V23E3

European Pharmaceutical Students' Association | www.epsa-online.org 

Bringing pharmacy 

knowledge 

and students together. 

Volume 23 | Edition 3 | April 2016 

EPSA Interns 

Living in the EPSA 

House in Brussels 

Trainers on Tour 

An adventure 

throughout Europe 

Annual Reception 

Reducing prices of 

medicines?

GSK puts patients 

at the heart of every 

decision we make. 

That’s why we continue to 

change how we do business. 

In the interest of integrity and transparency, 

we are improving the way we work with doctors. 

We are the first in our industry to stop payments 

to medical experts for speaking about our 

prescription medicines and we are refreshing 

how we support medical education. 

Find out more at www.gsk.com 

European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association

Table of contents Editor’s words 

Presidential words 4 

#EPSAeverywhere 6 

EPSA Support Fund 8 

EPSA Internships in Brussels 10 

Alcohol and Drugs Interactions Campaign 12 

Trainers on Tour 14 

EPSA-IPSF Joint Campaign 16 

EPSA Annual Reception Report 18 

Alumni 

Where are they now? 20 

Twinnet 22 

Dear reader, 

I am happy to present you the third edition of the 

Newsletter. When reading through the pages of the 

last Newsletter of the mandate 2015-2016, you will 

dive into the active network of EPSA that is bringing 

pharmacy knowledge and students in Europe 

together. 

EPSA is a network that keeps growing. In the 

striving towards our vision: “reach and engage every 

single pharmacy student in Europe to collaborate 

on the development of the future of pharmacy and 

healthcare together”, we start this edition by making 

a visual overview on how the EPSA spirit can be 

present everywhere. Next to that, you will find an 

article about the tour EPSA Trainers did, visiting 

several faculties in European cities, to share the 

impact of soft skills on personal development. 

On the following pages of this brand new edition of 

the Newsletter, you will find EPSA Interns’ working 

experiences in Brussels, the heart of Europe. For 

further interest on our latest achievements, do not 

miss the articles about educational activities and 

read more about our mobility project - TWINNET 

that is not only expanding the EPSA network but 

also helping students to develop themselves by 

exchanging ideas, concerns, and practices. 

To all the authors of this Newsletter edition, the 

Editorial Board, the Public Relations Department - 

my sincere thank you. 

To the reader, I invite you to turn the page and get 

inspired! 

JAHWF Conference 24 

EAHP-EPSA Internship Platform 26 

EHSAS 27 

Map of Europe 28 

Events Calendar 30 

EPSA Executive contacts 31 

Joana Melo 

EPSA Vice President of 

Public Relations 

vp.pr@epsa-online.org 

Yours in EPSA, 

Special thanks to: Chuck van de Cappelle (Design and Editing), Claudia Ferreira (Editing) 

Editorial Board: Filip Ilievski, Jasna Puh, Michael Champion, Noor Mujahid and Simran Buttar 

www.epsa-online.org | @EPSA_Online 3

Presidential words 

Strengthening the EPSA network 

It has been just a month since many of us have 

participated in our event of excellence, the EPSA 

Annual Reception, hosted in the European Parliament 

in Brussels. Excellent speakers addressed the 

audience with their perspectives on medicines 

pricing and a heated debate followed afterwards. It 

was a pleasure to welcome you all to the centre of 

the European Union and to show you what EPSA 

can achieve on the European level. You can get an 

insight into the event and side activities around it on 

the next pages. 

A month has passed and here we are, right before the 

start of our biggest event of the year, the 39th EPSA 

Annual Congress, taking place in the marvellous city 

of Helsinki in Finland. The Reception Committee 

worked hard to welcome you to their country, 

show you their culture and provide a platform for 

sharing knowledge, experiences and networking 

for all of us. However, for some of us attending a 

Congress of this format would not be possible due 

to financial reasons. Throughout the years, EPSA 

has developed a solution for that and many students 

have benefited from the EPSA Support Fund at 

the Autumn Assemblies and Annual Congresses. 

This Newsletter features several testimonials from 

previous Support Fund receivers. 

Nevertheless, before we start the Congress let us 

take a look at what happened in EPSA in the last 

months. EPSA has been literally everywhere! Our 

Team and Trainers had the pleasure to participate 

in many of your local events, sharing the EPSA 

spirit and hopefully encouraging many of you to get 

more involved. The first edition of Trainers on Tour 

happened this year between 7th and 19th March, 

where pairs of Trainers were travelling around Europe 

delivering soft skills trainings to students on the local 

level. It has been a great success and the EPSA 

Training project reached another milestone this year. 

Looking back at 9 months of my mandate and 

keeping in mind a few more ahead, with the new 

Team 2016-2017 elect by our side throughout the 

handover period, I would like to take this point to 

thank my amazing Team 2015-2016 for all their 

efforts, engagement, motivation and spirit. It is an 

unforgettable journey and I am deeply saddened it 

will come to an end in July this year. 

End of the journey for some will be a beginning for 

others. I encourage you all to take up this challenge 

and get more involved in EPSA, be it on your local, 

national or European level. You will not regret it, 

neither will I. 

Yours in EPSA, 

Katarzyna Świderek 

EPSA President 

president@epsa-online.org 

4 European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association

2nd EPSA Team Meeting, Malta 

AFÖP, Ball of Pharmacy, Vienna 

4th EPSA Team Meeting, Brussels 

3rd EPSA Team Meeting, Brno 

#EPSAeve 

CPSA Congress, Croatia 

EPSA Science Excursion, Malta 

AEFFUL and UBIPharma Mobility Day 

EPSA at ESTIEM Council Meeting, Vienna

TWINNET Lisbon - Norway 

TWINNET Leiden - Geneva 

World Health Students‘ Symposium, Macedonia 

erywhere 

21st EAHP Annual Congress, Austria 

Teddy Bear Hospital, Public Health Campaign, Malta 

ŠSSFD Mobility Day, Slovenia 

Train the Trainers, Brussels, Belgium 

Trainers on Tour, Paris, France

EPSA Support Fund 

Offering the opportunity to attend an EPSA event 

EPSA thinks about its members, especially the ones who cannot afford to attend its events but wish to 

experience the EPSA spirit at least once in their student life. The EPSA Support Fund offers fifty percent 

reduction of the congress fees to the applicants lucky enough to get it! Below you can read how some past 

Support Fund receivers found this opportunity. Follow us regularly to be updated on when the next call will 

be opened! 

Michaela Krivošová 

What was my motivation to apply for a Support Fund? The answer is very easy. I have fallen in love 

with EPSA and its congresses, their atmosphere, members and ideas since I had my very first chance 

to discover all of them. However, in my opinion, I am not the only one who thinks that the registration 

fees and even more, the flight tickets to the congress destinations, might be somehow unaffordable for 

regular students. 

In our association and country, you get a financial support only if you are an official delegate at the 

congress or a member of the EPSA Team. Logically, I understand it. 

Definitely, I think that the EPSA Support Fund is a 

great chance for students who are very active and 

involved in students’ pharmaceutical associations 

to get to the congress, but are not official delegates 

YET (when considering the system in our country). 

After all, they once might become a part of the EPSA 

Team and this could be the first step. 


Participant of the 38th 

EPSA Annual Congress 

Marta Simões 

I believe that every pharmacy student should attend an international event but unfortunately, paying a 

fee, transportation and having some pocket money is not always easy for everyone. I had previously 

heard about the Support Fund but in my mind I thought “Why would they grant me the support fund? 

I am not an official delegate neither a member of my students’ association” but thankfully I decided to 

go for it. 

In my opinion, this EPSA initiative is great and very clever too. With the Support Fund, I was able 

to attend my first EPSA congress in 2015 in Toulouse by 

paying only half of the regular fee. It definitely changed 

my perspective about my studies, my future career, other 

cultures and so many other things that I could not have 

ever imagined. So, for those who give up by just looking at 

the price, perhaps the Support Fund could be an option. 

Marta Simões 


EPSA Annual Congress 


Alexandra-Mihaela Lupu 

Since I started volunteering I was really interested in international events but because of financial 

issues I was not able to participate in them. So the opportunity of applying and receiving an EPSA 

Support Fund was the possibility for me to enjoy the congress at its highest level. During EPSA Autumn 

Assembly in Malta, I had the chance to experience all the great things of an international congress, 

such as participating in a full educational programme with trainings and workshops that helped me 

develop different soft skills. I can easily say that by taking part in this congress, I have grown professionally 

and personally by networking with students and pharmacy professionals from different corners of 

Europe. The workshop that had the most impact on me was “Chat with Professionals”, where I enjoyed 

every second and was able to ask as many questions 

as I wanted and discuss with people that work 

in many different fields of our profession. This 

opportunity really helped me and I believe that 

every European pharmacy student should 

take advantage of it and take part in an EPSA 

congress. 

Alexandra-Mihaela Lupu 

Participant of the 12th EPSA 

Autumn Assembly 

Ana Lúcia Marques 

EPSA Support fund is a fantastic opportunity for students who do not have the financial capabilities 

to participate in EPSA events and without this opportunity, I would never had have the chance to go. I 

received the Support Fund for the 12th EPSA Autumn Assembly in Malta 2015. I had already attended 

the 38th EPSA Annual Congress in April 2015 and I did not want to miss another amazing EPSA event. 

So I decided to apply because I was not in a financial situation to otherwise participate. Still, I had the 

hope that I would go. I wrote a motivational letter explaining why I wanted so much to take part in 

the meeting and I asked my association to write a support letter. One day, I received an email with a 

positive answer and I felt so glad. Only by experiencing the spirit of EPSA events, one can realise how 

magical they are. You attend the educational programme which is very interesting and it gives you the 

opportunity to learn a lot. You meet new people, you visit a new country, you have fun. It is a week full 

of surprises. It is indescribable. I totally recommend 

everyone to go at least once. Furthermore, it is so 

important that you are aware of what is going on 

outside your country in regards to the pharmacy field. 

Never give up on something you really want - always 

try it. 

Ana Lúcia Marques 


EPSA Autumn Assembly 


EPSA Internships in Brussels 

3 Team members, 10 months, 1 EPSA House 

The Pharmaceutical Group of the 

European Union (PGEU) and the 

European Association of Hospital 

Pharmacists (EAHP) are long-term 

partners of EPSA. Thanks to this 

collaboration we currently have three 

EPSA Permanent Officers working 

part time for the above-mentioned 

Associations. 

Read more about the several projects 

that are sustained and managed by the 

EPSA Interns in Brussels 2015-2016: 

Maja Šerčić, Katarzyna Świderek and 

Suvi Sivula. 

Maja Šerčić 

PGEU is the voice of community pharmacy in Europe, representing over 400.000 community 

pharmacists. PGEU is the oldest EPSA partner, having an EPSA Permanent Officer as part of the 

Secretariat since 2004. Their office also hosts the EPSA archives and headquarters. Having the 

opportunity to be involved in the everyday work of the organisation helped me to get to know the 

pharmacy profession throughout Europe better and understand the diversity of services and systems. I 

have learned a lot about European Affairs and legislation and have found great mentors in members of 

secretariat, who were always willing to advise me and help me understand important issues. 

The most important collaboration between the two associations at the moment, in my view, is the work 

on the Professional Qualifications Recognition Directive, where we joined our efforts in advocating for 

the updates in the description of the pharmacy course one has to undertake to fulfil the requirements 

for the professional qualifications to be recognised within the European Union. The list was not updated 

since 1985, therefore it is crucial to do so. 

For the position of the Vice President of External Affairs, it is crucial to be situated in Brussels. This is 

a very dynamic environment with a lot of opportunities to meet different stakeholders and represent 

EPSA and students’ opinions. 

Personally, this has proven to be one of the best 

experiences in my life, devoting a year to come 

to Brussels and work full time as a Permanent 

Officer. It has been a great learning experience 

that will for sure help me to face professional and 

also personal challenges in the future. 


PGEU Intern 



Being the EPSA President based in Brussels and working part time for one of our closest partners, 

EAHP, is a great opportunity for the head of the Association. That way I can be engaged in a different 

scope of activities compared to the one I could cover back home. Thanks to EAHP, I am monitoring EU 

Affairs closely and picking up matters of interest for both EAHP and EPSA, as well as helping drafting 

responses to various consultations released by the European Institutions to gather opinion of the public 

on a certain matter. 

When it comes to joint projects, I am managing the EAHP-EPSA Student Science Award, an initiative 

focusing on recognising students as authors of the best scientific research in the field of hospital 

pharmacy. With 16 submissions this year and the 2015 Winner, Rok Barle from Slovenia, being 

announced at the 21st EAHP Congress in Vienna, I am happy to state that the next edition of the 

Award will take place at the 22nd EAHP Congress in Cannes, with the deadline for abstracts on 15th 

November 2016. 

There are still a few months left of my internship 

and I already know I will be saddened by the 

end of it. It has been a remarkable experience, 

as EAHP has always been of great support for 

EPSA’s actions and I would like to thank the Staff 

for all their help. 


EAHP Intern 

Suvi Sivula 

Similar to Katarzyna, being an intern at the EAHP has been a great experience for me. My main projects 

in the office are the EAHP Congress Student Programme and the EAHP-EPSA Internship Platform. 

I have been managing activities related to student participants at the EAHP Annual Congress - the 

largest congress in Europe for hospital pharmacists - like advertising the Congress Student Package 

and helping with the organisation of the special student session and social programme. This year, we 

successfully hosted 130 students and recent graduates in addition to over 3500 professionals. 

I am also facilitating the EAHP-EPSA Internship Platform as Platform Coordinator. We have recently 

been upgrading the project and the next step is to find new internship placements. I am excited to see 

the further development of the project. You can read more about the platform on the next pages of the 

Newsletter. 

Living in the capital of Europe allows me to attend various events which are of interest for EPSA and 

EAHP, including meetings in the European Parliament. I have also attended events outside of Belgium, 

both professional and EPSA members’ events, 

as an EPSA representative. In addition to gaining 

knowledge, I have been able to network and to 

Suvi Sivula 

raise awareness about both Associations within 

and outside Brussels. I appreciate EAHP for this 

EAHP Intern 

internship opportunity as it has helped me in my 

position and has given me a lot for the future. 


Alcohol-Drug Interactions 

Drink and pill is not the thrill! 

In September 2014, I attended an event focused 

on alcohol and its consumption, the way it affects 

people, advocacy around it and other related topics, 

as the EPSA Social Services and Public Health 

Coordinator 2014-2015. During this event, we were 

divided into groups and were asked to prepare a 

project that could be implemented on the European 

level. Being coupled with the representative of the 

European Medical Students‘ Association (EMSA), 

gave us the the idea to carry out a campaign in 

collaboration. That way we could strengthen the 

connections and joint projects we have had so far, 

by simply supporting interprofessional collaboration, 

working together for the better future of all patients 

and the general public as well. We firstly designed 

posters on the spot and discussed the collaboration 

further. We decided to carry out the campaign on 

the European level, raising awareness of the danger 

of combining alcohol with medications because 

many people are not aware of the fact that they can 

seriously damage their health by mixing medications 

with alcohol. We wished to create a huge campaign 

happening all around Europe, coming not only from 

pharmacy but also medical students, hand in hand. 

Because “Drink and pill is not the thrill!”. 

It was a really long journey, from the first idea to the 

agreements, the creation of a survey for the general 

public, analysis of data, preparation of the information 

for leaflets, planning the campaign itself together 

with all the promotional strategies, plans and design. 

In the middle of all that, the mandate changed not 

only for EPSA but also for EMSA which brought new 

people into the collaboration and I am truly proud 

of my successor, Ms. Elena Popa, Social Services 

and Public Health Coordinator 2015-2016, who did 

all the important work and brought this project into 

reality, something that we aimed for during the past 

year. 

Adéla Firlová 


Education 

vp.education@epsa-online.org 


Despite the fact that alcohol - drug interactions are 

present in our daily lives, usually the public does 

not recognise the following adverse reactions. In 

collaboration with EMSA, we had a workshop during 

the 12th EPSA Autumn Assembly 2015 in Malta to 

find out more about our students’ opinion on this 

matter. The goal of the workshop was to present 

the severe reactions that may follow as a result 

of these interactions to pharmacy student and to 

discuss what we can do as future pharmacists in 

this field. Moreover, to facilitate the distribution of the 

information, we presented the results we did in our 

associations in order to gain a general overview of 

the knowledge people have regarding this topic. The 

project’s focus groups were adolescents aged 13 to 

20 and young adults, between 20 and 35 years old. 

We think that at this age we can still educate and 

monitor, track and try to see if the new information 

has any effect. 

At the end of the workshop, with the participants’ 

help, we pointed out the main ways that pharmacy 

and medicine students can take action at local and 

European level to raise awareness about alcohol 

and drugs interactions. At the same time, we 

challenged the participants to find arguments that 

can sustain the interprofessional collaboration for 

this campaign and what benefits are there for future 

organisers of this campaign. Moreover, we even had 

the opportunity to write the Vision and Mission of 

this project and to brainstorm about the possible 

activities we can develop, to have a great impact on 

general public’s perception. After shaping the main 

lines of this campaign, we created a position paper 

that will strengthen our vision. I believe that the main 

benefit of having this workshop was to understand 

how this study can help in changing the perception 

concerning this matter. The materials are prepared 

and we already have an association ready to carry 

out this campaign at the local level. The main action 

point until the Annual Congress, has been to spread 

the news to all EMSA and EPSA members and to 

encourage them to conduct this campaign in their 

countries. 

Elena Popa 

EPSA Social Services and Public 

Health Coordinator 

pubsoc@epsa-online.org 


Trainers on Tour 

An adventure throughout Europe 

Trainers on Tour (ToT) is a new Training Project’s 

activity that brings our Trainers to you, our Members! 

Between 7th and the 19th March 2016, two groups of 

Trainers delivered in seven different countries, allowing 

local students to participate in various trainings and 

possibly discovering some talents among them. As 

we truly believe soft-skills and personal development 

are fundamental in the construction of more complete 

citizens and health professionals, this activity came 

as an effort to provide these opportunities to more 

and more pharmacy students around Europe. Also, 

they had the wonderful opportunity of being trained 

by international Trainers: Minna Häkkinen (Finland), 

Raluca Radu (Romania), Vojtěch Ondra (Czech 

Republic), Vladimir Stamenković (Serbia), Mija 

Kavčič (Slovenia), Ognen Jakasanovski (Macedonia) 

and Monica Luca (Romania) packed their bags and 

travelled around on this amazing journey! 

Do you know where we were during this first edition? 

In the first week, we visited three amazing cities in 

Belgium, three charming cities in France and a very 

welcoming Freiburg in Germany! After that, it was the 

time to visit the awesome Slovakia, beautiful Austria, 

passionate Slovenia and enthusiastic Croatia! 

ŠSSFD Slovenia 

A lack of soft-skills trainers in Slovenia made it 

challenging to provide our students with trainings. 

Until now! EPSA Trainers on Tour took a three-day 

stop in Ljubljana and prepared four trainings for 

our students, one for members of ŠSSFD Team 

and one for the participants of the first part of 

Twinnet with Slovakia. The trainers delivering were 

Mija Kavčič (Slovenia), Monica Luca (Romania) 

and Ognen Jakasanovski (Macedonia). 

Thank you EPSA for providing us with such 

amazing experiences, incentives and collaborations. 

Hope to see another edition of ToT soon! 

Neža Trpin 

& Katja Olenik 

LSs ŠSSFD Slovenia 

2014-2015 & 2015-2016 

From public speaking and networking to stress 

and time management, many different topics were 

covered and many students were reached, making 

this first edition of Trainers on Tour a true success! 

Curious about the EPSA Training Project? You can 

find more information on the EPSA website or by 

contacting us through training@epsa-online.org 

We are waiting for you! 

Sara Torgal 

EPSA Training Coordinator 

training@epsa-online.org 


AFÖP Austria 

AFÖP was proud to host Trainers on Tour in Vienna on 15th March. Vladimir Stamenković, EPSA Trainer 

from Serbia, delivered two awesome trainings on public speaking and motivation to an enthusiastic group 

of students. Soft skills are a neglected topic at our faculty, which is why some participants experienced their 

first training ever. The whole group agreed that it was a very beneficial and cheerful afternoon, which proves 

ToT being a project of success. 

Furthermore, it was a great opportunity to bring EPSA 

closer to Austrian students and to motivate them to 

join the Social Evening, organised for participants at 

the EAHP congress only two days later, and bond with 

pharmacy students from other countries there. 

Viktoria Jungreithmayr 

LS AFÖP Austria 

CPSA Croatia 

On Friday, 18th March 2016, EPSA Trainers on Tour made a stop in Zagreb. We had an amazing opportunity 

to be part of two training sessions and learn about motivation and group dynamics from the lovely EPSA 

Trainer Monica Luca. This type of dynamic learning is 

often neglected in education systems and we are aware 

of the role of soft skills in our future careers. The skills 

one can gain during the trainings are exactly what makes 

one stand out and gives him added value. With many 

important messages to take home, ecstatic energizers 

(#BananaShake) and numerous pleasant memories, I can 

only say I am looking forward to the next one. 

Ante Begonja 

4th year pharmacy student 

from Split 

CPSA Croatia 

ANEPF France 

Soft-skills trainings are very little known in France, even more for students that are not active in associations. 

When EPSA asked ANEPF to take part in ToT, I recognised 

a great way to bring trainings to light. And it was! Minna 

Häkkinen and Raluca Radu have visited three cities: 

Angers, Paris and finally Strasbourg. All the participants 

agreed - besides being an original and instructive learning, Mathieu Alcaide 

that the event was amazing. In three days, two or three 

sessions per day took place, and more than 80 students 

LS ANEPF France 

attended. Only positive outcomes and one wish remained: 

to welcome trainers again to do another tour in France. 


EPSA-IPSF Joint Campaign 

Mental Health Awareness Campaign 

“Never give up on someone with a mental illness. 

When “I” is replaced by “We”, illness becomes 

wellness.” ― Shannon L. Alder 

Public health campaigns are focusing on educating 

the general public on how we can prevent and deal 

with any disease. Also, through different activities, 

we promote health and awareness at every possible 

level. 

Mental Health Awareness Campaign, a joint project 

between EPSA and International Pharmaceutical 

Students’ Federation (IPSF) started last year, having 

the “Stress release activities” as the main subtopic. 

This year, we will focus on “Depression” and how 

we can fight its stigmata. Depression is described 

by many scientists as a mental disorder that is 

characterised by several symptoms that can affect 

person’s thoughts, behavior, lifestyle, feelings and 

the general well-being. 

In collaboration with IPSF, we will prepare different 

activities related to this topic that will be developed 

in a week between 9th and 15th May. A special 

highlight will be a webinar that will focus on how 

a pharmacist can counsel a patient suffering from 

depression. Furthermore, we prepared well-informed 

and creative materials that will bring even more 

attention to this topic. 

The main aims of this public health campaign are to: 

• Inform the general public about depression; 

• Emphasize that it is a real disease; 

• Share the ways of preventing the depression; 

• Inform how we can fight the stigmata; 

• Evaluate the role of the pharmacy/pharmacists 

in this health matter. 

Mental Health Awareness Campaign will be carried 

out on different social platforms where we will share 

our materials and facts about depression but we 

strongly encourage our members to conduct this 

public health campaign on the local level too, in 

order to increase its impact and to reach as many 

people as possible. 

Elena Popa 

EPSA Social Services and Public 

Health Coordinator 

pubsoc@epsa-online.org 

Lara-Turiya Seitz 

IPSF European Regional Office 

Region Projects Officer 

rpo@euro.ipsf.org 


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Report from EPSA Annual Reception 2016 

Will reducing prices of medicines ensure sustainability of 

healthcare systems in Europe? 

The 8th edition of the EPSA Annual Reception took 

place in the heart of the European Union, at the 

European Parliament in Brussels. A presentation 

of EPSA’s latest achievements was followed by 

a panel discussion centred on a topic important 

for our profession and future of healthcare: “Will 

reducing prices of medicines ensure sustainability of 

healthcare systems in Europe?” 

The panel consisted of representatives from different 

stakeholders, who presented their views on the 

matter. Menno Arnout, Director of Association Internationale 

de la Mutualité (AIM) explained that 

healthcare payers have not been interested in 

reducing prices but in making them reasonable, 

rather than making them only as low as possible. To 

start the discussion about what is a reasonable price, 

the healthcare payers believe that transparency of 

Research & Development (R&D) costs should be 

raised. He also pointed out that we often fail to 

discuss what happens after medicines come to the 

market. 

Yannis Natsis, Policy Coordinator, Access to 

Medicines from European Public Health Alliance 

(EPHA), pointed out that access to medicines is 

becoming a big social and human rights issue. 

He also tackled the question of transparency; he 

emphasised the importance of this topic since it 

involves health and human lives. He pointed out that 

the priority should not be the interest of stakeholders, 

but the interest of the healthcare system – accessible 

institutions and medicines. 

Elizabeth Kuiper, Director of European Affairs, 

European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries 

and Associations (EFPIA) explained that the 

medicines present 17% of healthcare expenses 

and this has not been changing in the past years. 

She stated that the current models of pricing the 

drugs were not sustainable. High priced medicines 

require different pricing models, as those should be 

outcome oriented. 

Elke Grooten, Director of Public Affairs, Sandoz 

Europe, highlighted how the increased use of 

cost-effective medicines and biosimilar medicines 

have contributed greatly to the sustainability of the 

healthcare systems. Generic medicines increase the 

access to medicines and deliver better outcomes as 

generics account for 22% of medicines expenditure 

in Europe. Over the last ten years, the access to 

patients has doubled while having no distinct effect 

on the healthcare budget expenditure. 

18 


For me, this year’s EPSA Annual Reception started 

on Saturday 12th March as I arrived, alongside 

with Emma Bates (LS and NIMP for BPSA United 

Kingdom), for the EPSA Team Meeting at the PGEU 

office. Whilst we initially intended our attendance to 

be a short break from exploring Brussels, we spent 

the remainder of the weekend with the EPSA Team, 

making the most of a great opportunity to strengthen 

our involvement. 

Jūratė Švarcaitė, Secretary General from Pharmaceutical 

Group of the European Union (PGEU) stated 

that every second patient is taking medicine as they 

should, whereas the health system was assuming that 

all the patients would take their medicines correctly. 

She pointed out what pharmacists do in pharmacies 

and how it can help the current situation. A lot of 

work is to be done on adherence; it should be made 

sure that medicines already in the market show the 

required effects. Jūratė emphasised that the box 

can be priced, but the service, which enables the 

box to deliver results, could not be. We should help 

patients to achieve the best results and ensure that 

the health systems do not waste resources, since 

the money spent on resources should be considered 

an investment and not expenditure. 

A lively discussion with the audience, composed of 

approximately 100 pharmacy students, stakeholders 

in the pharmacy field and European institutions 

followed. Topics such as accessibility of medicines, 

transparency of expenditures, investment in 

prevention and pharmacists as a central role in 

healthcare were tackled. 

It was pointed out that pharmacists were an untapped 

resource across the entire healthcare system. The 

role of pharmacists would be crucial in assuring the 

sustainability of the healthcare system in the future. 

The array of activities planned was impressive, and 

a testament to the incredible organisation of the 

Annual Reception. The science excursion, tour of 

European Parliament, and the visit to the Parlamentarium 

were some of the pre-Reception highlights. 

The Annual Reception itself exceeded expectations, 

with a variety of debates and talks. Some of the 

topics discussed include whether companies are 

focusing too much on the development of “me-too” 

products rather than on innovation, methods of 

waste reduction such as labelling products with 

their cost and counselling patients appropriately and 

how we can reduce the cost of healthcare without 

compromising patients’ health. 

In his closing statement, Cristian-Silviu Bușoi, MEP 

for Romania, praised the debate, the panel of 

speakers and the organisation praise I could not 

agree with more. I would wholeheartedly recommend 

Annual Reception to every student with an interest in 

European healthcare. 

Conor McCahill 

Participant of the EPSA Annual 

Reception 2016 

BPSA United Kingdom 



External Affairs 

vp.ea@epsa-online.org 

The whole Annual Reception 

was live-streamed and is 

available on the official EPSA 

YouTube channel. 


Alumni 

Where are they now? 

Directly from the EPSA Alumni themselves 

Timothy Robinson 

I graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom. My pharmacy career has 

been firmly set within community pharmacy. I started by being a Locum Pharmacist, working for various 

pharmaceutical companies around the Northwest. I then secured an employment with PCT Healthcare 

Ltd, who I had previously completed my 12 month registration with in 2012. The company is one of the 

largest Independent Multiple Companies in England, owning 120 pharmacies. I was appointed as a Relief 

Pharmacist working in varying pharmacies, developing my role further as a service based pharmacist. 

I managed to lead a project on helping to develop consultation skills and services that our pharmacies 

provided. As well as having short and long stints based as a temporary manager in some of the pharmacies. 

Last year I was promoted to Pharmacy Manager. Since then, I have been responsible for ensuring the 

smooth and efficient management of the pharmacy business. This involves providing core services, 

and also more advanced services which also benefits the patients and increases remuneration for the 

company. This allows me to push my clinical skills and try to move away from being a dispensing based 

pharmacist towards a more clinical pharmacist role. 

I believe that being involved in EPSA has helped me to develop and push my career boundaries through 

great educational programmes and congresses that I have attended. My journey began in 2008, in 

Manchester at the Summer University. Many congresses later I am still involved today and it always 

brings me great pleasure to do so. I have been Official 

Delegate, as well as holding position of Parliamentary 

Council Member and also Alumni Coordinator and I 

am also part of the Alumni Advisory Board now. My 

involvement and working relationship with EPSA has 

allowed me to build a network of friends with whom I 

have developed strong professional and social bonds 

which will last a lifetime. 

Timothy Robinson 

EPSA Alumni Coordinator 

2014-2015 

Vikki Ginday 

It must be said that EPSA and the British Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (BPSA) hold an equal 

claim on my development as a Specialist Clinical Pharmacist. Where EPSA excels has been in training 

me to network across borders, appreciate cultural differences as if they were my own, and to critically 

appraise the value of different modes of communication 

within the workplace. All powerful tools to harness within 

an increasingly multi-cultural pan-European market. 

Vikki Ginday 

Students and professionals across Europe can only 

prosper from learning from peer countries; a lesson that 

EPSA keeps teaching from year to year. 

Honorary Alumni 


Celia Chounta 

Certain things in life happen out of serendipity and EPSA was quite a discovery that I was not planning to 

leave behind. I became part of this family in 2009, when I was appointed as the financial sub-committee 

member (a role long gone now!) followed by three years as a NIMP Coordinator and finally as an Official 

Delegate for Greece at the Annual Congress 2013. Needless to describe to you, readers, what EPSA 

represents and the impact it has to those who attend even one event but I will say this: EPSA made me 

realize that one can do anything one sets in mind. For me, that was the motivation I needed to set my 

career goal of joining a multinational company in motion. 

Alumni 

In fact, this is exactly where I am at the moment. I joined GSK in the summer of 2015 with the purpose 

of housing my MSc thesis project and I am now, a year later, in its affiliate, ViiV Healthcare in London. 

My role is in a very challenging and demanding function, namely: Health Outcomes, in the Global 

Franchise and it involves working cross-functionally 

with the Medical and Commercial Teams. Our aim is 

Celia Chounta 

to generate global strategic health outcome plans and 

produce evidence that will enable to achieve better 

access to care and more treatment options for HIV 

patients across the globe. Final words? Stay true and 

follow your heart! Best of luck! 

EPSA Financial 

Subcommittee 2009-2010 

Svetlana Kolundžić 

I started in EPSA in 2012 as a Liaison Secretary for NAPSer Serbia and joined the EPSA Team for the 

mandate of 2013-2014 as Parliamentarian. The following year, I was elected as the President and I 

also took part in a Team for a couple of months as the Immediate Past President during the 2015-2016 

mandate. Though EPSA was taking a lot of my time, I managed to graduate and finish the one-year 

internship in both community and hospital pharmacy, and at the moment I am preparing for Serbia’s 

state examination in order to get a license. 

In January 2016, I joined the Serbian office of Les Laboratoires Servier for an internship in their Marketing 

department. From Day 1 it was clear to me that I will 

be using the skills gained in EPSA – from personal, 

professional and online communication – to organise 

both small and large scale events. More importantly, 

I believe that my managers really appreciate the 

“European perspective” I brought to the office and the 

fact that no matter how many tasks they assign me, I 

manage to finish them on time. 

Svetlana Kolundžić 


2014-2015 


Twinnet 

Improving mobility among European students 

Twinnet is a mobility programme that fulfills all the 

expectations of travel lovers. It is a programme 

where you can discover new cultures, make friends 

for life and get out of your comfort zone. 

This programme aims to promote and increase 

students mobility across Europe, through the 

exchange of good practices between 2, 3 or 4 

groups of students from different countries. 

It is through non formal education that students 

develop themselves and exchange good practices. 

Twinnet dreams bigger. Twinnet is a project that goes 

beyond the borders of pharmacy and it is much 

more than making exchanges among pharmacy 

students. It is inestimable, the positive outcomes 

can come out of interprofessional exchange. The Interprofessional 

Twinnet between different healthcare 

areas provide students with a different perspective 

on healthcare and allows them to exchange ideas, 

concerns and practices. 

Ana Marcelino 

EPSA Grant Coordinator 

grant@epsa-online.org 

The Portuguese – Norwegian Twinnet 

When people from two countries with a remarkable contrast decided to embrace the unknown and discover 

the differences between both cultures, it is when a new adventure “EPSA Twinnet Project Lisbon – Bergen” 

started. We had the opportunity to learn about pharmacy in Norway and noticed the gaps that clearly exist 

between different schools of pharmacy in these two entities of Europe. At the same time, we discovered 

a new world full of possibilities, which was extremely 

enriching for our professional future. Twinnet is also 

about cultural sharing and it is the perfect opportunity 

to broaden our horizons and increase our cultural Mariana Mousinho 

knowledge. The Norwegian team provided us with a 

quite rich social programme where we could not only 

Twinnet participant 

experience the mountains and Norway’s pure nature but 

also the best attractions and sights in Bergen. 


The Slovenia-Slovakia Twinnet 

The first part of Twin16: Slovenia – Slovakia took place in Slovenia between 19th and 22nd March and joined 

nine participants from each country for four days of amazing adventures. You might ask me what part I liked the 

most. Well, there was the collaboration joining Twin and Trainers on Tour for one of the best trainings I have ever 

attended. The joy of showing foreigners around my hometown and experiencing it through their eyes anew. The 

paintball session, where we cemented ourselves as a team, the early spring day and the first ice-cream at the 

coastal town of Piran. Even the educational programme, 

composed of a lecture on challenges of social pharmacy 

and a visit to a pharmaceutical company turned out to be 

a great fun. But the best part, of course, were the nights. 

The nights that created lasting bonds and, on the last 

day, parted us as friends. Luckily, we will not stay parted 

long as we will see each other again in Bratislava. 

Katja Olenik 

Twinnet Co-organiser, 

ŠSSFD Slovenia 

The Slovenia - Serbia Twinnet 

Our Twinnet was a wonderful experience! Our 

lovely Slovenian colleagues welcomed us warmly, 

introducing us to the city of Ljubljana bit by bit during 

our stay. We found the educational part of our visit 

very diverse, interesting and useful. The topic of 

the exchange was “The Challenges of Industrial 

Pharmacy”, so we had the opportunity to hear 

about industrial pharmacy, get acquainted with 

faculty labs and also listened to a pharmaceutical 

chemistry lecture. Our lively group also spent some 

quality time on field trips. And finally, one of our 

last days in Slovenia was settle for our coastline 

adventure, setting out for Piran and Portorož. Our 

Twinnet was amazing and so much fun I cannot 

think about it without smiling! How could I not, 

when I have met so many lovely people and felt like 

we have known each other for years? Our hosts 

from ŠSSFD set up a rich schedule for us and I can 

only hope they feel we returned the favour when 

they visited us in Novi Sad. 

Mina Grguri 

Twinnet participant 

The Hungarian - Czech Twinnet 

My first organised Twinnet was an unforgettable 

and rewarding experience. After almost a year of 

communication, I did not believe it could come 

to a successful ending. Now I feel proud of my 

Czech team, as well as the Hungarian team. 

What I found very important, but difficult to 

organise at the same time, was the educational 

programme. I recommend that every coordinator 

starts planning it as soon as possible. There might 

be many interesting pharmaceutical companies, 

pharmacies, well-known specialists, pharmacists 

or researchers interested, but they need time to 

prepare to give you a lecture. Last but not least, 

you really do need a team you can rely on! It is 

almost impossible to organise the best Twinnet 

ever just on your own. And of course, everybody 

wants to organise the best Twinnet ever! 


Twinnet Coordinator, 

CzPSA Czech Republic 


JAHWF Conference 

Just another abbreviation? 

“Pharmacists will retain their essential role in 

dispensing and supply of medicines”, “Norway has 

new a medicine service which helps patients with the 

adherence to their medication”, “Ireland vaccinates 

in pharmacies as well as the UK! This raises the 

level of vaccination across the population”, “A New 

pharmacy contract negotiated in Portugal includes 

many pharmacy services”. 

These and many other tweets could have been read 

under the hashtag #JAHWF between 17th and 19th 

February 2015, when the 3rd Conference of JAHWF 

took place. But JAHWF? What is it? Another of many 

abbreviations? Exactly! Literally! The abbreviation 

stands for Joint Action for Health Workforce Planning 

and Forecasting which deals with the shortage (but 

also oversupply) of healthcare workers. During this 

two-days conference, I had the pleasure to join other 

European stakeholders and discuss about the future 

of, us, the healthcare workers. 

Starting with the symposium which was moderated 

by Michel Van Hoegaerden, the Joint Action Health 

Workforce Programme Manager from Belgium, 

several speakers shared their key notes. We had 

the opportunity to hear from several members 

of Ministries of Health in Bulgaria, but also the 

Secretaries of State from Slovakia (Mario Mikloši) 

and Moldova (Nicolae Jelamschi), as well as 

Directorate General for health and food safety from 

the European Commission (Caroline Hager) and also 

Federal Public Service of Health (Michel Devriese) 

and European Observatory of Health Systems and 

Policies (Irene A. Glinos) were present. The main 

outcome was that Europe already faces a shortage 

of healthcare professionals. According to WHO, in 

2035, we will lack 18 million healthcare workers. 

“Young professionals are stem 

cells of the healthcare system” 

After the symposium, parallel sessions took place, 

which allowed participants to choose the part 

of Joint Action they were interested in. I chose to 

attend a session with the topic of Health Workforce 

Education Abroad: “Is this a business, an opportunity, 

a need, a real brain drain or all four?” We started 

the session with a very interesting presentation 

delivered by professor Ian Cumming, member of 

Health Education England, who shared the United 

Kingdom’s perspective and lessons learned from 

training and migration between their four countries. 

During the presentation, professor Cumming 

compared the situation in all four countries of the 

United Kingdom to help us understand the topic. 

An interesting project that derived from the 

collaboration of Germany and Bulgaria was 

introduced as the next part of the programme. 

In Germany, more than 40 000 youngsters apply 

for a medical faculty per year, however, only a 

small percentage can make it due to the capacity 

of faculties, and this small percentage does not 

cover the needs of the German healthcare system. 

Therefore, Germans paired up with Bulgarians to 

yearly send German students to finish their education 

in Bulgaria, where the capacity is higher. German 

students shall return after their studies to boost the 

healthcare workforce. 

To see the perspective of students as well, we were 

able to hear the presentation of medical students from 

the University of Varna, two being Bulgarian and two 

German. The comparison of both systems of education 

took place and an interesting discussion arose. 


The last presentation of the panel was delivered by a 

representative of the International Federation of Medical 

Students’ Associations (IFMSA), Diogo Fernandes da 

Silva, who covered the topic “What are the favourable 

conditions for healthcare students to study and get a 

steady employment in their home country?”. 

Mobility of professionals was also discussed in the 

afternoon session, where Mr. Jelamschi shared the 

Moldovan situation and pointed out that Moldova 

is the country with the highest level of healthcare 

workforce emigration – over 80% of nurses leave 

for Italy, which creates a shortage of professionals 

in Moldova, as well as creates a high rate of 

unemployment of Italian nurses. 

Hungarian situation was introduced by Eszter 

Kovacs from Semmelweis University – emigration 

of healthcare professionals is now a reality there, 

as well as in other countries. With one exception 

– dentists. Unlike other services, dentistry attracts 

many patients to Hungary, the main driving force 

being the good quality care and the lower costs. 

Therefore, it is important to consider not only the 

mobility of professionals but also patients. 

During the day, main ageing consequences on 

health workforce and on the growing imbalances 

were discussed. After this, the future skills and 

competences of the health workforce in Europe 

were discussed with Matt Edwards from the Centre 

for Workforce Intelligence. We were also able to 

listen to the only pharmacist-delivered presentation 

of the conference – the Vice President of the 

Pharmaceutical Group of European Union, Mr. Ilko 

Getov, took us on a journey of innovative plans that 

were recently presented in European countries and 

showed us the roles of the pharmacist in the context 

of the ageing and mobile population. 

Impact of health determinants and demographic 

factors on distribution of health professionals was 

presented by Nadia Veleva from Medical University 

of Pleven, Bulgaria. Here, one of the topics was 

the gender difference and women who leave for 

maternity leave without returning back to the 

healthcare system. 

The penultimate session I attended was delivered by 

two student representatives. Ms. Stintje Dijk from the 

IFMSA, presented the current situation of medical 

education and stressed out the need for a better 

composition of curricula and unification in order to 

reach an equal and equally high level of the education 

across Europe. An Interesting idea that arose from 

the discussion was the use of Problem-Based 

Learning, the style of education where students are 

taught to think critically and out of the box by using 

many case studies and other materials. 

The presentation of the results from the EPSA 

survey on mobility and workforce was delivered at 

the last session, introducing the current situation on 

what our members wish for, as well as what we 

are already working on through different projects 

such as Lifelong Learning Programme, Career Page 

development and Mentoring Project. 

All in all, I considered the conference to be very 

successful and fruitful and I very much hope to see 

these points being taken into consideration in future 

decisions made by professionals. Because no matter 

what, we are pharmacy students today, healthcare 

workforce tomorrow. 



Education 



EAHP-EPSA Internship Platform 

Looking for a hospital pharmacy internship abroad? 

EPSA has been working for years in close 

collaboration with the European Association of 

Hospital Pharmacists, EAHP. Mrs. Aida Batista, 

EAHP Director of Professional Development and 

EAHP Board Member responsible for the initiatives 

for students, talks about the collaboration between 

EPSA and EAHP on the EAHP-EPSA Internship 

Platform: “The mission of EAHP is to develop the 

pharmaceutical profession within Europe to ensure 

continuous improvement in care and outcomes of 

patients in hospital settings. This aim is achieved 

through science, research and practice, and also 

through sharing best practices and responsibilities, 

starting with adequate education of pharmacy 

students. 

A few years ago, EPSA expressed to EAHP the 

need to build a network of hospital pharmacies 

throughout Europe, which would allow students 

the opportunity to conduct an internship abroad 

before graduation. Although there were already 

other internship programmes, none were specific to 

hospital pharmacy. The EAHP internship programme 

was launched in 2012, and last year a small survey 

was conducted to understand how it was perceived 

by the participants. The conclusion was that students 

and hospital pharmacists, in general, considered the 

experience rather fulfilling and were quite satisfied.” 

Asked about the development of the project, Mrs. 

Batista said: ”From 2016 on, the project is called the 

EAHP–EPSA Internship Platform. It is a database 

of hospitals that volunteer to receive international 

students or recent graduates for a period of time, 

ranging from 1 to 3 months. Applicants should 

complete the application form available on www. 

eahp.eu, send it directly to the chosen hospital and 

wait for an answer. Applying and acceptance must 

be reported to EAHP for database maintenance and 

monitoring. 

In May 2014, EAHP launched an initiative that led to 

the approval of the European Statements of Hospital 

Pharmacy by hospital pharmacists, patients and 

other healthcare professionals. Now it is time to 

monitor and enhance the implementation of the 

Statements, and for that purpose EAHP has a new 

challenge for interns and hospitals joining the EAHP– 

EPSA Platform. The challenge for interns in their 

learning process and for hospital pharmacists in 

their teaching process is to make a possible linkage 

between the practice and the Statements. Thus 

interns will realise the scope of what was approved 

in Europe for pharmaceutical practice and hospital 

pharmacists can, in a simple way, start to measure 

and monitor implementation of the Statements.” 

Currently there are 16 hospitals in the database but a 

call for new placements has been launched in order 

to get new hospitals involved. Hopefully soon we will 

be able to offer you more opportunities to have an 

internship abroad in the field of hospital pharmacy. 

Stay tuned! For more information about the EAHP– 

EPSA Internship Platform, go to www.eahp.eu. 

Read the European Statements of 

Hospital Pharmacy by scanning 

this QR code: 

Suvi Sivula 

EPSA Partnership Coordinator 

partnership@epsa-online.org 


EHSAS 

Collaboration between future healthcare professionals 

The lack of interprofessional collaboration among 

healthcare providers is an issue that is recognised 

not only by professionals but also by students. 

Students feel the need to strengthen the collaboration 

between healthcare professionals, in order to 

improve the quality of care and patient outcomes. 

The collaboration between healthcare professionals 

allows the exchange of knowledge and perspectives 

regarding patient treatments. 

As students we care about our future and the 

future of healthcare. In order to discuss more about 

the interprofessional education as a landmark 

for interprofessional collaboration, four different 

healthcare students’ associations, European Dental 

Students’ Association (EDSA), European Federation 

of Psychology Students’ Association (EFPSA), 

European Medical Students’ Association (EMSA) 

and European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association 

(EPSA) met in Brussels between 12th and 14th 

February to hold the second European Healthcare 

Students’ Association Summit (EHSAS). 

During the summit we approached the lack of 

collaboration in the healthcare students’ education 

and recognised the need for interprofessional 

education, if we wanted an interprofessional 

collaboration to be a must in the future. Interprofessional 

education should work as a collaborative 

approach to improve the quality of education 

that is offered to healthcare students. It would be 

tremendously beneficial for professionals to deal with 

complex patient needs that require more than one 

discipline, once future healthcare providers would 

work in interprofessional teams. 

Potential benefits for advocacy and educational 

activities were also acknowledged during this summit. 

A press release regarding the summit was published 

and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has 

been created between all the organisations to ensure 

the sustainability of the summit. The future release of 

position papers between the present organisations 

present was seen as an asset to strengthen our 

position and to voice our concerns regarding the 

tenuous interprofessional education. 

EPSA, as an association concerned about the future 

of healthcare, recognises the added value of such 

collaboration and it was very inspiring to realise that 

the ambition to bring interprofessional collaboration 

forward was shared amongst the other healthcare 

organisations. 

Ana Marcelino 

EPSA Grant Coordinator 

grant@epsa-online.org 


Map of Europe 

ANEPF, France 

ANEPF France is holding two Twinnets 

during the month of April - with BPSA 

UK and BPhD Germany. The city of 

Angers is welcoming 25 students from 

the University of Nottingham, UK. This 

continuous exchange 

has started already 4 

years from now. Two 

weeks after, the city 

of Grenoble receives 

9 students from 

Frankfurt. In France 

we love Twinnet. 

UBIPharma, Portugal 

On 16th February, UBIPharma organised 

an educational activity about health titled 

“Farmacêutico Dentolas”, with the main objective 

to teach young children about oral hygiene. 

There were 37 volunteers that went to two 

different kindergartens (“Infantário sediado na 

Fundação Imaculada Conceição” and “Infantário 

II da Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Covilhã”) 

and the pharmacy “Farmácia de São João” 

helped with giving out important information. 

At the end of the activity the 

youngsters happily applied 

what they were taught using 

the oral hygiene kits offered by 

“Pierre Fabre Laboratories”. 

AEFFUL, Portugal 

During the first weeks of March, the 

first AEEFUL Public Health Campaign 

related to cardiovascular risk factors 

and diabetes took place. The campaign 

consisted of two days of lectures and 

a street and school campaign, where 

our students were able to perform a 

quick check-up on the general public, 

measuring height 

and weight, 

abdominal 

perimeter, blood 

pressure and 

cholesterol/ 

glycaemia. 

28 


29 

BPhD, Germany 

In March, students of the University of Freiburg 

organised a Twinnet with students from Istanbul. 

17 students from Istanbul stayed in Freiburg for 

5 days. According to the motto “Pharmaceutical 

and healthcare challenges of the 21st century” the 

lecture programme included 

talks by Universities Allied 

for Essential Medicines and 

Pharmacists without borders. 

We also visited a German 

brewery and went hiking in 

the Black Forest. 

ŠSSFD, Slovenia 

Skills Inductor - a new name of a brand new 

project! 6 weeks, 19 trainings and 15 different 

topics welcoming all students from the Faculty of 

Pharmacy in Ljubljana, both local and Erasmus. 

The official opening was even more special 

because the first 6 trainings were delivered by the 

3 EPSA Trainers on Tour. Moreover, these trainings 

took place during the 

Twinnet with Slovakia, 

participants of which also 

attended them. 

MUPSA, Turkey 

MUPSA wanted to draw attention of 

the public on the issue of the antibiotic 

resistance. Our enthusiastic Public 

Health Team worked hard and created 

extraordinary campaign. We were 

informing passengers on a ship and 

reached almost 2000 people in one day. 

Our Campaign was 

also broadcasted 

on the most popular 

TV News and 

published in many 

newspapers.

Events Calendar 

See what is coming up in the next months 

22nd EAFP Annual Conference 

When? 12th - 15th May 2016 

Where? Châtenay-Malabry, France 

What? EAFP’s - European Association of 

Faculties of Pharmacy, Annual Conference 

brings together deans and professors from 

faculties of pharmacy around Europe. Join 

and find out more about post graduate studies 

in pharmacy education! 

More info? edu.affairs@epsa-online.org 

5th European MD-PhD conference 

When? 8th-10th July 2016 

Where? Strasbourg, France 

What? The 5th European MD-PhD conference 

will be organised in France by the AMPS (the 

French association for MD-PhD students). 

This conference will be the opportunity to 

exchange ideas with researchers who are 

well-recognised in their field, to broaden your 

knowledge and expand your network by meeting 

other MD-PhD students from all over Europe. 

How much? €100 

More info? hamonet.mathilde@gmail.com 

13th EPSA Autumn Assembly 

When? 1st - 6th November 2016 

Where? Cluj-Napoca, Romania 

What? The Autumn Assembly is the second 

biggest EPSA event. Under the topic of 

“Mental Health”, participants will attend 

symposia and parallel sessions that will 

include workshops and EPSA trainings, as 

well as the General Assembly. 

How much? 1st registration period (start 

on the 5th July) 

More info? www.epsa-online.org 

9th EPSA TNT 

When? 21st - 28th May 2016 

Where? Oslo, Norway 

What? Training New Trainers is an EPSA event 

focused on finding and educating future EPSA 

Trainers. During the TNT, you will receive the 

appropriate training (on topics like learning 

styles, communication, training design, training 

delivery, etc.) to help you on becoming the 

best Trainer you can be! 

More info? training@epsa-online.org 

20th IPSC 

When? 11th-17th July 2016 

Where? Portorož, Slovenia 

What? The aim of the International Pharmaceutical 

Summer Camp (IPSC) is to bring 

together pharmacy students from Europe 

over summer holidays. At the camp, a rich 

educational and social programmes will take 

place. You will also have a lot of possibilities to 

meet new and interesting people. 

How much? €160 

More info? slo.ipsc@gmail.com 

18th EPSA Summer University 

When? 2nd - 8th August 2016 

Where? Białystok, Poland 

What? European Summer Holidays in Poland 

with Soft Skill Training, a Public Health 

Campaign, enjoyable social programme and 

lots of fun, of course! 

How much? 1st registration period (from 

1st May): €230 

More info? www.epsa-online.org 

Get to know more about these events via Event 

Calendar on www.epsa-online.org. 

Would you like for your event to appear here? 

Write us to: events@epsa-online.org 


EPSA Executive contacts 

Don’t hesitate to contact us 



president@epsa-online.org 

EPSA VP of Internal Affairs 

Nikola Lazarevski 

vp.ia@epsa-online.org 

EPSA Secretary General 

Črtomir Fleisinger 

secgen@epsa-online.org 

EPSA VP of Education 



EPSA VP of Public Relations 

Joana Melo 

vp.pr@epsa-online.org 

EPSA VP of External Affairs 


vp.ea@epsa-online.org 

EPSA Treasurer 

Catarina Nobre 

treasurer@epsa-online.org 

EPSA Office 

Rue du Luxembourg 19 bte. 6 

B-1000 Brussels, Belgium 

Did you enjoy reading the EPSA Newsletter? 

Don’t miss the future editions of this publ ication by becoming an Individual 

Member in EPSA . 

How? 

Go to www.epsa-online.org, “Members” and check out the page about 

the Individual Membership. Fill in the application form and send it to the 

EPSA VP of Internal Affairs (vp.ia@epsa-online.org). 

This newsletter is produced by EPSA and is distributed to all EPSA 

members, national pharmaceutical students’ organisations, faculties, 

official bodies and partners. 


BE WELL. 

NOT A WISH. A PROMISE. 

For more than 150 years, a very special passion has driven the people of MSD. Our goal is 

to develop medicines, vaccines, and animal health innovations that will improve the 

lives of millions. Still, we know there is much more to be done. And we’re doing it, with a 

long-standing commitment to research and development. We’re just as committed to expanding 

access to healthcare and working with others who share our passion to create a healthier world. 

Together, we’ll meet that challenge. Promise. 

Copyright © 2014 Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA All Rights Reserved.

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