UAMS Wins NCPA 2022 Good Neighbor Pharmacy Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition

The student pharmacist team from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy has been named the winner of the nineteenth annual Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition.¹ The UAMS team were also the winners of the 2021 Student Business Plan Competition.

Runners up included teams from the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy and the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy.

“In developing their business plans, student pharmacists gain invaluable experience that can help them later become successful pharmacy owners and entrepreneurs,” said Michele Belcher, RPh, NCPA president and owner of Grands Pass Pharmacy in Grants Pass, Oregon, in a press release.

This year’s competition—the first national competition of its kind in the pharmacy space—included 25 schools and colleges of pharmacy from across the United States. Finalists presented their business plans on October 1, 2022, in front of judges Greco De Valencia Y Sanchez, Melissa Jostand, Ira Katz, Bill LaRose, Bill Osborn, and Gabe Trahan.

“The NCPA Foundation helps cultivate the next generation of independent community pharmacy owners and the Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition is our crown jewel in those efforts,” said Jerry Shapiro, PharmD, president of the NCPA Foundation.“Many past participants in the competition have gone into ownership and point to this experience as being an important steppingstone in achieving that goal.”

As winners, the UAMS chapter will receive $3000, as well as an additional $3000 contributed to the school in the dean’s name to promote independent community pharmacy at the college of pharmacy. The team includes captain Tanner Cooper and team members Riley Caraway, Lindsey Cooper, and Hannah Howard. The team is advised by Seth Heldenbrand, PharmD; Cindy Stowe, PharmD, is dean of the College of Pharmacy.

Drug Topics’ coverage of the 2022 NCPA Annual Convention and Expo is sponsored Prescryptive Health.

Reference

1. UAMS wins 2022 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. News release. National Community Pharmacists Association. October 2, 2022. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://ncpa.org/newsroom/news-releases/2022/10/02/uams-wins-2022-good-neighbor-pharmacy-ncpa-pruitt-schutte-student