Sports Pharmacy Summit: Expanding the Pharmacist’s Role in Athlete Health and Performance

Ahead of the Sports Pharmacy Summit, taking place April 10 and 11 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this preconference spotlight features insights from Brandon Welch, PharmD. Welch highlights the growing role of clinical sports pharmacists in optimizing medication safety, managing anti-doping risks, and supporting athlete performance through personalized care. He emphasizes the importance of understanding pharmacokinetics, supplement interactions, and evolving regulatory considerations in sports medicine. The discussion also explores emerging opportunities in pharmacogenomics, interdisciplinary collaboration, and career pathways within the field.

Pharmacy Times: As the Sports Pharmacy Summit approaches, what key themes or clinical topics do you believe will be most important for attendees to pay attention to this year?

Brandon Welch, PharmD: We’re seeing a clear shift from generalized care to more individual strategies. Some of the different themes and topics you’ll see covered at the Sports Pharmacy Summit include identifying clinical tools like blood-based biomarker testing, performance metrics such as heart rate variability, sleep, and VO2 max, all the way down to more precise, data-driven decision-making.

You’ll also get more knowledge on the evolving anti-doping landscape. We’re starting to see more questions come up around peptides, biologics, and different substances on the monitoring lists, so it is very essential for different healthcare providers to not only understand what’s prohibited, but also anything that’s rapidly evolving in this space and stay up to date with that information.

Lastly, which I’d say is probably a key take-home you’ll get from our summit, is more practical, case-based learning. Essentially, we’ll be bridging that gap between evidence and real-world application when it comes to athlete care.

Pharmacy Times: What should attendees specifically be looking out for at this year’s summit—whether that’s new research, interdisciplinary collaboration, or evolving roles for pharmacists?

Welch: So, the great thing is you’ll get a combination of all of it. You’ll get the emerging research that’s translating into practice, not just theory, but how it’s directly impacting certain clinical decision-making.

We’ll talk a little bit about peptides. We actually have a panel discussion with me as moderator, Dr. Jessica Beal, a sports pharmacist, a former Paralympic Olympian, and a sports dietitian, and we’ll talk about some of those emerging research topics, especially around peptides and a lot of these online pharmacies that athletes and different practitioners should be aware of.

Then you’ll see that interdisciplinary collaboration of how all these different disciplines come together to make shared decisions. We have pharmacists, athletic trainers, sports dietitians, and Certified Strength and Conditioning coaches.

Lastly, you’ll really get to see the expanding role of the clinical sports pharmacist, and we will discuss different career opportunities. You’ll also have the vendors and the companies that are actually doing the work that have sports pharmacists and are trying to continue to grow that area. So, you’ll have the University of South California there, led by their clinical sports pharmacist, Alexis Brown. You have Baptist Health South Florida, the chief pharmacy officer, Madeline Camejo, and understanding her vision of how she built out the sports pharmacy program at Baptist Health. Then you have SportPharm, which is more community-based, that shows how we tend to hire sports pharmacists.

The great thing about the conference is you’ll get all 3 different layers on how sports pharmacy essentially comes together.

Pharmacy Times: You’ve worked with both professional and collegiate teams—how has the role of the clinical sports pharmacist evolved in these settings, and where do you see it going next?

Welch: So, in the professional sports world, you’re starting to see more clinical sports pharmacists tap into more of their kinetic knowledge around medication management compliance. You’re starting to see them oversee more formulary development, looking at medications that are best supported for athletes and pairing that up with understanding their different training demands. With professional athletes, you’re also seeing more sports pharmacists doing more of the anti-doping risk assessment and collaborating more as part of that interdisciplinary sports medicine team.

At the collegiate level is where I see the biggest opportunity, because many of those programs don’t have this expertise embedded into their system. A lot of it has to do with the lack of funding and also the lack of hierarchy structure when it comes to building that sports pharmacy ecosystem.

Looking ahead, I do see clinical sports pharmacists also diving into more pharmacogenetic testing, which looks at the genetics of how certain medications are metabolized and their impact on an athlete’s performance. The opportunities are starting to become limitless when it comes to the pharmacist’s involvement in sports medicine.

Pharmacy Times: Based on your experience, where do pharmacists currently have the greatest opportunity to expand their impact within sports medicine and performance care?

Welch: Medication safety and risk management is huge, especially in relation to anti-doping and supplement use. The supplement market is so inundated, and there are many questions around which medications are safe and which medications are effective. Even around the topic of athletes consuming energy drinks, some are also combining that with taking Adderall, which is a stimulant, and pre-workouts. A pharmacist has a great opportunity to understand the interactions between medications and the use of certain supplements.

Then, as I mentioned previously, personalized medicine, looking at pharmacogenomics to optimize medication therapy, is another key area. Between those things, I think that’s where pharmacists essentially have the greatest opportunity to expand their impact.

Pharmacy Times: For pharmacists looking to break into sports pharmacy, what practical steps or experiences would you recommend to build credibility and get involved in this space?

Welch: Attending conferences like the Sports Pharmacy Summit is important so that you can interact with people who are actually doing the work and also network with other disciplines in sports medicine. You should also engage with different sports pharmacy organizations, whether that be the United States Sports Pharmacy Group or the Sports Pharmacy Network. I believe there is also the International Sports Pharmacist Network, so you definitely want to be a part of these organizations to stay up to date and abreast of the latest research in sports pharmacy.

I also highly encourage taking the USADA, the US Anti-Doping Agency, free anti-doping course that they have available for healthcare practitioners. Lastly, trying to take any of the certifications that are available to future sports pharmacists is important, such as USC Mann’s sports pharmacy certification. The Sports Pharmacy Network has their sports pharmacy certification in the works, the US Sports Pharmacy Group has their sports pharmacy certification, and there is also the IOC diploma course in sports pharmacy.

I think these are really good baseline and foundational steps that I would recommend for pharmacists trying to break into that space. If they are a student, one of the things I would recommend is trying to look for different APPE or IPPE rotation sites in sports pharmacy so they can gain more hands-on experience.

Pharmacy Times: What’s one misconception or area in sports medicine or performance health that you think pharmacists still need to better understand?

Welch: I can’t emphasize enough the importance of understanding the pharmacokinetics behind drugs and pharmacovigilance, which is understanding the adverse effects. There are a lot of medications out there that can impact an athlete’s performance inadvertently.

By understanding which medications—such as certain anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers, antibiotics, antidepressants, and anxiety medications—are best for the athlete without interfering with their training program or competition schedule, pharmacists can play a very pivotal role. This is something that is often overlooked in the sports pharmacy realm.

Additionally, pharmacists should continuously stay up to date with their anti-doping knowledge. They shouldn’t shy away from this space and should continue to lead it with evidence, integrity, and good clinical judgment.