Dr. Heather Hardin named director of experiential programs

The University of Florida College of Pharmacy has named Heather Hardin, Pharm.D., as director of the Office of Experiential Programs, effective Oct. 1.

Dr. Heather Hardin Photo
Heather Hardin, Pharm.D., director of the Office of Experiential Programs

As director, Hardin will be responsible for leading a team of faculty, staff and regional coordinators in implementing advanced pharmacy practice experiences, or APPEs, and introductory pharmacy practice experiences, or IPPEs. She will provide pharmacy students with orientation to experiential learning, coordinate student schedules and oversee student and site evaluations. In addition, she will facilitate the recruitment and retention of high-quality preceptors and experiential sites, and provide preceptor orientation, training and continued development.

“I look forward to working with the stellar team of experiential staff members and regional coordinators to continue to position the UF College of Pharmacy as a flagship institution in experiential education in our state,” Hardin said.

Among the future opportunities that Hardin has identified in leading the office, are efforts to keep UF’s experiential learning on the cutting edge, mirroring the frontier of current pharmacy practice. She plans to revise and update preceptor trainings, increase interprofessional education among IPPEs and improve the student evaluation process for APPEs.

Hardin is a 2005 graduate of the UF College of Pharmacy and is a board certified ambulatory care specialist. She joined the faculty in the college in 2010 as one of the founding faculty members of the UF Center for Quality Medication Management. Her administrative responsibilities in the center included an operations manager role, where she led a large team of pharmacists and technicians across multiple sites, while demonstrating effective communication and collaboration styles, financial and budgeting skills and quality assurance and improvement processes. Hardin currently serves as the pharmacy residency director at the center. During her tenure, she has precepted more than 200 APPE students and nine PGY1 medication therapy management pharmacy residents.