capsule_nov-dec 2014

Published by the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students | UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

November - December Issue | 2014

ATTAINING NEW HEIGHTS

Christensen and Call are nationally recognized at ASHP Midyear

Dr. Macary Marciniak

Dr. Philip Rodgers

Trang Leminh

Kenny Kang

Sarah Todd

Faculty

Amy Li

Phillip Transou

Students

CAPSule Editor:

Design Coordinator:

Final Reviewers:

The CAPSule, published bi-monthly, is the official newsletter of the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students. It features a variety of articles submitted by members of the organization regarding new

achievements, event highlights, updates, committee spotlights, and much more! If you are interested in contributing to the next issue of the CAPSule, email [email protected] for more informa-

tion.

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UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy | CAPSule

CAPSule | Table of Contents | Nov. - Dec. 2014

Exploring Different Coasts of Pharmacy Practice at the 2014 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting Erin Brown 1

Operation Immunization Teams Up with Kroger to Immunize, Educate Community Amanda D’Ostroph & Brian Kurish 3

The NCAP Annual Convention Unites Student Pharmacists Jonny Clark 5

Annual CPP Dinner Felix Lam 7

Policy Updates Isabell Kang 8

Rotation Station: Pathway to Industry-- the Medical Affairs Role Audrey Schnell 9

Project A.G.E Encourages Student Pharmacists to Support Older Adults Dana Billock 12

The Non-Traditional Community Pharmacy: An Eye Opening Experience Mariana Lucena 14

SPOTLIGHT: Looking Back, Moving Forward: CAPS Year in Review Sarah Todd 18

The CAPSule Asks 20

By Erin Brown | Photos courtesy of Linh Duong

CAPSule | November - December 20141P

During the second week of Decem-ber, 104 CAPS members spent

part of their winter break attending the American Society of Health Sys-tems Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting in Anaheim, CA. The ASHP midyear is the largest gathering of pharmacists in the world, and with over 20,000 pharmacy profession-als at this year’s conference, it is the most attended meeting so far. This

year’s event was held at the Anaheim Convention Center and included over 5,000 student attendees.

Many students in the PY3 and PY4 classes were able to present posters during the student poster session on topics ranging from “The sodium content of intravenous anti-infective agents” (Stephanie Barquero and Prashanth Iyer) to “Utilizing in vitro

Exploring Different Coasts of Pharmacy Practice

at the 2014 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting

UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy | CAPSule 2P

metabolic assays to determine differ-ences in clopidogrel pharmacokinetics between infants and adults” (Kelsey Browder), and even covering topics such as “Medication Utilization Evalu-ation of Blood and Factor Products at an Academic Medical Center” (Marti Guidotti).

Student pharmacists were able to attend programs designed specifically for them, and sessions included “Mys-teries of The Match”, “Residency Train-ing 101: Should I Do a Residency?” and “Fundamental Strategies to Se-cure a Residency: Getting a Head Start as P1-P3.”

Students were also invited to the UNC reception, a popular event hosted by the UNC Pharmacy Alumni Association, which provided students with the op-portunity to interact with alumni and faculty in a more relaxed setting.

In addition to having a successful Mid-year, UNC was also able to celebrate during the national Clinical Skills Com-petition (CSC), with the UNC PY4 team of Erin Christensen and Rebecca Call not only placing in the top 10 final-ists (an accomplishment UNC hasn’t achieved for over ten years), but also being awarded 3rd place in the overall competition. The CSC is a team-based competition where two students an-alyze clinical scenarios that might be encountered by hospital/health-sys-tem pharmacists, providing students

the opportunity to enhance their skills in collaborative practice with physi-cians in providing direct patient care. For information regarding other ex-citing opportunities offered through ASHP, please contact Erin Brown ([email protected]) or Jennifer Voelker ([email protected])!

Student pharmacists (left to right) Sandra Hanna, Janet Oh, Edith Huang, Ivy Lio, and Linh Duong stand outside the Anaheim Convention Center to kick off the first day of the five-day meeting.

by Amanda D’Ostroph and Brian Kurish | Photos courtesy of Brian Kurish

Operation Immunization Teams Up with Kroger to Immunize, Educate Community

When organizations with similar missions join together in a part-

nership, the impact that can be made in a community is so much greater. Ouita Davis Gatton, the Kroger Clinical Coordinator, and Anna Armstrong, a PGY1 Community Pharmacy Resident with Kroger, both feel strongly about administering immunizations and the preventative health benefits they can provide. In addition, Operation Immunization (OI) focuses its efforts

on educating patients and increasing opportunities for people to receive im-munizations. Through working together this past semester, Kroger and OI have been able to hold many successful events that promoted a healthy com-munity through immunizations.

In October Ouita and Anna, along with OI co-chairs Brian Kurish and Amanda D’Ostroph, made a radio appearance on 680 AM with Tom Kearny where

Operation Immunization co-chairs Aman-da D’Ostroph and Brian Kurish spent time in October promoting the flu vaccine on 680 AM’s Tom Kearny Show.


the importance of immunizations, specifically flu shots, was promoted to all listeners. The radio broadcast that evening was estimated to reach 4,500 people. At the conclusion of the show all members of the community were encouraged to seek out their local pharmacy to obtain their flu vaccine.

During the months of October and November, various local Kroger phar-macies brought in OI volunteers to pro-vide immunization education to store patrons. In addition to being a source of information, student pharmacists screened patients to identify which vaccines they were eligible to receive and then administered any needed vaccines to those who were interested. A total of 57 patients were counseled on immunizations and 13 received im-munizations on the same day from our student pharmacists.

In November, OI volunteers partici-pated in a unique Karing with Kroger event at the Springmoor Life Care Re-tirement Community assisting Kroger pharmacists with giving pneumococcal vaccines (specifically Prevnar 13) and helping enter the vaccines into the North Carolina Immunization Registry (NCIR). Student pharmacists adminis-tered vaccines, helped patients fill out the NC Consent form, and logged the vaccine into the immunization registry. These events provided an opportunity for our student pharmacists to edu-

cate the community on the new CDC pneumococcal vaccine recommenda-tions for patients 65 years of age and older. The total number of pneumococ-cal vaccines given was 26.

To date, CAPS members have adminis-tered over 2,000 vaccines in total this year. Operation Immunization volun-teers are making a huge difference in the community and will continue to do so in the coming year. If you would like to get involved with OI’s collabora-tion with Kroger or in any of OI’s other activities, be on the lookout for these opportunities in the spring or email Amanda ([email protected]) or Brian ([email protected]) with any questions.

Operation Immunization volunteers Sheila Doku and Marcus Kaplan spent a Saturday counseling on and administer-ing vaccines at a Kroger in Durham.

Article by Jonny Clark | Photos courtesy of author

The NCAP Annual Convention Unites Student Pharmacists


UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy student pharmacists gather for a day of learning and networking at the NCAP Annual Convention.

Student pharmacists, pharmacists, and technicians from around the

state gathered at the 2014 North Car-olina Association of Pharmacists An-nual Convention from October 26-28 to share ideas, network, and explore opportunities in pharmacy. Partici-pants enjoyed several presentations, workshops, and topic updates during this three-day event.

Most student attendees from Camp-bell, UNC, and Wingate schools of pharmacy visited the convention on October 27, as this day featured spe-

cial programming for students and a residency showcase. Dr. Mollie Scott, a Clinical Associate Professor and Re-gional Associate Dean at Asheville for the UNC Eshelman School of Pharma-cy, led the Key Note Address and panel discussions concerning the modern role of pharmacy and the potential for provider status recognition for pharma-cists. Other topics during the day in-cluded pain management, value-based purchasing, point of care testing, and community and health system pearls for practitioners.


Student sessions focused on CV devel-opment, residency roundtables, and the annual OTC Jeopardy competition. The UNC local NCAP chapter champion team, including Jenny Levine, Rachel LaBianca, Alex Toler, and Brian Kurish, took an early lead in the competition against Campbell and Wingate student pharmacists. After an hour of tough questioning on over-the-counter drugs and therapy, the UNC team claimed victory for the second year in a row! Congratulations, and we hope that this trend will continue as our local OTC Jeopardy competition approaches in early April.

Attendees were able to enjoy talking with several vendors during the lunch-time exposition, featuring various com-panies and potential career providers. Representatives of the NCAP Student Pharmacist Network also encouraged convention goers to email their local representatives to support HR 4190

(recently reintroduced in 2015 as H.R.592 and S.314), resulting in over 50 messages to encourage provider status. Students were also able to interact with several residency pro-grams from around the state during the residency showcase in the after-noon, a unique opportunity for student pharmacists of all classes to survey post-graduate options.

The 2014 NCAP Annual Convention was a huge success with increasing student involvement and program-ming. With such strong leadership and support from pharmacists and student pharmacists within our state organiza-tion, our pharmacy career continues to excel and promote the best possible care for our patients. Feel free to con-tact us if you have any questions or ideas for our organization!

Jonny Clark ([email protected])Felix Lam ([email protected])

UNC Student Pharmacists Alex Toler, Rachel LaBianca, Jenny Levine, and Brian Kurish, claim the OTC Jeopardy

Championship for UNC for the second year in a row!


On November 12, our NCAP-SPN student chapter hosted its 8th

annual Clinical Pharmacy Practitioners (CPP) dinner. The night began with Dr. Kamakshi Rao as the keynote speaker. She is a bone marrow and stem cell transplant clinical pharmacy specialist at UNC Hospitals. Dr. Rao shared her story of why she became a pharmacist and the patient interactions that influ-enced her career. She continued with a brief history of the CPP licensure and encouraged all students to take full advantage of this unique opportunity. Following Dr. Rao’s speech, attendees

conversed with a CPP over a catered dinner. This year, we were fortunate enough to have nine CPPs, represent-ing hospitals from across the Trian-gle, engaging in intimate discussions about their career, sharing memorable patient stories, and offering advice to students. Each student had the oppor-tunity to interact with two CPPs. The night ended with warm goodbyes and inspired students ready to take on the rigors of their pharmacy journey.

by Felix Lam | Photo courtesy of Jonny Clark

Annual CPP Dinner

Clinical Pharmacist Practitioners discuss their careers with student pharmacists in the Great Hall.

by Isabell Kang

Policy Updates


H.R. 4190 now has 123 cosponsors; more Democratic and Republican representatives in California, Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, and New York have signed for support of this legislation.

Several new bills have been intro-duced:

• H.R. 5854: To allow the importa-tion, distribution, and sale of inves-tigational drugs and devices intend-ed for use by terminally ill patients, with informed consent (December 11, 2014; by Alan Grayson, D-FL)

• H.R. 5815: Generic Drug Pricing Fairness Act, to amend title XVII of the Social Security Act (December 9, 2014; by Doug Collins, R-GA). This bill will provide standards for pharmacy benefit managers, under the Medicare prescription drug pro-gram to improve transparency.

H.R. 5750: Orphan Product Exten-sions Now Accelerating Cures and Treatments Act of 2014 (November 20, 2014; by Gus Bilirakis, R-FL). This bill aims to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and authorize a 6-month extension of certain exclusivity periods for ap-proved drugs that are subsequently approved for a new indication for a rare disease or condition.

H.R. 5748: Medicaid Generic Drug Price Fairness Act of 2014 (Novem-ber 20, 2014; by Elijah Cummings, D-MD). This bill wants to extend the requirement for drug manufactur-ers who increase prices faster than inflation must pay an additional re-bate to State Medicaid programs to include generic drug manufacturers.

H.R. 5657: Fair Access for Safe and Timely Generics Act of 2014 (September 18, 2014; by Steve Stivers, R-OH). This bill intends to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure that eligi-ble product developers have com-petitive access to approved drugs and licensed biological products, to enable further development and testing.

by Audrey Schnell | Photos courtesy of author

Rotation Station: Pathway to Industry--the Medical Affairs Role


SITE: Pfizer Global Headquarters NYC

LOCATION: NYC, NY

MONTH OF COMPLETION: Paid intern-ship in June and July. Rotation in August.

PRECEPTOR: Pejman Azarmina, M.D., US Medical Lead, Medical Affairs

Describe a typical day on rotation:

I begin each morning by review-ing my emails and meetings for the day. This typically includes one “Review Committee” meet-ing. During these meetings, I review all marketing and edu-cational materials that we are putting out to the consumer and health care provider about a par-ticular product. For example, we may review a new commercial script, journal advertisement, or website. The medical represen-tatives will be responsible for giving their expert opinion about the pieces and providing com-ments on all medical content. After medical has offered their input, we sign off on the item and it is submitted to the FDA.

The medical team is also responsi-ble for giving medical insights to the commercial and marketing teams. These teams would often ask me about challenges faced at the phar-macy and how to better educate pharmacists about new products.

In the afternoon, I would sometimes have meetings related to “IIRs” or in-

Manhattan at night.


vestigator initiated research projects. An IIR is a project that a researcher proposed to Pfizer that we will ulti-mately fund. During IIR meetings, we would approve of IIRs, check on the progress of the research, and approve or deny of amendments to current IIR proposals.

About once a week, I would be asked to research pharmaceutical compa-nies that Pfizer was thinking about acquiring. I would review the com-pany’s medical products and brief management about my findings. I would also research the benefits and drawbacks to possibly adding these medications to our portfolio.

Throughout my time here, I was also involved with working on a publica-tion aimed at educating interested parties about the roles of pharma-cists in the industry setting. I was in charge of searching for publication possibilities, finalizing the manu-script, and submitting the document to the publisher of our choice.

Frequently, I also interviewed col-leagues in other departments at Pfiz-er to get an idea of the various areas that pharmacists commonly worked in. It was helpful to speak with other pharmacists about their job descrip-tions and how they got to work at Pfizer.

Finally, since I was working during the

summer, I was involved with planning for the next fiscal year. This consist-ed of creating budget slide decks for presentation to upper management.

What type of patient interaction was included in your rotation?

None. This was a heavily corporate focused rotation. I worked closely with colleagues with vastly different backgrounds, ranging from govern-ment relations to legal to sales repre-sentatives and key opinion leaders in certain disease states.

What were unique aspects of your rotation?

This rotation was very unique in that it was not patient based whatsoever. Someone who is interested in the business side of the pharmaceuti-cal industry would greatly enjoy this experience. Also, since I was able to use two of my off months to do an internship before my rotation, I was able to be more involved with my team and develop my relationships with them even further. It was also in-teresting to interact with other areas outside of the medical team, like the legal and regulatory departments.

What activities did you complete outside of your rotation?

Being in New York provides many opportunities to experience events outside of your rotation. During my


time here, I was able to attend nu-merous plays and free performances in many of the parks, take trips out to the beach or the Belmont Stakes in Long Island, and eat food. Lots of food. My favorite activity was going to visit the Museum of Natural History and Smorgasburg, a food fair on the waterfront in Brooklyn. I was also able to attend a USA soccer game

against Turkey before the World Cup, which was an awesome experience.

Advice on rotation:

During this rotation, the commercial, legal, and regulatory teams really value your medical input so make sure that you are vocal about your knowledge. Since you are often the sole medical representative in many

of these meetings, these colleagues look to you when they have any questions about the drug, disease state, or competitors. It is also good to go in knowing that the culture at Pfiz-er is very open and the people are extremely ap-proachable. Many peo-ple realize that as a new member to the team, you are unaware of the thousands of positions in the company, and they are very understanding when you ask them to explain their particular roles.

Attending a USA Men’s Soccer friendly game versus Turkey before the World Cup.

Project A.G.E started off the year in September with a new and fun

event, the Aging Simulation. Student pharmacists were able to feel what it’s like to age in this interactive simula-tion, in which they were asked to move through five different stations, each testing a different daily function. As we age, we may experience decreased function with our hands from arthritis, inability to control our bladder, and loss of hearing. You may have to find

ways to adapt your daily living habits as you age, and students were able to experience this first hand.

In honor of International Day of Old-er Persons on October 1, Project A.G.E. hosted a social media event on Facebook. Each day for one week five True/False questions about older adults were released to the Facebook event page. Participants answered those questions each day and a final winner with the most correct was an-


by Dana Billock

Project A.G.E Encourages Student Pharmacists to Support Older Adults

Student pharmacists (left to right) Amanda D’Ostroph, Rob Crawford, Felicia Charles, Giselle Gomez, Katherine Horowitz, and Jenna Wood participating in the Aging Simulation in September where students were able to experience the aging process first hand. Photo courtesy of Dana Billock.


Employees of the Orange County Department of Aging posing for a picture during the awards ceremony at the Aging in Stride 5K on November 1, 2014. Photo courtesy of Jenny Levine.

nounced at the end of the week. This event aimed to create awareness of myths and facts about aging and older adults.

Project A.G.E’s biggest event of the year was the 10th Annual Aging in Stride 5K hosted on Saturday Novem-ber 1. An outstanding 114 participants registered for the race, and although the cold and rain prevented many from attending, there was still a great dedi-cated turnout. This event is open to all students, faculty, and the public. Each year the money raised from the 5K is donated to the Aging in Place Fund of Orange County, and many of the par-ticipants are employees at the Orange

County Department of Aging.

Other events Project A.G.E plans to host or have hosted include: Geriat-ric Jeopardy, a geriatric documentary viewing and discussion, a collaborative health fair at a local senior citizens center, and a consultant pharmacist speaker. They also plan to participate in community events again this spring like the Orange County Senior Olym-pics, a sock-hop at the Seymour Cen-ter, and the 50+ club reunion at the pharmacy school. For more informa-tion on how you can get involved with Project A.G.E. contact Dana Billock ([email protected]) or Cynthia Lee ([email protected]).

By Mariana Lucena | Photos courtesy of author

The Non-Traditional Community Pharmacy: An Eye Opening Experience


SITE: Lincoln Community Health Cen-ter Pharmacy

LOCATION: Durham, NC

MONTH OF COMPLETION: August 2014

PRECEPTOR: Steve Lundeen, PharmD

The Lincoln Community Health Cen-ter (LCHC) is a primary care facility

that offers services in adult medicine, family medicine, dentistry, behavioral health and therapy, as well as pharma-cy. It truly encompasses many medical components in order to fully serve its community. The pharmacy is not a public pharmacy and only fills prescrip-tions from providers at LCHC. While it

is not a free pharmacy, it does offer reduced prices to a certain extent for most of the medications on the formu-lary.

On a typical day, I arrive at the phar-macy at 8am and start the morning by helping with filling prescriptions that were requested overnight with the two “early technicians,” Diane and Linda. LCHC Pharmacy is unlike any other community/retail pharmacy. For instance, it has an automated dispens-ing system called “Fred” which is used for about 70% of the dispensing done at LCHC Pharmacy. It has an electron-ic integrated system that takes pre-

scriptions and fills them from cells containing drugs and as-sembles them into medica-tion vials with labels. This feature in the pharmacy is fascinating and very useful in a pharmacy that


fills over 1,000 scripts per day. Since being implemented Fred has dramati-cally reduced medication errors, espe-cially those encountered with incorrect patients getting medications from patients with similar names.

Each employee at the pharmacy switches jobs every two hours, allow-ing for everyone to have a varied and less monotonous schedule. I follow the

same pattern and would usu-ally switch to either counseling or checking prescriptions with the pharmacist. There are typ-ically around five pharmacists and seven to eight pharmacy technicians working every day. Thus, I had the chance to interact with many people and learn from each of them. Checking prescriptions with the pharmacist allowed me to look for different features on the prescriptions and recog-nize additional information or patterns on the patient. For instance, I was able to see if there were duplicate medi-cations, drug interactions, or inappropriate dosages/indica-tions. I spent most of my time in the counseling area, which is the one I liked the most. At LCHC, every new prescrip-tion requires counseling even if the patient has previously

been on the medication. I was able to learn the most from this area as it forced me to look up key patient coun-seling points regarding certain medi-cations that I had originally forgotten about. It also gave me an opportunity to talk to a large population of people and answer questions about medica-tions or disease states.

One of the most rewarding factors of this rotation was being able to help the

Fred takes care of about 70% of the dispensing done at the pharmacy every day.


non-English speaking population. As a native Spanish speaker, I had a very positive impact on the Hispanic popu-lation, which accounts for about 60% of the population seen at LCHC. Being able to counsel, explain medications, answer specific questions, and trans-late were some of the many key as-pects of having a successful rotation. Serving this large sector of the com-munity is something very unique and I know I made a difference in many of the patients that came through the pharmacy. One specific example was an hour-long counseling session with a patient on how to self-administer ketorolac injections intramuscularly. I taught the patient and demonstrated each step in Spanish and the patient was amazed and thankful for such a wonderful service offered at the phar-macy.

The other part of my time on the ro-tation was focused on month-long projects, such as a Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee presentation on the use of oral terbinafine as well as a presentation on the new influenza vaccine for the 2014-2015 season. I had time to work on these and other projects during the workday at one of the computers in the pharmacy and received immediate feedback from Steve, my preceptor. During the month of August, I was able to help with the implementation of tramadol changing to a controlled substance. Steve and

I had to void all the remaining refills on prescriptions written before August 18, and also make sure to document a valid form of identification with any new tramadol prescription.

Furthermore, I was able to take off-site visits to other locations associated with LCHC. I went to Senior PharmAs-sist in Durham for several meetings, in-cluding a Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee meeting as well as one to review the upcoming Medicare enroll-ing season. I was able to meet several health care professionals at these meetings and learn about the specific aspects of seniors living in Durham. I also took a visit to one of the seven satellite clinics linked with LCHC. I observed an inspection on the storage and handling of vaccines by a state employee who made sure the CDC guidelines and protocols were being followed correctly (i.e. correct tempera-ture, specific thermometer, recoding in logs, etc). Many quality assurance measures must be met in order to pass the inspection.

This is truly one of the rotations I will never forget and definitely miss through my fourth year. It is the ideal community pharmacist job and makes me appreciate my career even more.

I have to say “Chao LCHC Pharmacy” and onto the next rotation, but I will always keep it in my memory and in “mi corazón”!


The year 2014 was filled with excit-ing milestones and accomplish-

ments for the student pharmacists of the Carolina Association of Pharmacy Students (CAPS). Throughout the year, the organization and its individual members received multiple awards and recognitions. In March, CAPS was recognized as the APhA-ASP Chapter of the Year at the APhA Annual Meet-ing in Orlando, Florida. This unprec-edented honor could be attributed to the great work of our members, leaders, and advisors during the 2012-2013 school years. Other awards we received included Operation Heart First Runner-up, Operation Self-Care First Runner-up, and Generation Rx Second Runner-up.

The annual CAPS Back-to-School pic-nic kicked off the Fall 2014 semester. The unofficial theme for the year was, “H.R. 4190 and Provider Status.” Our members sent over 100 letters and emails to state representatives urging them to support the bill that would recognize pharmacists as health care providers under federal law. In addi-tion, four chapter members attending the APhA-ASP Summer Leadership Institute lobbied on Capitol Hill in July, meeting with several representatives

regarding the bill. As a result of stu-dent pharmacists advocating for pro-vider status all around the country, 123 representatives have signed on as cosponsors of H.R. 4190! CAPS members also demonstrated the im-pact they can have on patient care through the Karing with Kroger Pro-gram, which was started as a collab-orative partnership in January 2014. This fall 396 patients received clinical services, including both blood pres-sure and blood glucose screenings as well as over-the-counter medication recommendations and counseling by student pharmacists at 10 different Kroger locations across the Triangle.

In October, 125 CAPS members attended the APhA-ASP Region 3 Midyear Regional Meeting (MRM) in Atlanta, GA. Not only was this a re-cord-number of UNC attendees in CAPS’ history, but this was also the largest number of student pharmacists from one institution attending MRM in the country! CAPS members from the Asheville campus drafted a policy re-garding increased access to naloxone kits to prevent opioid-related deaths; this passed at the regional level during the meeting. PY3s Kye Grooms and Briana Moore were also recognized for

SPOTLIGHT: Looking Back, Moving Forward: CAPS Year in Review by Sarah Todd


their contributions to our chapter. UNC was recognized as the Region 3 Oper-ation Self-Care winner for the 2013-2014 school year, due to the hard work of co-chairs Lauren Shelmerdine (PY3) and Leslie Walters (PY3), and CAPS members. Additionally, Evan Colemenares (PY2) was elected as APhA-ASP Region 3 Delegate for the 2014-2015 year!

Other highlights and accomplishments from the fall include:

Brian Kurish (PY2), Rachel La-Bianca (PY3), Jenny Levine (PY3), and Alex Toler (PY3) were the NCAP Annual OTC Jeopardy champions, which is the second year in a row that UNC Eshelman School of Phar-macy has won the competition.

Rebecca Call (PY4) and Erin Christensen (PY4) placed third in the National ASHP Clinical Skills Competition among 127 competing teams.

CAPS members administered over 2,000 immunizations.

Our members and leaders have also worked hard to raise awareness about different disease states:

Operation Heart Co-chairs, Kris-ten Emilson (PY3) and Colleen Moody (PY3), recruited 26 members to participate in the Triangle Heart Walk to help raise over $1,200 for the American Heart Association.

Women’s Health Co-chairs, Caki Buckthal (PY2) and Hannah Mierz-wa (PY2), and Hematology/Oncology Special Interest Committee Chair, Stephanie Jean (PY2), organized the first annual “Tossing for TaTas” event to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Project AGE Co-chairs, Dana Billock (PY3) and Cynthia Lee (PY3), hosted the 10th Annual Aging in Stride 5k, with over 100 partici-pants, to benefit the Aging in Place fund of Orange County.

Our Asheville campus CAPS mem-bership has also continued to grow, thanks to the leadership of Emily Eddy (PY3), CAPS Asheville President, which helped increase programming and community outreach in Asheville. This past semester was the first time Ashe-ville participated in a National Med-ication Take-Back Day, through the APhA-ASP initiative, Generation Rx. In addition, Asheville participated in the Natural High Series, created by previ-ous Generation Rx Co-chairs at UNC, for the first time. Asheville CAPS mem-bers provided monthly blood pressure screenings, medication and vaccina-tion counseling at a local Walgreens.

It certainly has been a successful year for the Carolina Association of Pharma-cy Students. Looking forward to anoth-er great year in 2015!

The CAPSule Asks:


“Through my involvement with APhA-ASP, I was able to attend the Summer Leadership Insti-tute (SLI) in Washington, D.C., where I lobbied on Capitol Hill with other student phar-macists for provider status. I never thought this would be something I would get to do as a student!” - Jenny Levine, PY3

“Here in Asheville one of my most memorable experiences was our first Asheville CAPS in-terest meeting. The leadership and I had planned a lot over the summer to make sure things ran smoothly and we got peo-ple excited. It was awesome to look at at the first meeting and see so many faces. There were so many people excited about CAPS and that excite-ment has propelled us to have a super successful year so far!” - Emily Eddy, PY3

“Completely embarrassing myself in front of everybody

with a kleenex box full of ping pong balls strapped to

my backside!” - Claire Schendel, PY1

“My most memorable moment in CAPS was volunteering at

the state fair in my PY1 year. As a PY1, I couldn’t give im-

munizations so my job was to convince people that “yes, you need your flu shot” and “no, flu

shots will not cause the flu,” which was quite a challenging endeavor. My favorite people

that day were the group of po-lice officers that originally be-lieved the flu shot caused the

flu.” - Jennifer Ku, PY2

What has been your most memorable experience with CAPS?

capsule_nov-dec 2014

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