May 19, 2000 - The American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE), the nation's largest pharmacy foundation, awarded $794,000 in 2000-2001 academic year scholarships, fellowships, and grants for the training of pharmaceutical scientists and to strengthen pharmaceutical sciences education at U.S. colleges of pharmacy. These funds will support one hundred and eight undergraduate students, graduate students, and pharmaceutical sciences faculty.

AFPE awarded seventeen "Gateway" Research Scholarships to outstanding undergraduate science and pre-professional pharmacy students. Gateway Scholarships support the students in a rigorous faculty-supervised research project intended to attract the most talented students to graduate study in the pharmaceutical sciences. Fifty-two applications were received and seventeen awarded for a 33% award rate.

AFPE awarded seventy-four Pre-Doctoral Fellowships in the Pharmaceutical Sciences to outstanding advanced Ph.D. candidates in the pharmaceutical sciences at US colleges/schools of pharmacy to assist them in the completion of their research and dissertation. Forty-six current Fellows applied for renewals and forty-five were awarded for a 98% renewal rate. Eighty-three students applied (or re-applied) for first-time awards and twenty-nine were awarded for a 35% new award rate.

AFPE awarded three First Year Graduate Scholarships to outstanding students beginning graduate study for the Ph.D. in the pharmaceutical sciences in coordination with Kappa Epsilon, Phi Lambda Sigma and Rho Chi pharmacy fraternities.

AFPE awarded three Clinical Pharmacy Post-Pharm.D. Fellowships in the Biomedical Research Sciences. One Clinical Pharmacy Post-Pharm.D. Fellow applied for renewal and was awarded. One Clinical Pharmacy Post-Pharm.D. Fellowship that was awarded last year but was deferred until the 2000-2001 academic year will begin. Seven applications for new Clinical Pharmacy Post-Pharm.D. Fellowships were received and one was awarded for a 14% new award rate.

AFPE reviewed and approved one application for renewal of a "Springboard to Teaching" Pharmacy Faculty Fellowship. The academia-oriented "Springboard to Teaching" Fellowship program was established to support pharmaceutical sciences graduate students in their final year of Ph.D. degree work and to provide two years of research support if they accepted a teaching position at US college/school of pharmacy. This is the last award for this program, which was discontinued in favor of expanded support for the AACP-AFPE Pharmacy Faculty New Investigators Program.

AFPE approved the transfer of funds to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy to support the competitive award of fifteen Pharmacy Faculty New Investigator Program grants designed to help junior faculty undertake a research project and develop the preliminary data necessary to support an application for NIH grant support.

All award decisions were made by the 2000 AFPE Board of Grants: Chair Ara G. Paul, Ph.D., Vice-Chair Ruth N. Havemeyer, Ph.D., Past-Chair John A. Biles, Ph.D., Jere E. Goyan, Ph.D., Kenneth R. Heimlich, Ph.D., and Raymond J. Townsend, Pharm.D.

A complete listing of 2000-2001 AFPE Scholars and Fellows is below. Annual corporate contributions from research-based pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy and pharmaceutical science associations, foundations, drugs store chains, pharmaceutical advertising firms, wholesale drug companies, generic drug companies, and former AFPE Scholars and Fellows provide the resources for annual AFPE scholarships, fellowships and grants. Current corporate and association contributors are listed on the back of this press release.