Avery Spunt, MEd, RPh, Joins NABP Staff as Competency Assessment Director

September 12, 2002 12:00 am

Avery Spunt, MEd, RPh, the newly hired competency assessment director, joined the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP®) on September 3, 2002, and brings with him 30 years of experience from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) College of Pharmacy to NABP's testing department. At NABP, Spunt will oversee the four testing areas — the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination™ (NAPLEX®), Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination™ (MPJE®), Disease State Management (DSM) program, and the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Committee® (FPGEE®).

For the past 10 years, Spunt was assistant head of academic programs and clinical associate professor of the UIC College of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Practice, where he was responsible for the operations of the Department of Pharmacy Practice in the absence of the department head, and supervised experiential education coordinators and two shared UIC/Chain Store Pharmacy faculties. A member of the college strategic planning and implementation team, Spunt was also responsible for recruiting and developing experiential education sites, evaluation of experiential education faculty, and the supervision of the scheduling of students for clerkship rotations.

While working at UIC, Spunt lent his skills to serve as a consultant to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation Board of Pharmacy; Presbyterian Homes; Hospice Care in Chicagoland North; the Illinois Department of Public Aid; and the Illinois Department of Mental Health.

Spunt is a member of numerous professional associations including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American Society of Hospital Pharmacists (ASHP), American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Illinois Council of Hospital Pharmacists, among others.

He has also held such positions in various professional organizations as president and vice president of the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy Alumni Association; associate with the ASHP Educational Programming; president of the Northern Illinois Society of Hospital Pharmacists; chairman of the AACP Special Interest Group Experiential Education; and has served terms on the AACP House of Delegates and the Illinois Pharmacist Association Board of Directors.

His skills and work regarding the practice of pharmacy and with students have earned him numerous awards, such as the UIC Constituent Leadership Award, Outstanding Preceptor of the Year, Outstanding Teacher of the Year for two years running, Pharmacist of the Year from the Illinois Pharmacist Association, and Who's Who in American Education.

Spunt graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor of science in pharmacy degree and a master of education degree. He is licensed to practice pharmacy in Illinois.

Courtney Karzen