. Rao will attend the IPSF annual conference in Mendoza, Argentina, in August 2018 as a delegate for the APhA-ASP and will have a role in voting on policies and procedures for IPSF.
For Rao, the best part about this new role is the opportunity it provides her to connect with other pharmacists and pharmacy students around the world and to foster those connections for students involved at the regional and local levels as well.
“I’m excited to help students at the local chapter level get excited about connecting with pharmacists and pharmacy students all over the world,” she said. “I love helping other people catch the excitement and the vision to connect with international pharmacy. This role gives me a strategic position to do that.”
Rao has been involved in the Cedarville University School of Pharmacy’s chapter of APhA-ASP since 2014, actively working to show her fellow pharmacy students the opportunities available to them and to provide ways for students to serve the community through pharmacy. She looks forward to bridging the gap between local chapters and the international organization.
“Our chapter is really strong and we do a lot to try and impact the community,” Rao said. “I’m very excited and very honored to be able to represent our pharmacy school on the national level.”
