The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) announced that three teams of student pharmacists were named finalists in the 2025 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition. A team from The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy is one of those finalists.
The College of Pharmacy’s team includes fourth-year student pharmacists Rachel Helbling (team leader), Hannah Lerma, Casey Carswell, Romina Manochahri and Gladys Williams. The other two finalist teams hail from the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and the University of Washington School of Pharmacy.
NCPA’s Student Business Plan Competition honors two great champions of independent community pharmacy: the late Neil Pruitt Sr. and the late H. Joseph Schutte. The goal of the competition is to motivate pharmacy students to create a feasible business model for buying an existing independent community pharmacy or opening a new pharmacy, and to prepare tomorrow’s pharmacy entrepreneurs for a successful future.
The UT College of Pharmacy team will present its business plan during a live competition at October’s NCPA Annual Convention in New Orleans.