PCOM School of Pharmacy has earned a Partial Academic Pathway Accreditation from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM), reflecting the school’s commitment to integrating lifestyle and personalized medicine into pharmacy education.
Approved through September 28, 2028, this recognition was granted based on the Personalized Medicine (PHAR 215) course, taught by Dr. Sonia Amin Thomas, which is offered to second-year pharmacy students.
“Personalized medicine has been something we've utilized in oncology for years, but I'm excited for it to take over and transform medicine in the future,” Thomas said.
The Personalized Medicine course explores the principles of lifestyle and integrative medicine, emphasizing epigenetics, nutrigenomics, and pharmacogenomics. Through this content, students gain a deeper understanding of how lifestyle choices and genetic factors influence health outcomes, medication response, and disease prevention strategies.
“Not everyone is made the same and not everyone can tolerate the same dose or have the same efficacy as another person because we are all made different with varying DNA types and environments that we grew up in,” Thomas explained. “Our gut microbiome is different as well, which can alter or impact certain medications and how we react to certain diseases. Some of us are more prone to different chronic disease states, and it is so important to provide that type of personalized care as pharmacists since we are all unique.”
According to Thomas, PCOM School of Pharmacy is one of the few pharmacy schools in the nation to develop a required course on this topic.
ACLM accreditation, she added, was crucial to validate the personalized medicine course, as it provided resources to complement Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) objectives.
Students who earn a B- or higher in the course are eligible to apply for a waiver of the 20-hour live CME/CE requirement—a prerequisite for sitting for the ACLM certification exam. This ACLM Partial Academic Pathway designation allows students to earn free credits toward ACLM certification, display an ACLM badge on their résumé, attend the ACLM annual conference, and access exclusive professional development resources provided by the organization.
According to Dr. Sara Reece, dean and chief academic officer of PCOM School of Pharmacy, this achievement demonstrates the school’s ongoing dedication to advancing pharmacy education and promoting the role of pharmacists in preventive, personalized, and lifestyle-based care. Reece emphasized that the school remains committed to expanding its lifestyle medicine curriculum and working toward full ACLM program accreditation in the future.
“This initiative aligns with our mission to prepare pharmacists who advance health through evidence-based, patient-centered care,” Reece said. “By integrating lifestyle medicine into pharmacy education, we’re equipping our graduates to address the root causes of chronic disease. It raises our national visibility as a leader in preventive, whole-person healthcare education and supports our long-term goal of producing innovative, practice-ready pharmacists who improve population health.”
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