by Emily Stembridge
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has awarded Nichole Foster, MBA, MEd, CPhT, director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Pharmacy Technicians Training Program, with a Distinguished Service Award.
The award is reserved for pharmacy practitioners whose volunteer activities have helped support and advance the profession. Divided into seven categories, the awards honor a broad range of groups within the pharmaceutical practice. Five of the seven groups are known as sections, with categories such as ambulatory care and inpatient care.
The remaining two groups are known as forums, composed of the New Practitioners Forum and the Pharmacy Technician Forum. Foster was honored in the latter category.
She is the first technician recipient of the award since the Pharmacy Technician Forum’s conception.
For consideration, one must have demonstrated consistent contributions to their section or forum over a course of three years.
“Nichole has a heart for service to others and is dedicated to the advancement of the pharmacy technician field,” said Cindy Johnson, pharmacy manager at the Medical Center. “Her passion to enhance VUMC pharmacy technicians’ career paths and to bring more people to the profession is an incredible asset. We value her energy, enthusiasm, professional conduct and dedication both to her field and to the department.”
Foster earned her MBA at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, and her MA in education and BS in biology from Cumberland University. In addition to being the director of VUMC’s Pharmacy Technicians Training Program, Foster is also co-chair of the Medical Center’s Pharmacy Technician Advancement Review Board.
She has been chair of the Tennessee Society of Pharmacy Technicians since 2019, and recently became chair of the Membership Outreach and e-Communications Advisory Group for the Pharmacy Technician Forum of ASHP.
Moving forward, Foster plans to get Vanderbilt’s Pharmacy Technician Training Program, which begins in January 2021, off the ground and running smoothly.
“My hope is to grow it into a program that will train our employees into advanced pharmacy technicians,” she said.
“I believe pharmacy technicians are capable of such greatness but can be underutilized. It’s time for the conversation around technicians’ capabilities to change, and I would love to be a part of that change.”