The University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy has received a full accreditation term for its Doctor of Pharmacy program, the longest term granted by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education or ACPE, following an evaluation this spring. 

The program is accredited through June 30, 2033.

Image

Accreditation is required for graduates to be eligible to sit for pharmacist licensure, and every Doctor of Pharmacy program in the country must hold it. The length of the term varies, said Brian Erstad, who was interim dean of the College of Pharmacy during the accreditation process. New colleges commonly begin with a single year, he said, and getting a full accreditation takes both time and a thorough understanding of the accreditation system.

"I am very pleased to congratulate the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy on earning full accreditation from ACPE," said President Suresh Garimella. "My thanks to professor Brian Erstad for his steadfast leadership as interim dean and to the faculty and staff whose collective dedication made this possible. This achievement speaks to the caliber of our college and its place as a preeminent institution in pharmacy education and research that contributes the innovative future leaders for this important sector."

The ACPE review begins with a self-study, in which the college documents its performance against the council's standards. Evaluators then spend several days on campus examining the curriculum, student outcomes, faculty resources, governance and clinical training and interviewing faculty, staff and students.  

"I know how important accreditation with no partial or non-compliance findings is, especially for a college of pharmacy at a top, Research 1 university," Erstad said. 

The college has been part of the university since 1947, when it opened as the first health sciences college at the U of A. It is the only pharmacy program at a public university in Arizona, teaching students on campuses in Tucson and Phoenix, and it includes more than 4,000 alumni.

Much of the training takes place outside the classroom. About 1,100 practicing pharmacists serve as preceptors at nearly 600 clinical sites across the state, supervising students through rotation in hospitals, community pharmacies and clinics. Students can also pair the PharmD with graduate work in business, public health or the sciences.

The Coit College of Pharmacy ranks No. 4 for National Institutes of Health funding, according to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. It increased its NIH funding over the past year to reach $18.6 million.

Areas of research excellence include drug discovery and development, pharmacology, toxicology and environmental health and health outcomes. The college's research centers include the Coit Center for Longevity and NeuroTherapeutics, established in 2023 to advance discoveries and therapeutics to promote healthy aging, and the Center for Health Outcomes and PharmacoEconomic Research, the focus of which includes quality-of-life assessment, cost-effectiveness analysis and drug-use evaluation. 

The aging research includes a Phase 3 clinical trial launched this year to test whether rapamycin, a drug used to prevent organ transplant rejection, can improve resilience and immune function in older adults. The double-blind, randomized trial is funded with $12 million in philanthropic support from R. Ken Coit, who graduated from the college in 1967. 

The accreditation, as an outcome, belongs to the entire college, Erstad said, as evaluators interact with people at every level. Elizabeth Hall-Lipsy, associate dean of faculty and academic affairs, coordinated the preparation along with Maria Coronado, director of assessment. 

"This really is a team effort – the senior leadership team was deeply involved, and so were all of our faculty, staff and students. Everybody has to know what we're doing, and they did a great job," Erstad said. 

For students considering where to study pharmacy, Erstad said the accreditation is one more mark in the college's favor.

"The accreditation reaffirms that we are a top-ranked college of pharmacy," he said. "Along with our great clinicians and researchers, and some who do both, it's one more reason to come to this place."