As part of its ongoing effort to help women pharmacists become business owners, Cardinal Health will host its annual Pharmacy Ownership Boot Camp on July 26 as part of the company's Retail Business Conference in Washington, D.C.

The Boot Camp is designed to give pharmacists the business knowledge and confidence needed to own their own pharmacies.  Now in its third year, the Cardinal Health programme has become the industry's leading event for women pharmacists who dream of owning a pharmacy.

Today, 61 per cent of pharmacy students are women, according to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. Yet only a fraction of the nation's 23,000 community pharmacies are currently owned by women.  That will change dramatically in the next decade as older pharmacists retire and sell their businesses to younger successors, often women.

Pharmacy is the second highest paying career for women with a median income of $116,670, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Women make 80 per cent of healthcare purchasing decisions for their families and often serve as primary caregiver for their children, as well as aging parents. Who better to serve their healthcare needs than the growing number of women pharmacists?" says Eden Sulzer, director of the Women in Pharmacy initiative at Cardinal Health.

The Pharmacy Ownership Boot Camp is part of Cardinal Health's wide-ranging initiative to help women pharmacists seize the opportunity of pharmacy ownership. The effort includes giving more than $4 million in pharmacy school scholarships to students who want to own their own pharmacy someday, as well as providing mentoring, networking, career and business development strategies to help them succeed.

At this year's boot camp, 50 pharmacy students and pharmacists interested in pharmacy ownership will work together with 20 female pharmacy owners who are experts on marketing, finance and human resources for an intense, daylong lesson in what it takes to own and operate a successful community pharmacy.

The aspiring owners will learn the nuts and bolts of pharmacy ownership: how to pick a location, create a business plan, arrange financing, structure ownership and assess a pharmacy's market value. The event also provides pharmacists with invaluable opportunities to network with and learn from each other.

"The community and networking aspect of Women in Pharmacy is huge," says Yvette Mkroyan, owner of YM Drugs in Van Nuys, California.  "I believe in sharing what I've learned with others, and through Women in Pharmacy, I'm part of something that's giving back as well."

The Boot Camp is open to both men and women but pays special attention to inspiring and building business confidence in women.

"There's no shame in having some fear of taking the next step to becoming a business woman," says aspiring owner and recent Ohio State University pharmacy graduate Mary Abdelmalak. "Networking with Women in Pharmacy gives you the courage to do more than dream. You see other women who have succeeded and say to yourself, 'Yes, I can do that.''

The Cardinal Health Retail Business Conference (RBC), held July 23-26 in Washington, D.C., provides independent pharmacists and pharmacy franchise owners with the opportunity to network with and learn from thousands of their peers from across the nation, while gaining new insights to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their businesses. The annual event provides independent pharmacy owners, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other pharmacy industry professionals across the United States with access to pharmaceutical manufacturers, buying opportunities, continuing education sessions and programmes to help pharmacists reduce costs and improve patient care and efficiency.