FEMALE PHARMACISTS IN LEADERSHIP ROLESIN PROFESSIONAL PHARMACY ORGANIZATIONS

Objective. To examine the percentage of female pharmacists in leadership roles in pharmacy professional organizations. Background. Earlier research has shown that the total numbers of females serving in the top leadership roles are still low compared to the current male to female ratio in pharmacy practice Methods. Four pharmacy organizations - American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), American Pharmacist Association (APhA), and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) - were included in the evaluation. For each organization past presidents and the current leadership team were collected from the respective websites using the search function. The information was classified based on gender, using Internet searches to verify categorization. The primary outcome was the percent of females in the role of president since the organizations were founded. Secondary outcomes were the analysis of other organizational leadership roles (e.g., Board Members, committee members) with regard to gender distribution. Results. Overall, females held 20% of president positions in all the organizations combined since their inception. The lowest percentage was in APhA (5%) followed by an increasing trend to the maximum of 19% in ASHP. For the secondary outcome, the percent of females in leadership roles other than president in 2013 is higher than the number of female presidents; however, the overall percentage of males still remains greater. Conclusion. Females in leadership positions of major pharmacy organizations including AACP, ACCP, APhA, and ASHP have increased since each organization began. Grants. N/