The Future of Pharmacy Education: Preparing Pharmacists for Evolving Roles

The traditional role of the pharmacist, centered primarily on dispensing medications, has been evolving. It is now a patient-centered, consultative role integral to health care coordination, with pharmacists taking on expanded clinical responsibilities and increasingly diverse roles. Pharmacists are tasked with bridging the gap caused by primary care shortages and providing personalized, reliable health care.

Global shifts and the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a surge in chronic conditions and medication complexity, have emphasized the necessity of flexibility and adaptability in a rapidly changing and uncertain environment. This requires a competency-based education focusing on high-level clinical decision-making, digital literacy, and interprofessional leadership.

Competency-Based Education

Competency-based pharmacy education (CBPE) refers to an outcomes-focused teaching model that prioritizes the ability to demonstrate specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes over classroom time and memorization. CBPE is a learner-centered model that allows students to progress at their own pace, accelerating through familiar topics or taking longer on more challenging topics.¹

Part of CBPE is authentic assessment. This method of evaluation requires students to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills through real-world tasks rather than traditional testing. Real-world tasks simulate the challenges, constraints, and resources of the real profession. Unlike traditional test items, authentic tasks require the simultaneous coordination of multiple competencies.² 

Pharmacy schools are evolving to meet the needs of modern practice, with 2 major pharmacy schools recently redesigning their curricula. The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy is launching the M-Pact curriculum in the fall of 2026, and the Medical University of South Carolina School of Pharmacy will launch the Helix+ curriculum in August 2027.^3,4

The M-Pact curriculum is built around a seminar series prioritizing medication expertise, professionalism, and entrepreneurship. It introduces early career exploration and streamlines education with a focus on hands-on learning.³ Helix+ is a block-style curriculum organized by organ systems. Students learn the foundational science, clinical applications, and behavioral aspects of 1 organ system simultaneously within a single block. The Helix+ system prioritizes team-based learning, simulation exercises, and case-based discussions, alongside digital health, artificial intelligence, pharmacogenomics, and patient advocacy.⁴

Interprofessional Education

Interprofessional education is a collaborative learning process in which students or practitioners from 2 or more backgrounds (eg, pharmacy, medicine, nursing) learn alongside one another about their respective professions. This requires interaction among individuals with diverse experiences as they reflect on the unique roles, values, and expertise each profession brings to patient care. Interdisciplinary training through case-based simulations and integrated rotations enhances the pharmacist’s ability to communicate and solve problems and provides role clarity.⁵

Specialization Areas

Pharmacists can pursue several specialized career paths through board certifications, residency training, or specific work environments. The Board of Pharmacy Specialties is the primary organization that recognizes and certifies these advanced clinical roles. These roles typically require a PharmD degree and specific years of practice or residency. Some examples include ambulatory care (BCACP), cardiology (BCCP), critical care (BCCCP), infectious diseases (BCIDP), oncology (BCOP), pediatric pharmacy (BCPPS), and psychiatric pharmacy (BCPP), although there are others.

Other diverse pathways that do not require board certification include the following:

• Academic pharmacists teach and mentor future pharmacists at universities while often conducting pharmaceutical research.
• Medical cannabis science and therapeutics is an emerging clinical specialty that bridges traditional pharmacology with the study of the endocannabinoid system. It focuses on using compounds from the Cannabis sativa plant to manage symptoms and treat specific medical conditions.
• Nonsterile compounding pharmacists create customized medications for patients with specific needs that commercially available drugs cannot meet.
• Palliative care pharmacists focus on optimizing the quality of life for patients with serious, life-limiting illnesses. Their primary goal is symptom management rather than curative treatment.
• Pharmacogenomics, the study of how an individual’s genetic makeup influences drug response, is a core component of precision medicine.
• Pharmacy informatics is a multidisciplinary field that integrates pharmaceutical science, computer science, and information technology to optimize the medication-use process.
• Regulatory and government pharmacists work for agencies including the FDA or Drug Enforcement Agency to develop policies and ensure public safety.
• Specialty pharmacy is a focused area of practice that manages high-cost, high-touch medications for patients with complex, rare, or chronic medical conditions.
• Veterinary pharmacists specialize in dispensing medications and providing dosage advice for animal care.

Navigating Technology

Pharmacy has shifted from a transactional role (dispensing medications) to a clinical role focused on data-driven patient care. Technology is the primary driver for improving patient safety and outcomes and for increasing operational efficiency. It is critical, therefore, that pharmacists of all ages and experience levels learn how to navigate new technologies efficiently.⁶

Pharmacy schools are keeping up with these changes and moving beyond theoretical lectures, incorporating hands-on, immersive experiences using health information technology. Some examples include simulated practice environments, specialized certifications and dual degrees, digital health electives, updated Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education accreditation standards, and clinical rotation placements in health technology companies and telepharmacy centers.⁷

The Road Forward

Pharmacy education is rapidly shifting from a traditional dispensing role to a patient-centered clinical practice. By using competency-based education, pharmacy schools ensure that students not only learn theory but also have the skills to handle complex clinical tasks. When coupled with interprofessional education, pharmacists are equipped to become collaborative leaders adept at adding their expertise to the health care team. Finally, technology and digital health have become integral to modern health care.

These educational improvements are producing a new generation of pharmacists who are as skilled at interpreting data analytics as they are at counseling patients. This ensures the pharmacy profession remains relevant, resilient, and indispensable.

About the Author

Kathleen Kenny, PharmD, RPh, earned her PharmD degree from the University of Colorado Anschutz Health Science Center. She has more than 30 years of experience as a community pharmacist and works as a clinical medical writer based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

REFERENCES

1. Rhoney DH, Chen AMH, Churchwell MD, et al. The need for competency-based education. Am J Pharm Educ. 2024;88(6):100706. doi:10.1016/j.ajpe.2024.100706

2. Villarroel V, Bloxham S, Bruna D, Bruna C, Herrera-Seda C. Authentic assessment: creating a blueprint for course design. Assess Eval High Educ. 2017;43(5):840-854. doi:10.1080/02602938.2017.1412396

3. University of Maryland School of Pharmacy announces launch of M-Pact curriculum for fall 2026. News release. University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. February 16, 2026. Accessed April 7, 2026. https://news.pharmacy.umaryland.edu/university-of-maryland-school-of-pharmacy-announces-launch-of-m-pact-curriculum-for-fall-2026/

4. Hill R. College looking ahead with new curriculum implementation. Medical University of South Carolina. News release. September 8, 2025. Accessed April 7, 2026. https://pharmacy.musc.edu/content-hub/News/2025/09/08/curriculum-revision#:~:text=The%20Helix+%20Curriculum%20is%20a,meaningful%2C%20real%2Dworld%20scenarios

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7. Mojab Y, Pacifici EH, Graham TF, Kim RE, Chen SW. Integration of teaching of digital health-driven medical devices in pharmacy education. Pharmacy (Basel). 2025;13(2):35. doi:10.3390/pharmacy13020035