NCPA Foundation Recognizes Megan Smith as Outstanding Faculty Liaison of the Year

KANSAS CITY, MO. (Oct. 4, 2026) - The National Community Pharmacists Association Foundation has named Megan Smith, PharmD, associate professor and director of the PGY1 Community-Based Residency Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, as the 2026 Outstanding Faculty Liaison of the Year. The award recognizes a faculty liaison who demonstrates exceptional leadership and commitment to independent pharmacy, their NCPA Student Chapter, and the community. Smith was recognized as part of NCPA's Annual Convention, being held Oct. 3-6 in Kansas City, Mo. The selection was made through a blind selection process to guarantee fairness and impartiality.

Smith received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 2013 from the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She remained at UNC to complete a PGY1 Community Pharmacy Residency at Kerr Drug, followed by a two-year post-doctoral fellowship focused on practice-based research and education in community pharmacy. That training shaped the focus of her career: developing and testing workable, scalable models for advanced clinical services in independent and community pharmacy settings.

She has built a career dedicated to elevating the role of community pharmacists in patient care - work that has earned her national and state-level recognition. At UAMS, she directs one of the largest community-based pharmacy residency programs in the country, preparing new pharmacists to deliver advanced patient care services - from point-of-care testing to chronic disease management - in community settings. In addition to her academic role, she continues to practice as a community pharmacist at the Pharmacy at Wellington, an independent pharmacy in Little Rock, keeping her research and teaching grounded in day-to-day patient care.

Smith has been a driving force behind practice transformation efforts at both the state and national level. She was a founding member of the Arkansas Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network, part of a nationwide, clinically integrated network that helps community pharmacies deliver and get recognized for enhanced patient care services. She continues to serve the network as academic network facilitator, helping to certify pharmacists and student pharmacists in community-based point-of-care testing and connecting academic training with real-world practice transformation. Smith has also developed multiple point-of-care testing algorithms that have accelerated adoption of these services across community pharmacy, and regularly volunteers her weekends to precept students at a local free health clinic.

Her contributions have been recognized repeatedly by state and national pharmacy organizations, including the 2022 NCPA Foundation Preceptor of the Year Award, the 2023 Excellence in Innovation Award (Arkansas, NASPA/Upsher-Smith Laboratories), and the 2025 inaugural CPESN® Academia Leader of the Year Award.

Smith is an active member of the American Pharmacists Association and the Arkansas Pharmacists Association and serves as chapter co-adviser for the NCPA Student Chapter at UAMS. Her research and scholarship - much of it in collaboration with colleagues at UNC and across the CPESN network - has focused on topics including point-of-care testing implementation, medication therapy management models, eCare plan documentation, and the development of community pharmacy research fellowships. She also serves on the Task Force of the Academia-Community Pharmacy Practice Transformation Collaborative, working to align pharmacy education with the evolving needs of community practice nationwide.

Through her dual role as educator and practicing pharmacist, Smith continues to advocate for community pharmacists as integral members of the coordinated care team - training the next generation of pharmacy leaders while helping to build the infrastructure that allows community pharmacies nationwide to deliver, document, and sustain advanced patient care services.

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The NCPA Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization established in 1953 to honor the previous incarnation of NCPA, the National Association of Retail Druggists (NARD) Executive Secretary John W. Dargavel. Contributions to the foundation are tax-deductible as charitable donations to the extent permitted under federal tax law. The NCPA Foundation's mission is to improve community-based health care by advancing the sustainability, growth, and public understanding of independent community pharmacists - the most accessible health care providers. For more information, go to www.ncpafoundation.org.