When Valerie Prince signed up for a Samford University interview during her residency, she was so sure she was underqualified, she was going to scratch her name off the list. "The McWhorter School of Pharmacy administrator who was conducting interviews saw me and told me she had just had a cancellation and she persuaded me to come in and talk to her. I was contacted a month later for an on-campus interview and was hired by Samford into my first professional position post residency," she said. Now, almost 20 years later, Prince is still hard at work. "I’ve had the privilege to work one on one with 15 to 18 students a year precepting them at clinical practice sites, which is the type of teaching I love best," said Prince. Prince is proud of the students she has influenced to believe in themselves when they thought they weren’t capable of assuming leadership positions or performing in a clinical environment.

Degrees and Certifications

• PharmD, Southern School of Pharmacy, Mercer University
• Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist, Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties

Expertise

• Current practice: adult medicine acute care specialist with the St. Vincent’s East Family Practice Residency program
• Past practice experience: outpatient anticoagulation clinics, long-term care and other adult medicine positions
• Research and publication interests: substance use disorders and pain management

Awards and Honors

• American Pharmacists Association
• Linwood F. Tice Friend of APhA, Academy of Students of Pharmacy Award
• Phi Lambda Sigma National Outstanding Advisor Award
• American Pharmacists Association
• Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management Distinguished
• Achievement Award in Clinical/Pharmacotherapeutic Practice Award
• American Pharmacist Association, fellow
• Alabama Pharmacist Association Distinguished Service Award

Involvement

• American Pharmacists Association, numerous elected national leadership positions such as speaker of the APhA House of Delegates
• APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management, president
• Alabama Pharmacist Association, numerous leadership positions
• Girl Scouts of America troop leader