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As I approach the end of my Presidential year I have been reflecting on the many successes this past year with the highlight being our CPNP Annual Meeting. I was delighted to see so many CPNP members at our 21st Annual Meeting in April! The meeting was highly successful with over 770 attendees joining us in Indianapolis, IN. For those who were present, I hope you enjoyed the programming, caught up with old friends and colleagues, and expanded your network by meeting some of the first-time attendees. For those attending for the first time, I hope you had the opportunity to meet and interact with other members and will consider returning in future years! 

CPNP 2018 attendees were able to see, first-hand, our top-notch programming featuring over 35 expert speakers covering a wide variety of mental health, neurology, and substance use disorder topic areas. It is a pleasure to see our meeting, organization, and profession expand. The growing number of CPNP members and meeting attendees is a testament to the need and value for psychiatric pharmacy specialists within many healthcare settings. I would like to personally thank Cindy Gutierrez (2018 CPNP Programming Chair), Sarah Melton (2018 CPNP Recertification Chair) and Beth DeJongh (2018 CPNP Recertification Vice Chair). In addition, I sincerely thank all the members of the Programming, Recertification, Student, and Resident Committees for their hard work in putting together another cutting-edge, successful Annual Meeting. Special thanks also to Jerry Overman for his long-term service as Program Administrative Chair and to Rex Lott for his role as BCPP Program Director as well as the numerous volunteers who organize our highly successful resident and student programming and awards and poster sessions. 

In case you were not able to make the meeting, you will enjoy this edition of The CPNP Perspective which highlights many of the sessions and activities that were offered. I also wanted to highlight a few items, especially our business meeting, the Forum on our Future, where we summarized the work we have been doing and future CPNP plans. During the Forum we recognized our Judith J. Saklad Award winner, Matthew Fuller, as well as heard an overview of the current political climate and the future direction of Government Affairs within CPNP from Jeremy Scott and Sarah Mills, our government affairs partners at District Policy Group (DPG). We also invited short presentations on new initiatives from Carla Cobb who highlighted a new Professional Affairs initiative intended to expand the understanding of the value of Psychiatric Pharmacy and our role in team-based care as well as Bethany DiPaula who discussed the newly formed Substance Use Disorders Steering Committee and their plans to promote educational initiatives. Lastly, Ann Richards gave a brief presentation on the USP 800 product launching this summer. We are excited to embark on these new initiatives as CPNP continues to expand its services for members, increase visibility in the arenas of mental health and pharmacy, and serve as the voice of our specialty.

A few other highlighted successes this year mentioned at the Forum include the completion of a longer-term Strategic Plan, the filling of 99% of our Psychiatric Pharmacy residency slots (95/96), expansion of CPNP’s social media presence, the successful launch of 2 new BCPP products, and submission of our application for indexing of the Mental Health Clinician journal. Lastly, even as we expand year after year, the organization continues to be in a strong financial position. This is in large part due to our Executive Director, CPNP staff, and prior Boards who have contributed greatly to this success.

As I wrap up my final President letter, I would like to personally thank everyone, including the CPNP staff, for their continued support during my presidential term. I really have enjoyed the opportunity to represent you and our profession over the past year. As many of you know, this year was challenging personally for me as I lost my mother to the devastating neurological disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). I appreciated the many members who called or emailed me with questions, comments, and/or encouragement during the year. On July 1st, I proudly turn over the lead to Megan Ehret who, along with the Board of Directors, will have a very busy year ahead of them in implementing many new initiatives and continuing to expand our organization and profession. I am very much looking forward to continuing to work on moving our profession forward as I move into the past president role.

I am honored to have served the organization this year and I will look forward to seeing you all again in April 7-10, 2019 in Salt Lake City, UT for CPNP 2019!

Deanna L Kelly, CPNP President

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