Pharmacists selected for the position have the opportunity to gain real-world insight into health care policy analysis and development via immersion in the congressional environment. Fellows are actively mentored in legislative evaluation, policy development, research and writing while integrating practical experience with theory.

Chhabra currently is a fellow at Biogen Inc., a biotech firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in regulatory sciences and safety and benefit-risk management through the MCPHS University Biopharmaceutical Industry Fellowship Program. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University and a doctorate in pharmacy, also from VCU.

The daughter of a physician in the Washington, D.C., area, Chhabra spent her youth among “the incessant bleeping” of hospitals and doctors’ offices, she recalls. While working at her first job, as a receptionist in her father’s office, she says, “I learned that healthcare was equally scientific and political, and that access to a doctor was very important — but not everyone could afford it.”

This connection between politics and healthcare continued. Chhabra competed in science fairs and excelled in her math and sciences courses while also volunteering as secretary general of her high school’s model United Nations. Later, her fellowship with Biogen gave her an opportunity to do a rotation with the company’s policy and government-affairs teams, which led to participating in Capitol Hill hearings on such topics as the opioid crisis and drug pricing.

Chhabra pursued the ACCP-ASHP-VCU Congressional Healthcare Policy fellowship as a result of these experiences. “I am passionate about health care policy and have a profound desire to make a difference,” she says. “I believe health care is a right, but I also realize the solutions to the problems that consume our system are nuanced and complex. … [And] I strongly believe that there are not enough scientists and clinicians making the decisions that shape healthcare.”

Amee D. Mistry, associate professor of pharmacy practice at MCPHS University, called Chhabra a standout among her peers for her energy, communications skills and determination to make a difference: “She has proven, on a number of occasions, to be an extremely focused, dedicated, and passionate pharmacist.” The policies on which Chhabra would like to focus revolve around access to health care, medication accessibility and health disparities. She says she intends to use her fellowship as a route to working on policy as part of the federal Food and Drug Administration or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow program will begin July 9. Chhabra will spend one week at the Brookings Institution and three weeks each with ACCP’s and ASHP’s government affairs offices. Finally, she will embark on her placement within a congressional office or on congressional committee staff in Washington through August 2019.

The fellowship program, now directed by VCU School of Pharmacy associate professor Kristin Zimmerman, was founded 11 years ago under the leadership of professor Gary R. Matzke.

For more about the ACCP-ASHP-VCU Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow program, click here or contact director Kristin Zimmerman at kzimmerman@vcu.edu.

VCU School of Pharmacy is ranked among the top 20 graduate programs in pharmacy in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.