UHCOP Team Earns Honorable Mention in Semifinal Round of National AMCP Pharmacy & Therapeutics Competition 

March 6 — A team of five UHCOP Pharm.D. students secured an impressive "Honorable Mention" designation for its submission in the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy National Pharmacy & Therapeutics Competition. 

The team of Angie Asadi, Kim Dinh, Duc Huynh, Jennifer Nguyen and Grace Pham won the UHCOP AMCP Chapter's local competition Jan. 18, which positioned it to represent the college with a written submission in the national competition. Although the UHCOP team did not advance out of the national semifinal round among the eight finalists, it was one of only 10 teams from the nearly 50 remaining semifinalist teams to earn the Honorable Mention designation.

Sponsored by the AMCP Foundation, the competition is designed to introduce students to the work that goes into formulary management, a system by which health plans, hospitals, government agences and other organizations develop, manage, update and administer a list of medications and related products used by the organization. 

As medication experts, pharmacists play a key role on, or on behalf of, P&T Committees. They "must understand how to evaluate the best available scientific, clinical, and economic evidence on medication use" and "determine the impact of medication use on patient population outcomes, conduct cost/benefit analyses, and relate drug therapy choices to current practice guidelines," according to the AMCP Foundation website.

"We are honored to receive this recognition among many great schools who have a strong focus and background in managed care," said UHCOP team member Grace Pham, who also serves as chapter president. "For most of us on this team, this is not our first time competing and it shows that perseverance and practice pays off. The experience gained from participating in previous P&T competitions was a major advantage when putting together a strong submission.

"Another major role in our success was our great team dynamic. We worked together and supported each other throughout the whole competition."