AAPP Awards

As the home association and voice of psychiatric pharmacy, the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists (AAPP) seeks to:

Honor accomplishments and significant contributions that advance the profession of psychiatric pharmacy and/or patient care.
Recognize innovations and achievements which support and further AAPP strategic goals.

Criteria Applying Across Awards

These awards are intended to recognize psychiatric pharmacists working in the field of mental health care which is inclusive of substance use disorders.
Current members of the AAPP Board of Directors and Nominations and Awards Committee are not eligible for consideration. Members of the Nominations and Awards Committee are also not allowed to nominate or participate in the nomination of a candidate and must recuse themselves if consideration of any candidates represents a conflict of interest for them.
Recipients can only be awarded each award one time and may receive only one award per year. Research awards presented annually at the Annual Meeting through the poster submission process are excluded from this requirement.
Judith J. Saklad Memorial Award recipients are not eligible for consideration of any other AAPP Awards given that the Saklad Award is a pinnacle award and broadly encompasses the various components of other AAPP awards.
Nominations for these awards can be made by the applicant themselves or an individual(s) who wishes to nominate and submit the required elements for consideration by the committee.
Though each award is offered annually, the committee is not mandated to select an award recipient each year.
Incomplete and/or late applications will not be considered.
Scoring and evaluation will be summarized but specific award evaluations/rubrics will not be shared publicly

Member Recognition Awards

Advancing Patient Care Award

This award recognizes individual AAPP member efforts and accomplishments in increasing patient access to high quality mental health care in exceptional and distinctive ways.

The Early Practitioner Award recognizes the efforts of psychiatric pharmacists in the first 5 years of practice or 5 years after completion of post doctoral training. Recipients will have demonstrated commitment to AAPP and its mission and be seen as a role model for future leaders within AAPP and Psychiatric Pharmacy.

Judith J. Saklad Memorial Award

The Judith J. Saklad Memorial Award celebrates the life and work of the late Judith J. Saklad. This award is presented to a senior psychiatric pharmacy practitioner who has achieved a level of professional distinction and demonstrates a continuing dedication to the practice of psychiatric pharmacy. Like Dr. Saklad, this practitioner will represent the qualities and ideals of professional enthusiasm, in addition to possessing a passion for optimizing patient care.

Psychiatric Pharmacy Advocacy Award

This award recognizes individual AAPP members who impact change benefiting patient access to care for individuals living with mental illness and/or the profession of psychiatric pharmacy through advocacy with policymakers and/or decision-makers.

AAPP Strategic Goal Awards

Mental Health Clinician Journal Awards

The Mental Health Clinician (MHC) journal is a valuable resource for psychiatric practitioners and researchers requiring authors, peer reviewers, and editors. Exceptional contributions to MHC are recognized through the Editors’ Choice Award, the designation of Outstanding and Trusted Peer Reviewers, and the Citation Milestone Award.

Psychiatric Pharmacy Champion Awards

AAPP members engaged in grassroots advocacy directed toward addressing access to care at the federal and/or state level may be recognized with a psychiatric pharmacy champion award.

AAPP Collegiate Chapter Awards

Based on the annual collegiate chapter reports, AAPP’s Student Committee will name a Collegiate Chapter of the Year and Outstanding Community Activity of the year award to 2 deserving collegiate chapters.

Volunteers of the Year Award

This award recognizes the achievements of one or more members who have provided exemplary support to the organization over the past year. All members who have served as volunteers would be eligible for this award.

Research Awards

Research and Practice Awards are sponsored by the AAPP Foundation and awarded at each AAPP Annual Meeting held generally in April. Information on submission deadlines and the abstract center will be hosted on the Annual Meeting webpages. Submission dates are generally by mid-January of each year. Available Research and Practice Award categories include original research, therapeutic case report, research trainee, innovative practices, and health equity.

Research Trainee Award: Qualified abstracts include Work in Progress and Original Research. Interim data analysis is required and the first author must be a student, resident, fellow, or within 12 months of completion of training.

Original Research: Abstracts should describe original research in therapeutics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacoeconomics, outcomes, drug utilization, kinetics, genetics and academic pursuits. Abstracts must not have been published in abstract form nor presented as a poster elsewhere before the AAPP 2024 Meeting.

Innovative Practices Award: Abstracts describing the development, justification, documentation, and/or delivery of innovative services or activities applicable to psychiatric and neurologic pharmacy. The descriptive abstract should not duplicate any other poster category and should describe the development of innovative services/activities and should provide background/rationale, a description of the innovative service, the impact on patient care/institution and a conclusion.

Therapeutic Case Report Award: Abstracts describing the various aspects of pharmaceutical care relating to individual psychiatric and/or neurological pharmacy cases. Abstracts should provide a complete patient history including age, gender, time from first diagnosis, social background, and details of, and response to, previous and current treatment(s). Cases should include background, complete patient history, review of literature, and conclusion.

Health Equity Award: Abstracts addressing the impact of social determinants of health on patients with psychiatric disorders or the role of psychiatric pharmacists in helping this patient population attain health equity

Awardee Benefits

$500 honorarium
Recognition/announcement at the AAPP Annual Meeting
Post-meeting press release announcements
Historical recognition on the AAPP website
Recognition as an award finalist in the Mental Health Clinician

Past Recipients

Year

Recipient

Award

Download

2025

Kaitlin Grout

Health Equity Award

Member Center