Published on August 14, 2025 at 12 p.m. by Alison Ingle  
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Kim Benner, PharmD ’96, professor of pharmacy practice at Samford University’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy, has been elected president of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) which will be effective June 2026.

“I am honored to have been chosen to represent health system pharmacists across the country,” Benner said. “Having been extensively involved in ASHP for more than 20 years, I have experienced the exceptional  education, advocacy and networking the organization offers.”

She added that she values the relationships forged through professional organizations like ASHP as well as here at Samford, where she has served on the faculty for 28 years. “I am blessed to work for a university that supports and values our professional endeavors, and I look forward to proudly representing my profession and my university as ASHP president.”

Benner, who also serves as a pediatric clinical specialist at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham, has a long history of service with ASHP. She has served on the Board of Directors, section advisory groups and Foundation committees, and is a past chair of the Committee on Nominations, Council of Therapeutics and the Section of Clinical Specialists and Scientists.

She has also served as a clinical skills competition coordinator and judge, curriculum vitae reviewer and mentor in the ASHP Guided Mentorship Program. In addition, she has represented Alabama as a delegate to the ASHP House of Delegates and served as president and council director of the Alabama Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Benner’s one-year term as ASHP president-elect begins immediately, followed by her presidential year starting June 2026.

Her election continues a tradition of Samford pharmacy alumni, faculty and retired faculty serving in leadership roles for national pharmacy organizations, including Michael Hogue ’96, chief executive officer of the American Pharmacists Association and president (2020–2021); Marshall Cates, American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists president (2020–2021); Valerie Prince, American Pharmacists Association president (2023–2024); and Lea Wolsoncroft, PharmD ’94, National Community Pharmacists Association president (2023–2024).

“Dr. Benner continues Samford Pharmacy’s legacy of national leadership,” said Michael Crouch, dean of McWhorter School of Pharmacy. “She is well prepared to take on this important role, and I look forward to her leadership.”

ASHP is the largest association of pharmacy professionals in the United States, representing 60,000 pharmacists, student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in all patient care settings including hospitals, ambulatory clinics and health-system community pharmacies.

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.