For the past 100 years, Xavier University of Louisiana has motivated its students to succeed in any area that they may choose. For almost the same amount of time, Xavier’s College of Pharmacy (COP) has inspired its students to eliminate health disparities in underserved communities and achieve health equity through various avenues of pharmacy. A common factor among COP students is their pursuit of leadership opportunities that translate into their careers and work as pharmacists to connect with and better their communities. For COP students like Ronisha Causesy, this materializes in her experiences with the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), where she was awarded its 2024 Southwest Region scholarship and reappointed as student pharmacist task leader in their organization.

The AMCP is a professional organization representing the interests of pharmacists who practice in managed care settings. With a mission to improve patient health by ensuring access to high-quality, cost-effective medications and other therapies, the AMCP connects physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals to leverage their expertise so that patients can access the most cost-effective options for care and medication. The national organization is divided into regions, and for the Southwest Region, Xavier COP student Ronisha Causey was awarded a scholarship and will be recognized along with students from other universities at the regional meeting in April.

 

Ronisha Causey is a third-year pharmacy student (P3) at Xavier’s College of Pharmacy. She began her journey with the AMCP after being advised by a professor within the COP who encouraged her to spread her wings and fly.

“I came to school to focus and be strictly about my books,” Causey said regarding her beginning to get involved with the AMCP. “But one day, I was talking to one of my professors, Dr. [KiTani] Lemieux, and she said, ‘Causey, you’re an eagle. You need to fly. Get out there and put yourself out there.’ Something about those words that day drove me to want to step outside my comfort zone.”

Since then, she has gotten involved in the AMCP and has become more familiar and experienced with the organization. Last year, she was awarded an AMCP scholarship that allowed her to visit Washington, D.C., and network with AMCP leaders and other members with a common interest to her. This year, Causey and the other recipients of the Southwest regional scholarship will be honored at the Southwest AMCP Meeting at AMCP 2024 in New Orleans.

“Once I got to D.C. on my first scholarship, it was history,” said Causey. “I have been flying ever since.”

Causey is no stranger to leadership experience, especially when it comes to the AMCP. On campus, Causey is the president of the Xavier chapter of AMCP. Within the national organization, Causey was appointed as a student pharmacist task leader, one of the few Black student task leaders in the organization. As a student task leader, Causey is in charge of over 40 different schools and making sure the AMCP chapters at those schools have the support and collaboration they need amongst each other to show the importance of managed care pharmacy and encourage other pharmacy students to pursue that career path. Causey was first appointed as a task leader for the 2023-2024 school year. She has expressed excitement for her reappointment for the 2024-2025 school year.

“It was very exciting to see my name amongst those other [students] because they are some very good leaders as well,” said Causey. “Being picked as a task leader just really solidified what the professor said, and when I was re-elected, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is amazing.’ Because that was the initial goal: to become a leader within the pharmacy field. Doing these outside leadership activities on a national level amongst these executives and being appointed by these executives is like, ‘Oh, they see something. I could do this.’”

As a student task leader this year, Causey plans to create a national collaboration where all of the different chapters and members of AMCP can come together and network and work together despite the region that are in. She also would like to incorporate a “buddy system” that would give at least two students from a given university the opportunity to travel to the regional meetings and conferences in order for those students to have some sense of familiarity even when they are away from their institutions in the pursuit of their work within the AMCP. For Causey, being a student task leader is more than just encouraging other students to pursue managed care pharmacy. She also sees is as a way to leave her mark on the organization and create changes that will resonate with those who follow behind her. For her, that is what a leader does.