Published on May 18, 2021 by Sarah Waller  
valerie prince headshot

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) announced May 14 that Valerie Prince, professor in Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy, has been elected president-elect. Founded in 1852, APhA is the oldest and largest pharmacy organization in the United States.

She will serve as president-elect, starting March 2022, and then assume the role of APhA president in March 2023, serving a one-year term.

Prince has been a member of McWhorter School of Pharmacy’s faculty since 1994. In addition to her faculty appointment, she works as a clinical pharmacy specialist at St. Vincent's East Family Medicine Residency Program at Christ Health Center. Her practice focuses on patient safety, substance abuse, and mentorship of student and resident pharmacists and physicians.

“We are incredibly proud of Dr. Prince, and I am confident the organization, and the profession of pharmacy as a whole, will do well under her leadership,” said Michael Crouch, dean of McWhorter School of Pharmacy.

For nearly two decades, Prince has been involved with APhA at the national level, including serving two terms on the Board of Trustees and appointments like APhA–APPM president, speaker of the House of Delegates and APhA Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA–ASP) national officer. She is the immediate former chair of the APhA House of Delegates Rules Review Committee. 

In addition, her involvement extends to other national and state organizations, including the Alabama Pharmacy Association and Phi Lambda Sigma Leadership Society. Prince currently serves on the Governor's Task Force on Opioids subcommittee, and for many years, she served on the Alabama Board of Pharmacy Committee on Rehabilitating Impaired Pharmacists.

“I am so excited and grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity to impact the profession of pharmacy and serve pharmacists from all practice setting,” Prince said.

This is the second APhA president in recent years with ties to McWhorter School of Pharmacy. In 2020-21, Michael Hogue, a 1996 alumnus and former faculty member, served a term as president.  

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.