Jessica Hung Receives NCPA Foundation’s NARD Ownership Award

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Oct. 4, 2026) – Jessica Hung, co-owner of Semmes Pharmacy in Semmes, Ala., has received this year’s NARD Ownership Award from the National Community Pharmacists Association Foundation 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. 

The NARD Ownership Award recognizes an independent community pharmacist who embraces entrepreneurial spirit through promotion and demonstrated excellence in the field of community pharmacy ownership. NARD, or the National Association of Retail Druggists, was for a century the name associated with independent pharmacy. The organization was founded in 1898, and now, as NCPA, represents the nation’s community pharmacists.

This year’s NARD Ownership Award was generously sponsored by the Cascadia Pharmacy Group. “Jessica represents exactly what we hoped to celebrate when we chose to sponsor this award,” says Jeff Harrell, PharmD, CEO of CPG. “She’s built something lasting for her patients and her community, while also making sure the next generation of pharmacists has a path to follow. Stories like hers are why independent ownership remains such a vital part of American health care."

Hung is a 2014 graduate of Auburn University’s Harrison College of Pharmacy. Before pharmacy school, she spent eight years working as a pharmacy technician — experience that shaped her interest in helping patients navigate and safely use their medications. Upon graduation, she joined Semmes Pharmacy as a clinical pharmacist, where she went on to build several of the pharmacy’s signature clinical service lines, including medication synchronization, medication therapy management, immunizations, and point-of-care testing. In 2024, she became an owner of Semmes Pharmacy. She is forever grateful to her business partners, Lancer Smith and Alan Browning, who took a chance on her and gave her the opportunity to build a career she once only dreamed of.

She is dedicated to advancing independent community pharmacy through innovative patient care, clinical services, and community engagement. She serves as the managing network facilitator for CPESN Alabama and on the Board of Trustees for the Alabama Pharmacy Association. She is passionate about expanding the role of pharmacists in value-based care, public health, and collaborative practice. She is also an active leader and advocate for the profession at both the state and national levels. She has been recognized with the Alabama Pharmacy Association’s Innovation in Pharmacy Practice Award, a Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award, and has twice been named Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy Preceptor of the Year.

Her clinical leadership was tested — and proven — during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semmes Pharmacy was selected as one of just three pharmacies in Alabama to administer COVID-19 vaccines during the initial phase of the state’s rollout in December 2020. Under Hung’s direction, the effort expanded to include several additional partner pharmacies, and by mid-2021 the network had administered roughly 10,000 vaccines. That commitment to immunization and public health has continued, with Semmes Pharmacy receiving national recognition from the National Adult and Influenza Immunization Summit as a 2026 Immunization Neighborhood Champion. She is quick to acknowledge that accomplishments of that scale are never achieved alone. They require an entire team, and Hung believes she is blessed to work alongside the very best at Semmes Pharmacy.

A dedicated mentor, Hung continues to precept student pharmacists from Auburn University and several other colleges of pharmacy, taking pride in showing the next generation how community pharmacists can serve as accessible, trusted members of the health care team.