For the second consecutive year, the Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA) has chosen students from the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (EACPHS) to receive the Good Government Award. They are Kim Claeys and Clayton Gilde, both third-year students in the Doctor of Pharmacy program.

Claeys and Gilde were nominated for the award based on their work to advance the profession of pharmacy through policy and advocacy efforts within their positions in the American Pharmacy Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP). They will receive the award at the MPA annual Convention and Exposition on Feb. 25 in Detroit.

In 2010, Claire Lee, then a third-year PharmD student, received the MPA's first Good Government Award.

Claeys is chair for the Student Political Advocacy Network, APhA-ASP; secretary for the newly formed Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists; and a member of Rho Chi pharmacy honor society and the recently chartered Gamma Chi Chapter of Phi Lambda Sigma, a national organization promoting the development of leadership qualities among pharmacy students. She recently was elected to the Policy Standing Committee 2011-12 for the national APhA-ASP.

Gilde is president for the WSU Chapter of APhA-ASP and serves on the Student Advisory Board for the MPA, assisting in planning student events for the 2010 and 2011 MPA Convention and Exposition. He also volunteered for several political campaigns and assisted in coordinating letter-writing campaigns at WSU to promote the profession of pharmacy.

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The Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, one of the founding colleges of Wayne State University, is committed to advancing the health and well-being of society through the preparation of highly skilled health care practitioners, and through research to improve health care practices and treatment from urban to global levels.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 400 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students.