UCSF Pharmacy Student Team Wins National Competition

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The UCSF student team captured first place in the 13th Annual National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Competition.

The talented group from UCSF included Tien Ho (P3),  Tiffany Nguyen (P1),  Clint Owens (P1) and Judy Wu (P3). Dr. Glenn Yokoyama was the team mentor. The students were awarded $2,500 scholarships.

The competition was held at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 25th Annual Meeting and Expo in San Diego on April 4-5, sponsored by the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Foundation.

The Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T ) competition is designed to challenge students to gain a perspective on the formulary management process. In real life, a P&T committee determines which medications to approve for the formulary so that they can be used on patients in a hospital or be covered by an insurance company.

“Our goal, in this annual competition, is to provide student chapter members with an opportunity to hone a variety of essential skills related to the formulary management process and analysis of a product dossier, based on AMCP’s Format for Formulary Submissions,” said Edith A. Rosato, RPh, IOM, Chief Executive Officer of the Academy and Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. 

AMCP’s members served as the volunteer judges and evaluated each team’s case study submissions and presentations during the finalist competition.  Genentech USA & Amgen, Inc. sponsored the Competition and Janssen Pharmaceuticals provided the use of its Nucynta-ER® drug dossier. The awards were presented by Allen Lising, Dymaxium Healthcare Innovations; Robert Pannone, Amgen; and Bill Sawicki and Scott Vaxman, Genentech USA.

After a local competition within each student chapter, the winning team from each participating chapter submits its presentation materials to the AMCP Foundation National Competition Selection Committee. 

This year, of 34 schools that submitted materials , only eight were chosen to compete at the AMCP annual conference in San Diego. UCSF was selected as one of the top eight teams. The other universities selected were Ohio Northern, Florida, Illinois at Chicago, Maryland, Minnesota, the University of Southern California and Washington.

 “The AMCP Foundation’s annual competitions are a great way to instill in the next generation of pharmacists the practices and priorities of managed care pharmacy,” said Rosato.

AMCP’s members served as the volunteer judges and evaluated each team’s case study submissions and presentations during the finalist competition. Genentech USA & Amgen, Inc. sponsored the Competition and Janssen Pharmaceuticals provided the use of its Nucynta-ER® drug dossier. The awards were presented by Allen Lising, Dymaxium Healthcare Innovations; Robert Pannone, Amgen; and Bill Sawicki and Scott Vaxman, Genentech USA.