The winner of the Best Paper Award at the 2009 ACCP Annual Meeting was announced on Tuesday, October 20, 2009, during the second Scientific Poster Presentation. New this year, Best Paper finalists were required to give an 8- to 10-minute platform presentation and to participate in a separate question-and-answer session with the judging panel. The winner of the Best Student Poster Award was announced on Monday, October 19, 2009, and the winner of the Best Resident and Fellow Poster Awards was announced on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. In all, 384 abstracts were presented at the Annual Meeting. Of these, 211 were reports of original research, 58 described innovative clinical pharmacy services, 15 described original research-in-progress, and 53 were student submissions. In addition, many papers were encore presentations of work that had been presented in abstract form at other scientific meetings.

Timothy Bensman (right) accepts the Best Student Poster Award from ACCP John Murphy (left).

Timothy J. Bensman from the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, Los Angeles, won the Best Student Poster Award for “Immunomodulatory Effects of Doxycycline in Cystic Fibrosis Airway Epithelial Cells.” Mr. Bensman’s coauthor on the poster was Paul T. Beringer, also from the University of Southern California. The runner-up in this category was Megan Hames from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research, Gainesville, for “Aromatase genotype in the INternational VErapamil SR/trandolapril STudy (INVEST).” Ms. Hames had five coauthors from the University of Florida: Gregory J. Welder, Julia Wittmann, Rhonda M. Cooper-DeHoff, Carl Pepine, and Julie Johnson. Ms. Hames also had one coauthor from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Amber Beitelshees. The other finalists in this category were Christine K. Yocum from Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida; Jonathan Lee from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis; Andrew Tong from the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Buffalo, New York; and Taegun Kim from the Western University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy in Pomona, California.

Kayla Stover (right) accepts the Best Resident and Fellow Poster Award from ACCP President John Murphy (left).

Kayla R. Stover from the University of Mississippi in Jackson won the Best Resident and Fellow Poster Award for “Cardiac Toxicity of Echinocandin Antifungals.” Dr. Stover’s four coauthors, all from the University of Mississippi, were Huiling Liu, Jerry Farley, William Daley, and John Cleary. The two runners-up in the Best Resident and Fellow Poster Award category were Christopher P. Butler from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) for “Apolipoprotein E Genotype Influences Time to Stable Warfarin Dosing in African Americans,” and Emma M. Tillman from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, for “Eicosapentaenoic Acid Attenuates Bile Acid Induced Hepatocellular Injury by Reducing Apoptosis and Inflammation.” Dr. Butler had five coauthors: Shitalben R. Patel, Edith Nutescu, Nancy L. Shapiro, and Larisa Cavallari from UIC, and Taimour Y. Langaee, from the University of Florida in Gainesville. Dr. Tillman’s coauthors were Brien L. Neudeck, Richard A. Helms, and Dennis D. Black, all from the University of Tennessee in Memphis. The other finalists in this category were Kristine B. Ebright, from Kaiser Permanente Drug Information Services in Downey, California, and Ming Poi, from The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.

S. Casey Laizure (left) accepts the Best Paper Award from ACCP President John Murphy (right).

S. Casey Laizure from the University of Tennessee Department of Clinical Pharmacy in Memphis won the Best Paper Award for his presentation titled, “The Effect of Ethanol on Oral Cocaine Pharmacokinetics Reveals an Unrecognized Class of Clinical Ethanol-Drug Interactions.” Dr. Laizure’s coauthor, Robert B. Parker, was also from the University of Tennessee in Memphis. The first runner-up in the Best Paper competition was Mary H.H. Ensom from the University of British Columbia, Children’s & Women’s Health Centre of British Columbia, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for the presentation titled, “UGT2B7 and ABCC2 Polymorphisms Modify Mycophenolic Acid Pharmacokinetics in Islet Transplant Patients: A Preliminary Report.” Dr. Ensom’s coauthors were Marie-Odile Benoit-Biancamano, Lillian S.L. Ting, Mai Al-Khatib, R. Jean Sharpior, and Nilufar Partovi, all from the University of British Columbia; and Chantal Guillemette from the CHUL Research Center, Laval University, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

The second runner-up in the Best Paper competition was Sheila R. Botts from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in Lexington for her presentation titled, “Quality of Depression Care in Kentucky.” Dr. Botts’s coauthors were Gao Liu, Joseph Conigliaro, and Jeffrey Talbert, all from the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The other finalists in this category were Christopher J. Destache, Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Professions in Omaha, Nebraska; Gary E. Pakes, GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Bernadette Johnson, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque; José O. Rivera, University of Texas at El Paso and University of Texas at Austin; and Kwaku Marfo, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.

Each winner received a plaque and $250 to help offset travel expenses associated with attending the meeting. Serving as finalist judges for the three competitions in Orlando were Marcia Buck, Paul Beringer, Patrick Clay, Michael Gonyeau, Krystal Haase, Dawn Havrda, Mary Hayney, David Hoff, Anne Hume, Sandra Kane-Gill, David Knoppert, Marisel Segarra-Newnham, Wendy St. Peter, and Michael Ujhelyi. In addition, Dr. Beringer served as a judge for the Best Paper competition, and Dr. Ensom judged the Best Student Poster competition.

The next abstract award competition will be held at the College’s 2010 Spring Practice and Research Forum in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 23–27, 2010. The deadline to submit abstracts for the Spring Practice and Research Forum is November 16, 2009, for Original Research and Clinical Pharmacy Forum abstracts, and December 15, 2009, for Student Submissions and Resident and Fellow Research-in-Progress. Abstracts should be submitted online at http://accp.confex.com/accp/2010sp/cfp.cgi.