Five UH Pharmacy students were awarded honors in April at the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists meeting.
In the clinical skills competition, two UH teams won awards in both the second and fourth-year Pharmacy Doctorate student divisions.
“We knew the competition was going to be tough, especially with six other colleges participating,” said Sunny Bhakta, a junior Pharm.D. student and co-recipient of the sophomore award.
Sunny Bhakta and Salman Farooqui, both junior Pharm.D. students, won the sophomore award, while recent graduates Melanie Laine and Amy Lehnert won the senior award. Pharm.D. Graduate alumna Rusol Karralli was also awarded the Leo F. Godley and Ann Godley Residency Fellowship Award.
“Not only did our students do an excellent job networking and building relationships with Texas pharmacy leaders and companies, they performed extremely well in the clinical skills competition,” said Matthew A. Wanat, a clinical assistant professor in the pharmacy school.
A large part of the competition was based on clinical skills and how well students showcased these skills.
“This was my first clinical skills competition in pharmacy school,” Farooqui said. “My teammate Sunny Bhakta and I were elated when results were announced”.
During the competition, students had to identify and assess all medical issues, health care issues and drug-related problems of the patient by reviewing patient history, exams, lab results, and more.
After reviewing their findings, teams were allotted three minutes to present their findings and recommendations to a panel of three judges, which was followed by a seven-minute question-and-answer session where students had to back up the findings and recommendations they made.
“We presented our case with full detail and precision, and answered questions asked by judges with confidence and accuracy,” Bhakta said.
The prizes for this competition included a $75 cash prize and the registration fee waived at the 2015 TSHP Annual Seminar.
“The faculty, staff and alumni are extremely proud of the UHCOP students’ performance at the recent Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists Annual Meeting,” Wanat said.
Karralli also received $500 and a plaque for her thesis project, which was to design an online tool that assessed various aspects within an individual hospital’s utilization of the 340B Drug Discount Program.
“All of us at the college are extremely proud of the future healthcare leaders in our program,” Wanat said.
The competition also drew the attention of prospective UH students.
“After seeing the results of UH Pharm students,” said Rachel Johnson, a high-school senior from Huntsville, “I am convinced that UH is the right school for me.”
