Student Chapter Spotlight
June 2022 – University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy
The AMCP student chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy is delighted to be featured in the chapter spotlight for the month.
This past semester, our chapter members had the opportunity to attend AMCP 2022 in Chicago. For many of us, this was our first in-person professional conference due to the pandemic. This year UIC had the great opportunity of being Semi-Finalists in the National P&T Competition, with many of us watching the live competition. It was truly a great experience to learn the different approaches other students had, and we look forward to implementing what we learned in next year’s P&T Competition! The annual conference had many thought-provoking presentations, seminars, and a plethora of networking opportunities.
In the future, our chapter hopes to encourage more attendance in these conferences because it not only allows students to network with other students and professionals, but it also introduces you to many relevant and on-going topics in the managed care sphere. We are all eager to attend Nexus 2022!
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February 2022 - University of Houston
The AMCP chapter at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy is dedicated in providing excellent opportunities to our pharmacy students to explore the world of managed care pharmacy. We engage our students through mentorship, skill building competitions, and networking events. Though the switch to virtual came as a challenging transition, with the support of our chapter advisor and chapter diplomat, we continued our outreach to students and provided a quality look into manage care pharmacy this year.
Our chapter achieved new heights, hosting the Southwest Affiliates Day of Education back in September of 2021 and planning a comeback Day of Education this February 26. Our P&T coordinators encouraged students to engage in the updated format of P&T competition this year. And furthermore, we proudly hosted our AMCP and IPhO’s student chapters’ 7th Annual Round Table Event, thematically inspired this year to “Sail New Seas and Discover Opportunities” and graced with keynote speaker Dr. Angelica Asadi, an honored and revered alumna from the University of Houston College of Pharmacy. Our Round Table Event is the largest and most anticipated event held annually by both AMCP and IPhO student chapters in the early spring semester where pharmacists are invited to share their personal insight into the world of managed care and industry pharmacy with students.
The event is designed to be an environment for students to gain a better understanding of the roles of non-traditional pharmacists and build invaluable connections with these experienced professionals. Though we were unexpectedly switched to a virtual format due to the omicron variant back in January, our featured guests shined through the virtual format throughout the evening, and students enjoyed the thought-provoking knowledge valuable to their professional development. After a wonderful event, AMCP and IPhO hope to host their next annual RTE in person as they have in years past.
We would like to thank AMCP, our chapter diplomat, and our chapter faculty for all their support in our endeavors and success.
December 2021 - University of California San Francisco
AMCP-UCSF held its 15th annual Fall Roundtable on Nov. 18, 2021! The event was a huge success, over 50 first and second-year pharmacy students connected with over 13 professionals joining us from different areas in managed care and industry. Students received information and career advice about the many opportunities in managed care. Having this event on zoom allowed us to reach professionals outside of San Francisco and even outside of California; however, we definitely missed the personal connection that happens with being in person. We are looking forward to connecting with more professionals next year at our Fall Roundtable – hopefully in person!
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September 2021 - Shenandoah University
This past semester, the Shenandoah University AMCP chapter hosted a managed care residency panel. This panel was put together by the outgoing president Mohammad Kaker and discussed how managed care residencies differed from traditional residencies. A total of six residents from Ingenio Rx, Evolent Health, CVS Caremark, and Kaiser Permanente participated in the panel. Although it was a virtual event, we had a great turnout of nearly 20 students in attendance. This was a successful panel and the SU AMCP chapter is planning another event for November with four other AMCP chapters including the University of Florida Gainesville and Orlando chapters, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the University of Pittsburgh. However, instead of a residency panel, we are planning a residency roundtable with eight residents. Students will have the opportunity to network and ask residents questions. We are eagerly looking forward to this event and are hoping for a great turnout!
June 2021 - Texas A&M Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy
The student chapter at Texas A&M Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy is honored to have the opportunity to be featured for the chapter spotlight. Our chapter is relatively small compared to other chapters and one of our main challenges was gaining membership in the past. Although virtual, our main goal for the academic year was to help students better understand what managed care pharmacy is, grow chapter membership, and to bring in managed care professionals to share their experiences with current members. Texas A&M has worked towards this goal by bringing in speakers from various areas of managed care and through collaborating with other organizations such as ISPOR, an internship panel with current students, and alumni Q&A. We had an increased number of students partaking in the P&T Competition due to the increased promotion and motivation from executive board and student members. In order to increase engagement from students and other chapters, our chapter has created an Instagram page and Facebook page as well!
For the academic school year 2021-2022, we will continue to plan new events that aim to raise awareness about managed care pharmacy and our chapter. The student chapter at Texas A&M is excited to see what can be accomplished in the years to come. As a chapter, we would like to thank AMCP for their continued support for our members!
February 2021 - Temple University
The AMCP chapter at Temple University is relatively small compared to other organizations at their school. Their executive board realized this was largely due to students not understanding what managed care pharmacy is and the available career opportunities. Because of this, their main goal for the 2020-2021 school year was to give students a thorough understanding of managed care pharmacy, grow their member base, and build a strong alumni network. Working towards this, the Temple University chapter held multiple meetings to educate students on the fundamentals of managed care through collaboration with other organizations, such as a student internship panel with IphO. Speakers shared their internship experiences at various industries and managed care organizations. The P&T competition was highly promoted to students which led to one of the largest numbers of participants compared to previous years! The Temple University chapter also decided to increase their online presence by creating an Instagram page to broaden social engagement, check them out here!
In 2021, the Temple University chapter plans to collaborate with the University of Maryland AMCP chapter to create a platform for their members to stay connected both professionally and socially! As for general meetings, they are looking forward to their collaboration with ISPOR to have Dr. Michael Blatt, Director of Pharmacy Services at Inland Empire Health Plan, speak to members about health plan interactions and the use of real-world evidence in formulary decisions. As the Temple University chapter grows, they hope to invite more diverse speakers and host workshops to aid students professionally.
December 2020 - Wilkes University
The student chapter at Wilkes University is honored to be the recipient of the 2020 AMCP Student Chapter of the Year Award. Through the support of our advisor, the guidance of our diplomats, and the dedication of our students, we furthered our engagement with the community and advanced the mission and vision of AMCP. We held many patient-centered events that helped us to reach our goal of improving the health of the patients we serve. One multi-day event was our Medicare information session. During the Annual Enrollment Period for Medicare, we assisted senior citizens with finding a Medicare plan to best fit their needs. We also held our first-annual prior authorization competition. During this event, teams reviewed a mock prior authorization case and used their clinical knowledge and drug information skills to decide whether it should be approved or denied.
Although our chapter has been completely virtual this year, we are continuing to promote managed care pharmacy. We recently partnered with the IPhO chapter at our school to hold a virtual managed care and industry roundtable event with several pharmacists in attendance. At the event, students had the opportunity to learn about different areas within managed care and the pharmaceutical industry. As the year progresses, we continue to plan new events that aim to raise awareness about our chapter. We also continue to plan for our annual events, such as a managed care and public health trivia with SNPhA, and our local P&T Competition. The student chapter at Wilkes University is excited to see what can be accomplished in the years to come. We would like to thank AMCP for their continued support in fostering leadership in student pharmacists.
August 2020 - University of Florida, College of Pharmacy, Orlando Campus
This current academic year has been a time of small victories and new beginnings for the Orlando Campus AMCP Student Chapter at the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy. Since its founding in 2017, our chapter struggled with attracting membership and was considered a small organization on campus. Frankly, it is tough to be small. When your organization is small you’re often overlooked and given low priority for options such as picking preferred dates for events on the campus calendar. However, the E-board of the chapter did not give up. We knew that we had to grow our chapter, stimulate interest, and raise involvement in managed care pharmacy on campus.
So we decided to act — we got in touch with the student development team at AMCP and arranged for student flyers and other promotional materials to be sent to our campus. These educational materials helped our chapter create a great impression on both new and current students with information on careers in managed care and the benefits of joining AMCP on the national level, as well as information on PGY-1 managed care residencies and continuous education through AMCPLearn. In the first month of the academic year the chapter doubled its membership, and by the end of the year the membership tripled! Our secretary and president-elect worked hard on developing the chapter’s Facebook page making sure all chapter events and activities received coverage on social media. We also created a weekly rubric called “Spotlight on Managed Care” which featured a managed care organization and provided a short description of the company, its goals, and its residency programs. The rubric became a huge success and, as a result, our chapter’s online following grew from 11 viewers to 173 to date.
Meanwhile, our president and P&T coordinator worked hard on getting the chapter ready for its first ever P&T competition. And what a challenge that was! How do you get students to participate in something that requires so much effort? How do you teach them the best ways to approach the challenge if you have never taken it yourself? No fear! Through all the challenges and hardships, the Orlando Campus AMCP Chapter ended up participating in its first P&T competition and is committed to making it better each year!
The chapter has also been busy educating seniors on Medicare and the importance of having health insurance, collaborating with student industry organizations on mutual events, running a successful fundraiser for the chapter, hosting a managed care resident to speak with the student body, holding events on specialty pharmacy, understanding the role of MTM services in managed care, and more. These are just some of the activities the chapter held in the 2019-2020 academic year!
Since then a lot has happened, but the new 2020-2021 E-board has diligently worked all summer long to plan for the upcoming academic year to fulfill the chapter’s mission of promoting awareness and providing opportunities in managed care pharmacy to students.
