Buttler University to launch student-run multimedia health care journal

Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (COPHS) said on Monday that it will launch the nation's first open-access multimedia health care review journal this summer.

The journal, BU Well, will be run by approximately 30 student co-founding editors, an external advisory board and founding Executive Editor Erin Albert. Albert is an associate professor of pharmacy practice. Students were selected based on PCAST composite writing scores and having an interest in starting something new.

“As students, we realize that this is a groundbreaking learning opportunity within the Butler curriculum and the first of its kind in pharmacy education,” Project Leader Craig Fisher, a 2016 PharmD candidate, said. “To have a reaching impact on our profession while still students will be an invaluable educational experience, and these talented and innovative students are excited to soon make BU Well a reality.”

BU Well will feature articles on important health issues such as the push of virtual health care and its effect on medical costs, the rapidly changing future of the health care industry and the overuse of antibiotics an the development of resistance.

The project was created through a Butler Innovation Fund Grant written by Albert and Dean Mary Graham of COPHS.

“We wanted to give students an opportunity to lead through writing,” Albert said. “In this first independent study course with the 30 founding students during the spring 2015 semester, the students will be building policy, procedure, promotion and the long-term strategy for sustaining this journal over time.”