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College of Pharmacy UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA

Graduating UF Student Pharmacists Look Forward to Residencies

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The College of Pharmacy recently celebrated the achievements of 85 senior pharmacy students in the Doctor of Pharmacy degree program for their acceptances into post-graduate residencies across the

Gainesville Residents
Gainesville Residents

United States. These seniors represent 30 percent of the graduating class, an increase in the percentage of seniors accepted into residencies from previous years, said Michael McKenzie, Ph.D., senior associate dean for professional affairs at the UF College of Pharmacy.

Though they will earn less than half the regular pharmacist’s salary as residents, they see the benefit of getting the extra experience and training to pursue careers in their pharmacy career pathway. The seniors will be residents in a variety of settings and formats including administrative, hospital practice, and community pharmacy.

Jacksonville Residents
Jacksonville Residents

Several seniors will combine their residency training with graduate work toward a master’s degree.Receptions for the new residents and their families were held at each of the college’s fours campus in Gainesville, Jacksonville, Orlando, and St. Petersburg. At the celebration reception on April 9, Gainesville campus students took turns marking a U.S. map with pins showing their residency locations. Ashley Lockwood is heading to Jacksonville, Fla. for her residency at

 

Faculty Jennifer Williams and Sven Normann (left) with St. Petersburg residents
Faculty Jennifer Williams and Sven Normann (left) with St. Petersburg residents

St. Vincent Medical Center Riverside, which will include training in a variety of areas from emergency medicine to outpatient clinics. She is also considering a second-year option for a clinical specialty residency in infectious disease. Her classmate, Sarah Dawson, will be moving north to Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg, Va. She is also interested in applying for a second year of residency in oncology.

Rather than primarily processing prescriptions in a hospital pharmacy, Dawson said she is looking forward to working in direct patient care settings in hospital and clinics where she can help physicians make drug decisions, monitor for drug therapy issues, and interact with patients to provide information and counseling to insure quality outcomes with their medications.