PULLMAN, Wash. — Katherine (Kitty) Anderson, a fourth-year pharmacy student at Washington State University, recently received a $500 scholarship from the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) for her work in geriatric pharmacy.
She was the first recipient of the ASCP’s newly established national senior care award, the Arnold S. Feldman Senior Care Pharmacy Scholarship, awarded annually to one pharmacy student in their final year of pharmacy school.
Anderson is working on an elder care project with WSU faculty member Stephen M. Setter, who also serves as a pharmacy consultant for Elder Services and the Visiting Nurses Association, both in Spokane. Setter, an assistant professor of pharmacy at WSU Spokane, is one of a few certified geriatric pharmacists in the state of Washington and is researching the frequency of cognitive impairment in elders. Anderson’s role includes reviewing the history and utility of the Mini-Cog, a cognitive test given for dementia. She also will help recruit home-dwelling elders willing to be tested. The preliminary findings from the study will be presented at the spring ASCP convention.
The ASCP scholarship recipient is to have demonstrated a commitment to specifically serve older adults by improving the health and well-being of the senior population through appropriate, effective and safe medication use. In addition, the scholarship recipient must be dedicated to providing their older patients with both health wellness and disease management programs to improve the quality of care and quality of life.
