UCSF P&T Team Heads to Nationals
A UCSF Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) winning team will once again represent the University at the 14th Annual National Student Pharmacy P&T Competition.
Lucille Sun, president-elect of AMCP and P&T coordinator, announced last week that from 50 competitive school submissions, the UCSF team of Edna Cheung (P1), Isabel Fong (P1), Thomas Lee (P2) and Randal Du (P3) had landed a coveted spot in the top eight, which will compete in Tampa, Florida on April 4.
“Throughout this competition we tested the limits of our intellect, persevered through many challenges and, most importantly, made some unforgettable memories as a team,” said Thomas Lee on behalf of the team. “We are thrilled to be representing UCSF School of Pharmacy at the National AMCP Conference next month. We hope to continue the tradition of excellence that our school has upheld in previous years.”
The AMCP P&T Competition is a unique opportunity for a four-person team of pharmacy students to simulate the actions of an actual P&T committee. In hospitals and health plans, the P&T committee manages the formulary—a list of medications that will be covered—through evaluation of drugs’ safety, efficacy and economic profile. While actual P&T committees are interdisciplinary in nature and have greater access to information, the students often produce quality results that rival the actual committees.
This year, Elyea ® (aflibercept), an intravitreal injection indicated for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration and macular edema following central retinal vein occlusion, was chosen. The route of administration and high cost of the drug were the interesting twists in this year’s competition. After careful consideration of the data, teams arrived at a formulary decision and argued in defense of it in both a written portion and an oral presentation before a panel of judges.
Nine teams competed in the local UCSF P&T Competition in early February in what could be described as the most grueling, yet exhilarating and educational experience at the UCSF School of Pharmacy. One facet that adds to the education process is the matching of experienced upperclassmen with first-year pharmacy students to form teams, as opposed to trying to form the strongest team to win first place at Nationals.
While competitive in nature, UCSF prefers to position this event as a learning experience with the successes speaking to the strength of the UCSF School of Pharmacy student body.
All teams put in countless hours of work, sacrificing their winter breaks to rise to the challenge of the competition. The local UCSF P&T Competition would like to recognize these nine teams in no particular order.
- Carol Ho, Keil Chase, Nola He, Christopher Chiu
- Jade Vitug, Ryan Stanton, Lauren Law, Elizabeth Staub
- Oscar Merino, William Mees, Jessica Pham, Stephanie Hsia [Honorable Mention]
- Elena Chan, Sarah Pasetes, Raymond Ngo, Simon Diep
- Steffie Tu, Eric Dressler, Tina Gu, Richard Duong
- Jacqueline Tam, Tiffany Buckley, Aaron Hernandez, Thanh Le
- Edna Cheung, Isabel Fong, Thomas Lee, Randal Du
- Danning Ma, Esther Yi, Priya Jayachandran, Ken Yang [Honorable Mention]
- Leanne Thai, Lena Truong, Robin Lai, Rachael Le
