Sami Gangji is the only pharmacy student in the country offered Carl F. Emswiller Internship in Washington, D.C.
University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy student Sami Gangji is headed to Washington, D.C. this summer to advocate for pharmaceutical issues and gain experience in national pharmaceutical association activities after being named the Carl F. Emswiller Summer Intern in Association Management for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA)—the only pharmacy student in the country to earn the honor in 2025.
Each year, one student pharmacist is selected from those across the nation to participate in a 10-week internship in Washington, D.C. at the APhA headquarters. The internship is designed to offer student pharmacists experience in the management of APhA, the largest pharmaceutical professional organization in the country. Gangji will work on pharmacy practice issues, educational programming, state services, scientific affairs, student affairs, public relations and project management.
“I was very happy when I got it. To hear I was the only student selected nationally was kind of nice,” said Gangji, who is pursuing a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, as well as a master’s in health outcomes. “I’ll be seeing all the different facets of APhA, how they function to support the profession of pharmacy in different areas to improve patient care.”
Specifically, Gangji will organize and run the organization’s student leadership institute, in which student representatives from each APhA chapter in the country—including 13 from the URI chapter—travel to the capital for leadership workshops and lessons in advocacy. Gangji will also work in the the U.S. Capitol building learning how advocacy and lobbying works, and how APhA supports pharmaceutical legislation on a national level.
“Sami is the type of student pharmacist all mentors wish they get to work with,” said Matthew Lacroix, director of accreditation and assessment for the college, who recommended Gangji for the internship. “His ability to connect with his peers has made him a natural leader, and his curiosity has allowed us to explore many different concepts and paths as he develops his leadership skills. His leadership offices with the APhA-ASP chapter at URI and the Kappa Psi chapter are just the most outward of the signs of his role as a leader.”
Gangji has gotten significant related experience on the local level, serving as vice president of policy for the URI chapter, and advocating for pharmacists’ license portability. In most states, pharmacists must pass a state-specific jurisprudence exam to practice, presenting challenges for those who relocate. Gangji and the URI chapter proposed including the jurisprudence exam as part of the national clinical exam, allowing pharmacists to more easily move among states.
While the proposal has not yet been adopted, Gangji is undeterred, planning for a future that includes the advocacy he’ll study during the internship from late May through July. The East Greenwich resident is interested in a public health-focused career, specifically in health economics and outcomes research, taking an epidemiological view of disease states to find where there are gaps in care and how patients can receive better treatment. The internship will give him the opportunity to deepen his understanding of APhA operations, participate in leadership meetings, identify and analyze high priority issues in pharmacy practice, and develop communication and leadership skills.
“I think it will be a really interesting way to see what it’s like at an association level. I’ll be right there where all the policy and advocacy is happening for everything, so just being a part of it will be interesting,” Gangji said. “I’m excited to see how an organization functions to help support a profession—seeing how things get done and has to happen behind the scenes to make a policy go from an idea to actually becoming law. It should be an eye-opening experience.”