DUBLIN, Ohio — The Cardinal Health Foundation and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) recently honored pharmacists for their efforts in preventing misuse of prescription drugs.

At the APhA 2015 Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, the Cardinal Health Foundation and APhA presented the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) GenerationRx Awards, which recognize use of the GenerationRx toolkit, a communications package that includes talking points, presentation materials and tips to help users raise awareness of prescription misuse in their communities. The organizations also awarded the fourth annual APhA GenerationRx Award of Excellence, which recognizes one pharmacist for his or her outstanding efforts in prescription drug misuse prevention.

The APhA-ASP GenerationRx award is part of a national competition among APhA-ASP chapters. This past year, student pharmacists from 82 chapters conducted more than 800 GenerationRx presentations and educated more than 134,000 children, teens, college students and adults. More than 12.7 million people were reached via public relations outreach.

The 2015 APhA-ASP GenerationRx national and regional awards were presented during the APhA-ASP Opening General Session. The chapters honored in this year’s competition were the following:

• National Award: East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy
• National 1st Runner-Up Award: University of Florida College of Pharmacy
• National 2nd Runner-Up Award: The University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy
• Region 1 Award: MCPHS University-Boston
• Region 2 Award: University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
• Region 3 Award: University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy
• Region 4 Award: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Pharmacy
• Region 5 Award: Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
• Region 6 Award: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy
• Region 7 Award: Idaho State University College of Pharmacy
• Region 8 Award: University of California-San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

The 2015 recipient of the APhA GenerationRx Award of Excellence is Nathan Painter, PharmD, CDE, of La Jolla, Calif. Painter was selected in recognition of his commitment to community partnerships and interprofessional collaboration in providing substance misuse education. He is an associate clinical professor at the University of Californi-San Diego (UCSD) Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, where he manages a pharmacist-run clinic for patients with chronic diseases. Painter serves as the faculty adviser for UCSD’s APhA-ASP GenerationRx activities and created a prescription drug misuse elective course.

“We believe that pharmacists and student pharmacists can play an important role in helping parents, educators, community leaders and teens better understand the dangers of prescription drug misuse, and we’re pleased to work in collaboration with APhA to recognize the work Dr. Painter and these student chapters have done to help prevent prescription drug misuse,” Betsy Walker, director of community relations for Cardinal Health, said in a statement.

Painter also is an active member of the San Diego County Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force and has collaborated on an interprofessional team to evaluate the state’s prescription drug monitoring program.

“We are extremely excited to recognize Dr. Painter for his commitment to educating student pharmacists on the dangers of prescription drug misuse, and for serving as a leader in his local community,” stated Elizabeth Cardello, APhA’s director of corporate alliances.