The University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy team consisting of Sami Gangi, J.T. Berard-Moore, and Hailey Joo was crowned the champion of the ACCP 2025 Clinical Research Challenge. At the ACCP Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the team presented the research proposal titled “Tapering Antidepressants with Pharmacist-Led Exponential Reduction (TAPER): A Pilot Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial Assessing Structured Proportional Tapering for SSRI Discontinuation” under their faculty adviser, Nicole Asal. After their victory, the ACCP National Student Network Committee chair, Jordan Chenevert, asked the team questions about them and the competition.

Please provide a brief introduction (where you are from, what year you are in pharmacy school, goals for after graduation, and any other fun facts you might want us to include!).

Sami: I am from East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and a third-year student pharmacist. I am very interested in going into health outcomes research, and I plan to complete a PhD once I graduate pharmacy school. I am also really interested in health policy and would really like to work in some aspect of legislation and helping patients at a population level. I am also interested in academia, but I do not know where I am going to end up! In my free time, I enjoy playing cribbage and watching Formula 1 racing.

J.T.: I am from Santa Cruz, California, and a third-year pharmacy student. I’m interested in health care finance, economics, and behavior. After graduation, I’d love to work with employer-sponsored health plans to help make it easier (and cheaper) for people to get/stay healthy and well! Until then, my goal is to be a really good clinical pharmacist. In my free time, I enjoy playing cards, losing to Sami in cribbage, doing a bit of magic, and reading. I read about the mind, brain, and economics, alongside all their accompanying problems, and I just finished my 100th book of the year. My favorite author is Daniel Kahneman and his books Thinking Fast and Slow and Noise.

Hailey: I’m from Seoul, South Korea, and am currently a third-year student pharmacist. I’m interested in pursuing a career as a hospital pharmacist. In my free time, I enjoy going to the gym and taking walks.

Why did you choose pharmacy?

Sami: I always knew I wanted to go into the health care field, and after taking chemistry in high school, I knew I loved the medication side of things. After talking with some pharmacists, I realized there were many different opportunities as a Pharm.D. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but everything related to pharmacy interested me, and I knew I would find unique opportunities to help patients while still doing something I am interested in.

J.T.: I think drugs are fascinating and remember growing up with lots of family members taking various psychotropic agents, including me at one time, and I wanted to learn more of the nuances of pharmacology and pharmacotherapy and ultimately how to improve health care delivery. I worked at a small pharmacy in high school, and talking with the pharmacists there solidified that this was a good discipline for someone like me.

Hailey: I’ve known I wanted to pursue pharmacy since high school—without a doubt. The mechanisms of how drugs work have always fascinated me. I wanted a career that challenged me intellectually, and because I was only interested in the medical field, pharmacy was a natural fit.

How did you choose to work together on this team?

We were all interested in participating in the CRC, but we had more than 3 people who wanted to participate from our school. We had a preliminary local journal club to determine who would participate on the team, and we were selected as the top performers. Hailey and I (J.T.) actually competed as P1s in the fall and didn’t even get to round 2. The CRC seemed like a good opportunity to apply our knowledge, challenge ourselves, and see what we were capable of.

What did you do to prepare?

From the beginning, we made sure everyone understood what was required in each round and what deliverables were asked of us. For the first round, we all extensively prepared by reviewing the journal on our own and then as a team to make sure we were all on the same page. We also tried to devise practice questions that we thought could be asked to test ourselves. For the second round, J.T. had the overall idea for our proposal, but then we each researched the topic separately to ensure we all understood the background. We then split up the sections initially on the basis of our own strengths and, once we came up with drafts, worked together to ensure everything meshed together and provided a cohesive proposal. For the final round, we expanded on everything we previously had and then worked to make everything as polished and bulletproof as possible for any problems or situations that could arise during a study. It took many hours of collaboration and fine-tuning to make the final proposal, but it was worth it in the end!

What tips or tricks do you have for future competitors?

Start the project early—it takes a lot more time than you would expect—and the more you brainstorm and take notes initially, the easier it will be down the line. Learn the study for round 1 like the back of your hand, and don’t stop there. If a drug was mentioned in the paper, make sure you know it: mechanisms, monitoring, and side effects. For every figure/table, know the message and, if a specific question is asked with respect to it, where that answer can be found (eg, table 1, figure 3). When it comes to working on the proposal, THINK BIG. I am confident we won because of our innovation. Within a given area (in our case, mental health), what are the most common disease states, how many people are affected, what treatment do people receive, and what are the problems. Think about what experience you have with the field that gives you a unique insight into the scope of the problem because you are likely very similar to the millions of people affected.

What did you bring to the team that was unique?

Sami: I am a very detail-oriented person, so I was very specific about ensuring that everything matched up between the sections and that all of our graphics were as concise but informative as possible. I also have taken an elective on study designs, which helped to plan out the methods and ensure the study would be feasible given the parameters.

J.T.: I have extensive background knowledge in mental health and psychiatry (at least for a student). I remember checking my first copy of Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology when I was 19 and reading the thing cover to cover. From there, I have read 15 to 20 books on psychiatry, and this gave us some incredible leverage in terms of having a strong foundation in and understanding of current problems. This includes understanding what we do well and, more importantly, where we fall short. It was truly serendipitous that our theme was mental health.

Hailey: At the start of the challenge, we were just starting to dip our feet in—learning the pharmacology and clinical application of antidepressants in one class and study design in another. The timing was interesting; I remember wishing we had completed those courses before starting the challenge. I focused on identifying our flaws and addressing the feedback from round 2, because I felt that would be our biggest barrier to winning. Specifically, I refined how we measured our objectives by reviewing similar pilot studies and tailoring our methods to align more professionally with theirs.

In hindsight, is there anything your team would have done differently to prepare?

It would have been favorable if we could have turned it in earlier. We ended up submitting our proposal right at the deadline, finishing it up after probably 6 hours straight. This is definitely not from a lack of trying to get it done earlier but goes to show how time-consuming a project like this is.

What motivated you to compete in the Clinical Research Challenge?

Sami: I have recently become very interested in research, and this project seemed like the perfect way to compete at the national level and gain experience in creating a research proposal. I am also a very competitive person and always want to push myself to be the best student pharmacist that I can be.

J.T.: I am a decently competitive person, and ever since taking a step away from sports, I have really been needing a competitive outlet to put my energy into. The competition seemed interesting: challenging and above all just a great learning experience. Between all that, it was an easy sell.

Hailey: I’ve always been interested in pharmacy, as I mentioned in my answer to question 2, so it felt natural to take on a challenge in something I enjoy.

Who was your most influential mentor?

Sami: My most influential mentor was Dr Nardolillo, who got me interested in research and brainstorming different approaches to solve unique problems. He pushed me to explore unique aspects of pharmacy practice and helped me realize that I want to best help patients through research.

J.T.: Prior to the competition, I happened to reach out to a psychiatrist, Dr Marrissa Witt-Doering, working in the “deprescribing” space to learn more about the scope of the issue and pearls of the trade. She was very welcoming of all my questions and provided some helpful guidance on understanding the issue. I am very grateful for her and providers alike. Dr Caffrey is another hugely supportive person who supported our idea and helped us develop it into something realistic and practical. She is an absolute genius.

Hailey: I would say my most influential mentor is Dr Ramos-DeSimone. She helps me stay grounded and be easy on myself.

Once again, a huge congratulations to this team of students on winning the 2025 Clinical Research Challenge!