Published on September 23, 2013 by William Nunnelley  
Kim Benner

Dr. Kimberley W. Benner of Samford University's McWhorter School of Pharmacy has been named one of the first nine members of the new Specialty Council on Pediatric Pharmacy recently established by the national Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Benner is professor and vice-chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice in the Samford pharmacy school, and is also a Pediatric Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham.

The BPS is an autonomous division of the American Pharmacists Association.  It establishes Specialty Councils for various areas of pharmacy practice.  The councils are responsible for recommending standards and other requirements for certification and recertification of pharmacists in various specialties.

The councils also develop and administer exams as required for certification and recertification of pharmacists in the specialties, and evaluate qualifications of individual pharmacists and submit names of pharmacists recommended for certification or recertification in the specialty.

The BPS recognizes specialties in eight areas including the new Pediatric Pharmacy specialty.  Currently, almost 16,000 pharmacist specialists are certified by BPS.

Benner, a member of the Samford pharmacy faculty since 1997, is a Fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and is a Board-Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist.  She has had extensive clinical practice in pediatric intensive care units at Children's Hospital of Alabama.

Benner holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and bachelor of science in pharmacy and doctor of pharmacy degrees from Samford.

 

 
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 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.