I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I’ve written. So much has happened over the past months.  I am in the midst of preparing to take 3 students to Uganda on September 14 and in the near future, they will be introducing themselves to you. But let me tell you a little about all that has happened in the intervening 10.5 months.  In one of my last posts (Oct 2012) I told you about how I participated in a big meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Uganda (PSU), Makerere University (MU), and D’Youville College School of Pharmacy (DYC), and we made plans to collaborate to advance Pharmacy Practice and implement Pharmaceutical Care in Uganda.  Well, we have been in touch all year long with MU and PSU and Dr. Darowan Akajagor (from DYC) and I have arranged to bring 2 Ugandan Pharmacists to the US to participate in 8 weeks of training in advanced Pharmaceutical Care Clinical Skills.  I was able to arrange for their J-1 Exchange Scholar Visas with the help of Wilkes Center for Global Education and Diversity and the two pharmacists will be entering the USA just as I’m coming back from my trip to Uganda.  They will also be introducing themselves to you via this blog in the next month or so.  A Wilkes Pharmacy student and I have also been working with a pharmacy faculty member at Makerere U. and the Secretary of the PSU to develop a Needs Assessment survey tool to help them determine both the baseline level of pharmaceutical care that is currently being provided in Uganda and determine the types of educational sessions that already practicing pharmacists will be willing to participate in to help them learn advanced skills.  This survey will be distributed shortly to all of the members of PSU, which composes all of the licensed pharmacists in Uganda.  Finally, my personal big accomplishment this year was to apply for and be awarded a spot on the Fulbright Roster of Specialists.  This means that I have been recognized by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affair as an American Scholar that possesses skills in Pharmacy Education that might be helpful to pharmacy schools in other parts of the world.  This honor puts me on a list of Scholars that other countries can go to for help. Although I would be glad to be of assistance to any pharmacy school worldwide, my main purpose in applying for the Fulbright Specialist Program was to be able to collaborate more with Makerere University Department of Pharmacy to help them write advanced Pharmaceutical Care Skills curriculum. Currently we are in the process of finalizing a grant submission. This is a short-term exchange of no more than 42 days and if awarded, I hope to go back to Uganda for to work on this curriculum for 3 separate trips in 2014. These would be in addition to taking pharmacy students for my Global Health Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiential Rotation.  So, as you can see, despite my absence on the blog, I have been very busy.  Please stay tuned in the near future as I begin to chronicle our preparations for this upcoming trip.