Aleda Chen, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Named AACP Distinguished Teaching Scholar
| The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) recently honored Aleda Chen, Pharm.D., Ph.D., as one of three nationally recognized Distinguished Teaching Scholars.
The award recognizes excellence in pharmacy faculty engaged in or supporting scholarly teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Distinguished Teaching Scholars serve as models for advancing the profession through enhancing student learning and the knowledge base of teaching in professional or graduate pharmacy education.
AACP President Robin Zavod, Ph.D., (right) presented Chen with her award.
Chen, director for assessment and a professor in the UAMS College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmacy Practice, joined the faculty in December. She received the award at the AACP’s Annual Meeting, held July 18-21 in Grapevine, Texas.
“We are honored to celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of this year’s award recipients,” said AACP CEO and Executive Vice President Lee Vermeulen in a news release. “Their work reflects the very best of our organization’s mission: advancing discovery, educating the next generation of pharmacists, extending compassionate care to local communities, and so much more. Their achievements not only elevate our organization and the profession but also help shape the future of healthcare.”
“We are grateful to have Aleda on our faculty,” said UAMS College of Pharmacy Dean Cindy Stowe, Pharm.D. “She brings a lot of lived experiences and expertise that she leverages to make everyone around her better. I think the sky is the limit on the impact she can have for the UAMS College of Pharmacy.”
“It is a profound honor to be named a Distinguished Teaching Scholar by the AACP,” Chen said. “I am grateful for this acknowledgement of my commitment to scholarly teaching and research in the profession.”
Chen also received multiple awards for her research. She and two co-authors received a 2025 AACP Curriculum SIG (Special Interest Group) Publication Award and 2026 AACP SAS (Social and Administrative Sciences) Best Research Paper Honorable Mention for a paper assessing needs for social, administrative, and behavioral foundational sciences. Another paper examining changes to the NAPLEX national pharmacy licensing exam, in which Chen was one of seven authors, received a 2026 AACP Assessment SIG Collaborative Publication Award.
As the college’s director of assessment, Chen mentors students and collects data to evaluate programs and student learning. Her research interests include competency-based education and patient-provider conversations about vaccines.
Chen received her doctorate in pharmacy from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in pharmacy practice and gerontology from Purdue University in Indiana. She has authored or co-authored more than 120 peer-reviewed papers, edited several pharmacy textbooks, and presented at multiple national and international conferences.