Texas A&M pharmacy student places second in statewide counseling competition

 Three fourth-year professional pharmacy students competed on July 26 in the statewide patient counseling competition at the Texas Pharmacy Association Conference & Expo in Frisco, Texas.

Texas A&M Health Science Center Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy state finalists were Divya Manavalan of Houston, Madeline King of La Porte, Texas, and Amber Bacak of Lake Jackson, Texas.  

Manavalan placed second in the statewide patient counseling program. “It was such an honor to represent our school,” she said.

With the support of students and faculty at the colleges and schools of pharmacy in Texas hundreds of future pharmacists participated in this year’s Texas patient counseling program. The spring preliminary competitions were conducted on all campuses and the top three finalists were advanced to the state finals. 

The top six finalists in the state are: first place Amanda Zessin of the University of the Incarnate Word; second place Kalyn Marie Acker of the University of Texas and Manavalan of Texas A&M Rangel College of Pharmacy; third place Tina Nguyen of Texas Southern University, Danielle Stifter of the University of Houston and Bindia Patel of the University of Texas.

The judges included Dr. Renee Acosta, Dr. Debra Lopez and Dr. Santhi Masilamani who generously donated their time and expertise. After the competition the results were presented to the state finalists and the judges offered feedback and encouraged all participants to continue their preparation for their role in patient care.

The student pharmacist competition coordinator was Philip Dollin, University of Texas, College of Pharmacy.  His significant contribution and work with each schools coordinators allowed the activities to be student driven and engaged them in project management and leadership growth opportunities.