The 11th edition of the Association of Pharmacy Teachers of India (APTI) Annual National Convention 2006 will be held in Bangalore from September 1 to 3, 2006. The event is held every year. The three-day event will be hosted at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Convention Centre in the city. The APTI is a 40 year-old association. To commemorate the four decades of its service the forth-coming event is held at its headquarters Bangalore.

The theme of the event is "Recipe for Excellence: Best Practices in Pharmaceutical Education." Around 1,500 participants are expected for the event. The main objective of the event is to provide a common platform to discuss various issues of pharmacy education, identify needs of the pharma industry community pharmacy and adopt a syllabus pattern accordingly. The event is also an occasion to honour pharmacy educators and researchers. It also helps to impart continuing pharmacy education (CPE) and is working towards establishing a novel pharmacy teachers training institute.

The APTI president for 2006 is Dr V I Hukkeri, former registrar, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore. Other office bearers are Dr S Satyanaryana and Dr KN Gujar are the vice presidents, Dr BG Shivananada, secretary, Dr. Gopala Krishna Rao and Dr MS Gadge are joint secretaries, Dr V Madhavan, treasurer, Dr Raman Dang, Prof. MK Kale and Prof VH Bhaskar are co-coordinators and Dr BG Nagavi, IJPER. Members of the Co-ordination Committee are Dr S Gayathri Devi, chairperson, Dr Maueen Ahmed KK, co-chairman and MT Indushankar member.

This is the second time the event is being held in Bangalore and the fourth time in Karnataka. The first APTI event was held at Mysore in 1995. Karnataka got an opportunity for the second time to host the event at Hubli in 2003. With regards to Bangalore, the city hosted the second APTI convention in 1997.

There will be scientific sessions with paper, podium and poster presentations. For podium presentations the topics are in the areas of Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Analysis, Pharmacology, Photochemistry, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical marketing management.

APTI which is headquartered in Bangalore has more than 2,500 members According to Prof. BG Shivananda, secretary APTI-11th Annual Convention 2006 and principal Al Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bangalore, the association has provided a platform in bringing together teachers of pharmacy colleges across the country, The contribution of a teacher is two fold as he needs to not only be an educator but also contribute to the development of pharmaceutical education and students as a counsellor, guide, mentor, researcher, advisor and consultant to the pharma industry and community pharmacy.