The Eastern States Conference for Pharmacy Residents and Preceptors (Eastern States Conference; ESCPRP) was formed in 1982; joining a number of similar conferences that had formed in other geographical areas of the United States. The formation of the Eastern States Conference was championed by Dr. Louis P. Jeffrey, Director of Pharmacy at Rhode Island Hospital, and generously supported through a grant by the Hospital Relations Pharmaceutical Division of Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly).

THE FIRST CONFERENCE – 1982
The initial conference was held at the Cherry Hill (NJ) Hyatt on April 22-24, 1982. At the meeting there were forty-nine presentations by residents (thirty-one poster presentations and eighteen platform presentation) representing nineteen residency programs in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

The brochure from that conference indicated that “(the) conference is intended to provide pharmacy residents with the opportunity to 1) make presentations on their research efforts and practice experience 2) interact and broaden relationships with other residents, and 3) meet with leaders in institutional pharmacy practice. The conference will consist of keynote addresses, residents platform and poster presentations, residents dialogue sessions, preceptors dialogue sessions, and an open forum discussion of pharmaceutical marketing practices.” (Note: The above quote is presented as published in the brochure; with all its grammatical challenges.)

40 YEARS LATER
Eastern States has grown a bit since its inception. At the 2023 meeting of the Eastern States Conference, there were over 500 resident attendees and just under 500 preceptors and program directors registered for the meeting. The 192 programs in attendance participated from Maine to Virginia and all states in-between. The conference is currently the largest regional residency conference in the United States and with great sustainability, having only not met once in the last 41 years at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.