Pharmacy educators, like other health professional educators, have realized that they need to educate and train graduates with better critical thinking skills, spur more creativity and innovation and graduate students with an entrepreneurial mindset, since, that’s where innovation starts.

Here’s how one panel defines a pharmapreneur and the KSAs and competentices required to be successful.

The entrepreneurial mindset is different from the clinical mindset.

Consequently, pharmacy educators and professional associations are rushing to to meet the need and add value to their members and graduates:

1. Bioentrepreneurship education and training courses
2. Dual degree and certificate offerings
3. Pharmacy entrepreneurs in residence
4. Better seed stage funding mechanisms, including those from pharma philanthropreneurs and corporate venture sites
5. Interdisciplinary Professional Education programs
6. Pharmapreneur pharmacy student groups
7. Pharmapreneur Shark Tank competitions
8. Recognition of the scholarship of innovation for promotion and tenure credit.
9. Preceptorships and apprenticeships with biomedical startups
10. Alternative career development tracks for those interested in non-clinical careers
11. Better mentoring and network development
12. Career fairs
13. Education on drug supply chain management, tracking and security
14. Pharmacy merchandising
15. Asset protection and risk management

We need more primary care pharmacists and interprofessional sick care entrepreneurship

Rapid changes in sick care delivery are creating many new clinical and non-clinical opportunities for pharmacists. When linked with similar programs for medical, nursing, dental and graduates student efforts, synergies and economies of scale will result in a more capable workforce dedicated to creating user defined value through the deployment of biomedical and clinical innovation using a VAST business model.