CRNA, pharmacy student garner national recognition

A staff nurse anesthetist accepts a national political award, while a UM pharmacy student is among 12 recipients of ASHP's leadership prize.

UMMC CRNA earns AANA's political director award

Self

Gary D. Self, a certified registered nurse anesthetist in the Department of Anesthesiology at UMMC, received the 2016 Daniel F. Vigness Federal Political Director of the Year Award from the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists during the AANA's Mid-year Assembly in Washington, D.C.

Self is the 15th recipient of the award, which acknowledges the CRNA who makes the greatest strides in advancing the AANA's federal health-care agenda through grassroots political activities as a Federal Political Director. The award is named for the first recipient of the Federal Political Director of the Year Award who list his battle with cancer in 2013.

"Being recognized for advocating the work that I do every day is indeed a distinction," Self said. "As a CRNA, I believe it is my duty to educate the public and Mississippi legislature about the quality anesthesia care we deliver to patients in our state and across America.

"CRNA's are in line with the needs of today's health-care system and play a key role in anesthesia care to the citizens of this state who reside in both rural and urban areas."

A nurse anesthetist for more than 30 years, Self's efforts have helped make the Mississippi Associate of Nurse Anesthetists a well-known health-care organization in Jackson. Most notably, he is credited with leadership that prevented provider discrimination in reimbursement, and with passing regulations which would have critically restricted the practice of advanced practice registered nurses in Mississippi.

Self received bachelor's degrees in both nurse anesthesiology and nursing from UMMC. Two different governors appointed Self to the Mississippi Board of Nursing in 2003, 2004 and 2007.

ASHP honors UM pharmacy student for leadership

Leary

Mary-Haston Leary, a member of the School of Pharmacy Class of 2016, is among 12 pharmacy students nationwide to receive the American Society of Health System Pharmacists Student Leadership Award for campus leadership and pharmacy practice in hospitals or ambulatory care clinics.

Sponsored by the ASHP and the ASHP Research and Education Foundation, the award is given to student members in their second-through-fourth professional years of pharmacy school. Award winners receive a plaque, an ASHP drug information reference library and a $2,000 cash award.

For more than 70 years, the ASHP' has been on the forefront of efforts to improve medication use and enhance patient safety. Its more than 40,000 members include pharmacists, student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.