UCSF student pharmacists win division in Clinical Skills Competition

UCSF student pharmacists Stephanie Golahi and Michelle Fang, both class of 2019, took first place in Division I of the 2016 Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA)/Kroger Clinical Skills Competition held in Atlanta in late July.

The national competition had two divisions (representing 2015-2016 first-year and later-year students, respectively) encompassing 64 two-person teams. In the initial round, teams were given a patient case regarding disease states that are prevalent in underserved populations. Using online drug databases, guidelines, and reference textbooks, teams were given two hours to provide their assessment and plan through an electronic medical record system.

The top four teams from each division then competed in a final round by presenting the patient case, answering questions, and counseling a mock patient before a panel of judges that included executives from Kroger Co., which operates nearly 2,000 retail pharmacies in the United States.

As Division I national champions Golahi and Fang each won $1,000 and several additional prizes. UCSF School of Pharmacy was also represented in the Division II competition by a third-year team of Felice Wu and Elyse Young, both class of 2018, and a fourth-year team of Jenny Zhang and Jeffrey Morimune, both class of 2017.

Left to right: Stephanie Golahi (class of 2019), Michelle Fang (class of 2019), Jeffrey Morimune (class of 2017), current president of SNPhA at UCSF Jefferson Cua (class of 2018), Jenny Zhang (class of 2017), Felice Wu (class of 2018), Elyse Young (class of 2018)