MILWAUKIE, Ore. — Derrick Shaffer, category manager at Rite Aid Corp.,  has won the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists’ (AAHP) Integrative Medicine Award. The honor recognizes a retail executive or organization that promotes and sells products which encompass a broad range of therapeutic approaches to achieve optimal health and wellness for consumers seeking to participate actively in their health care.

“We recognize Derrick Shaffer’s dedication to public health and wellness through his work at Rite Aid,” said Mark Land, AAHP president, while presenting the award. “This drug store chain embraced innovative offerings and, as the result of their commitment to this strategy outpaces others in this category.”

This year Rite Aid formally announced a change in its business to focus even more on meeting the needs of its customers. One of its initiates is to refresh merchandise with an emphasis on products that promote health and wellness and that are better for the environment.

“As consumers increasingly focus on self-care, they want to strike the perfect balance between traditional health and holistic wellness,” explained Shaffer. “We are now shifting our merchandise assortment to cleaner product ingredients and are eliminating broad categories of offerings that do not lend themselves to total health and wellness.”

Shaffer accepted the award during the virtual opening reception of AAHP’s Summit. The Summit was designed to convene homeopathic professionals to learn about best practices in regulatory affairs and manufacturing, as well as to connect and support retailers who champion the industry’s products.

In addition to the award ceremony, the reception featured a report on the state of the homeopathic retail industry from Scott Emerson, founder and CEO of the Emerson Group.