A total of 103 teams from around the country competed in the 2025 ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge (CPC), with the top 16 teams competing live at the 2025 ACCP Annual Meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During the final round on Monday, October 20, the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy was crowned the champion. After the competition, ACCP National Student Network Advisory Committee Chair Jordan Chenevert had the pleasure of interviewing the team.

Why did you choose pharmacy?

Noah was originally interested in pharmacy because he has family members who are pharmacists. During undergraduate school, he wanted to pursue a career in the science field and was sold on pharmacy by his parents after hearing about the flexibility and patient interaction that comes with being a pharmacist.

Britney was first exposed to pharmacy in high school, but her passion for pharmacy stems from wanting to make a difference in the community. She loves working with other health care professionals to directly affect patients’ lives, and pharmacy is the perfect profession for these types of interventions.

Anna went into her undergraduate career wanting to pursue a medical career. During this time, she attended a health professions fair and enjoyed talking with the pharmacists and learning about the profession. From there, she started working as a pharmacy technician and enjoyed earning patients’ trust and developing relationships with them.

How did your team choose to work together for this competition?

The University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy hosted a local clinical pharmacy challenge where they competed individually. From there, the participants were chosen on the basis of the best combination of subcategories, which allowed them to have strong knowledge in a broad range of topics.

How did you prepare for the Clinical Pharmacy Challenge?

Once the team was assembled, they met and evaluated their strengths and weaknesses and then focused on improving in their weakest area(s). In the summer leading up to the competition, the team had study sessions during which they reviewed practice questions on the ACCP website. During this time, they noted drastic improvements in certain areas such as pediatrics, biostatistics, rheumatology, and dermatology.

What tips or tricks do you have for future competitors?

They recommend splitting up the material to allow for a deeper understanding on each subject without being overwhelmed at the volume of knowledge needed. During the competition, if a question arose in one of the team member’s assigned subjects, the team would trust that member and let them decide what answer to choose. This allowed for efficient time management. Another trick they used during the competition was to buzz in right when answers popped up if they thought they would know the answer. This would secure them the opportunity to answer the question in the 10-second period while they read the answers. If the question was asking about a drug in the question stem, they would forgo waiting for the answers and buzz before the answers were shown.

In hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently to prepare for this competition?

Overall, they felt prepared for the competition by focusing on high-yield subjects. The only areas they thought they could have covered more thoroughly were biostatistics and calculations.

Did you have a specific plan for choosing which questions to answer first in the Jeopardy round?

The team’s strategy was to start with the topics they felt most comfortable with and leave the rest for later in the round. They also used frequent score checks to assess the competition’s state. This allowed for an adaptive play style where they could be as aggressive or passive as needed.

Who was your most influential mentor as you prepared for the CPC?

All 3 team members chose Ian Hollis as the key mentor in their CPC preparation. He provided a huge confidence boost for the competition and continues to provide support in their growth as pharmacists. In addition, Dr Hollis’s experience as a past chair of the Cardiology PRN helped get them involved in ACCP, which led them to this competition.

What are your general future plans?

Noah plans to pursue a PGY1 residency with a PGY2 residency. He is currently deciding if he wants to pursue a PGY2 in cardiology or critical care. He specifically stated that he likes the MICU because he enjoys experiencing many different areas of pharmacy.

Britney plans to pursue a PGY1 and PGY2 residency with a focus on either ambulatory care or cardiology. She is currently deciding which pathway she wants to delve into.

Anna plans to pursue a PGY1 with a PGY2 residency program, focusing on solid-organ and bone marrow transplant. She hopes to get a mix of inpatient and outpatient experience with her residency.

What was your favorite part of the 2025 ACCP Annual Meeting?

Noah enjoyed reuniting with fellow University of North Carolina attendees after being away on APPEs for his P4 year.

Britney enjoyed networking and meeting new people from other schools and in the Cardiology PRN group. However, her favorite part was participating in the Clinical Pharmacy Challenge, and she will cherish this as her favorite pharmacy school memory.

Anna’s favorite part of the meeting was the Clinical Pharmacy Challenge. This competition allowed the team to have fun on and off the stage even though the nail-biter semifinals round almost resulted in the first-ever tie-breaker round.

The University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy heavily encourages other student chapters to participate in the Clinical Pharmacy Challenge because it is a fun experience, from preparing to competing. Once again, congratulations to these 3 students, and thank you for putting on a fantastic show during this competition.

Picture:

Left to right: Anna Dalton, Noah Jordan (team leader), and Britney Brown