Pharmacy Residency Program | MedStar Georgetown University Hospital | MedStar Health

Pharmacy Residency Program at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital

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Program Overview

The purpose of the MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s PGY-1 pharmacy residency program is to build on Doctor of Pharmacy education and outcomes to contribute to the development of clinical pharmacists responsible for medication-related care of patients with a wide range of conditions, eligible for board certification, and eligible for postgraduate year two (PGY2) pharmacy residency training. Our program’s training emphasis is on acute care in a hospital setting. The program has been accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists since 1994. Our preceptors are clinical coordinators and clinical specialists who work in their area of specialty.

MedStar Washington Hospital Center is a 912-bed, private, not-for-profit teaching hospital. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks the Hospital Center’s cardiology and heart surgery program as one of the nation’s best. Respected specialty areas include MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute, Transplantation services, MedSTAR shock/trauma, and The Burn Center.

The Hospital Center is among the100 largest hospitals in the nation, and is renowned for handling the Washington region’s most complex cases. As one of the largest teaching hospitals in the Washington area, the Hospital Center trains more than 300 medical residents and fellows in more than 30 specialties annually. The Hospital Center is a member of MedStar Health, a regional health care delivery system serving the Baltimore-Washington corridor.

Pharmacy residents work with the health care team by collaborating during interdisciplinary rounds, monitoring drug therapy, providing drug information and educating patients, health care professionals and students. The program provides opportunities for residents to gain experience in delivering educational programs, participating in performance improvement projects as well as designing and completing a residency project. Residents have the opportunity to participate in the P&T committee as well as enhance leadership skills via one of the department’s Shared Governance Councils. The pharmacy department offers weekly onsite educational conferences including educational programs that are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) to enhance pharmacists’ knowledge and skills.

Graduated residents have pursued PGY-2 residencies, became clinical pharmacists, clinical specialists, preceptors, and leaders. Some have pursued opportunities at ASHP and the FDA.

Learning experiences

There are longitudinal learning experiences in staffing and residency project. In addition, each resident is required to complete core rotations and 4 elective learning experiences.

Core Rotations:

  • Orientation
  • Internal Medicine
  • Antimicrobial Stewardship Medication-Use Safety & Policy Cardiology Surgical Intensive Care Practice Management Advanced Heart Failure & Heart Transplant

Elective rotations

Based on the resident’s progress and interests, resident may choose 4 elective learning experiences that include:

  • Medical Intensive Care
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Oncology
  • Ambulatory Oncology
  • Infectious Disease Consults
  • Palliative Care
  • Neuroscience Intensive Care
  • Burn/Trauma
  • Informatics
  • Compounding Preparations
  • Pharmacogenomics
  • Neonatal Intensive Care
  • Health System Administration
  • Primary Care Mental Health Integration

Projects

Residents complete projects throughout the program. These projects are in areas that are relevant to contemporary pharmacy practice and pharmacy management. Each project is an opportunity for residents to develop skills in collecting, analyzing and presenting data. Completion of a residency project is a requirement of the program. Residents present their residency projects at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear clinical meeting, our pharmacy department’s conference and Eastern States Conference for Pharmacy Residents and Preceptors.

Service

Residents fulfill a service commitment on weekends by working with one of the pharmacy teams to provide pharmaceutical care.

Teaching

Residents provide education to healthcare professionals, pharmacists, and pharmacy students. This is an opportunity to develop teaching and presentation skills. A teaching certificate is available.

Benefits

Resident benefits include a generous salary, health/vision/dental insurance, 10 paid vacation/sick days, seven holidays, stipend for attending professional pharmacy meetings, and free onsite ACPE educational programs.

Applicant requirements

All candidates must meet the following criteria:

  • Possess a PharmD from an ACPE-accredited school or college of pharmacy
  • Be eligible to apply for pharmacist license in the District of Columbia
  • Have completed 1,500 hours of professional pharmacy practice as a student or graduate pharmacist
  • Have completed an additional 400 hours of independent pharmacy work in distribution of medicines and prescriptions. This is work experience that is outside of school, a DC Board of Pharmacy requirement.
  • Participate in the ASHP PGY-1 Residency Matching Program
  • Eligible to work in the United States

Application requirements

Applicants are required to submit the following documents via PhORCAS:

  • Completed application
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Personal statement indicating professional goals and interests
  • Three standard recommendation forms
  • College of pharmacy transcripts

Application process

Individuals interested in applying should apply via the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application System (PhORCAS) www.ashp.org/phorcas. Qualified applicants will be invited for an interview. Candidates are selected based on professional competence, scholastic achievement, communication skills, interpersonal skills and comprehension of current standards of pharmacy practice. Candidates are matched via the ASHP Resident Matching Program.

Our program code is 174713


Program Director

Lama Kanawati, PharmD, BCPS
110 Irving Street, NW Room B147
Washington, DC 20010-2975
Phone: 202 877-3407
Lama.Kanawati@medstar.net

Residency projects

  • 2023

    Evaluation of ketamine for adjunctive pain management in sickle cell crisis: A single center, intra-comparison study
    Naidelyn Medina, PharmD; Minhee Kang, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP; Lama Kanawati, PharmD, BCPS

    Provider adherence to monitoring recommendations for oral anticancer medications at outpatient oncology clinics within a large academic medical system
    Anas Hanini, PharmD; Pauline Guthrie, PharmD, Joshua Bailey, PharmD

    Identification of oncology providers interest, use-cases, and barriers to use of pharmacogenomic testing
    Meghna Bhatt, PharmD; Max Smith, PharmD, BCPS

    Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of warfarin compared to DOACs following bioprosthetic valve replacement
    Caitlin Benkart, PharmD; Victoria Ly, PharmD, BCCP; Wafaa Abou-Zeineddine, PharmD, BCPS

  • 2022

    Evaluation of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors and/or Beta-Blockers in Primary Prevention of Cardiac Dysfunction Caused by Anthracyclines and Trastuzumab in African American Breast Cancer Patients
    Serena Mitaly, PharmD; Victoria Ly, PharmD, BCCP; Quan Li, PharmD, BCOP, BCPS, DPLA

    Marijuana and Dietary Supplement Use in African American Hematology/Oncology Patients
    Humam Alkhaled, PharmD; Quan Li, PharmD, BCOP, BCPS, DPLA

    Effects of Immunosuppression Titration by Single Point Immune Cell Function Assay in Heart Transplants
    Rita Chen, PharmD; Bolanle Lawuyi, PharmD, BCCP

    Evaluation of the Safety of the New Alcohol Containing Cyclophosphamide Formulation
    Tonya Wright, PharmD; Quan Li, PharmD, BCOP, BCPS, DPLA

  • 2021

    Evaluation of patients switching from direct oral anti-Xa inhibitors to parental anticoagulation in tertiary care hospital
    Betlihem Semma, PharmD; Lisa Peters, PharmD, BCPS

    Impact of pharmacist driven patient education on acute coronary syndrome patient outcomes
    Rohina Bayat, PharmD; Lisa Peters, PharmD, BCPS

    Impact of ketamine use on pain management in the emergency department
    Manraj Kalkat, PharmD; Lama Kanawati, PharmD, BCPS

    Pharmacist managed anticoagulation in LVAD patients in a large tertiary care hospital
    Jessica Szatkowski, PharmD; Victoria Ly, PharmD

  • 2020

    Evaluation of moderate sedation outcomes in procedural areas by non-anesthesiologists
    Nancy Tang, PharmD; Cynthia Willis, PharmD

    Appropriateness of empiric antimicrobial treatment of septic patients transferred from skilled nursing facilities to a tertiary hospital
    Dilbi Hussein, PharmD; Lama Kanawati, PharmD, BCPS

    Evaluation of fentanyl transdermal systems for pain management in a tertiary hospital
    Carlette Cavenaugh, PharmD; Diana Stewart, PharmD, BCPS

    Evaluating the impact of nasal screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on vancomycin therapy in the intensive care unit
    Roshani Patel, PharmD; Jennifer Brandt, PharmD, FASHP, BCCCP

  • 2019

    Impact of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction system on antibiotic optimization Assessing the incidence of medication-related patient safety events
    Gayle Unhjem, PharmD, MHS; Jennifer Brandt, PharmD, FASHP, BCCCP

    Trace Element Supplementation in Burn Patients
    Annmarie Cristiano, PharmD; Jennifer Brandt, PharmD, FASHP, BCCCP

    Evaluation of ketamine use for postoperative pain management
    Inna Perinskaya, PharmD; Lama Kanawati, PharmD, BCPS

    Assessing the incidence of medication-related patient safety event reports
    Lisa Pickmans, PharmD; Jennifer Brandt, PharmD, FASHP, BCCCP

    Implementation of operating room pharmacy services in a tertiary care hospital
    Inna Perinskaya, PharmD; Cynthia Willis, PharmD

  • 2018

    Evaluation of vancomycin-associated nephrotoxicity before and after implementation of an intensive pharmacist monitoring program
    Sarah El-Gendi, PharmD; Zetta Leftridge, PharmD

    Medication Safety events secondary to pump programming errors before and after implementation of an infusion management system
    Taylor Kravatz, PharmD; Cynthia Willis, PharmD

    Appropriateness of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis before and after guideline implementation
    Erin Grannan, PharmD; Jennifer Brandt, PharmD, FASHP

    De-escalation of broad-spectrum antibiotics in the intensive care unit
    Mary McIntyre, PharmD; Jennifer Brandt, PharmD, FASHP

Why train here

Tailored toward residents’ interests

Our program is tailored toward the residents’ interests. Incoming residents have complete autonomy over their required and elective rotation choices. In addition, they have a strong required core rotation schedule.

Small class size

One of the main benefits of our program is that the small size of the residency class enables preceptors to focus solely on residents’ learning and growth throughout each rotation block.

Distinctive elective rotation blocks

The program offers many unique elective rotation opportunities not commonly seen across the nation, such as:

  • Pharmacogenomics
  • Informatics
  • Investigational drug service
  • Medication safety
  • Transplant
  • Antimicrobial Management
  • Palliative Care

Tailored toward growth

Every learning experience is tailored towards residents’ professional growth. The MedStar Georgetown PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency program will prepare all resident candidates to be successful at inpatient care and also will sharpen a candidate's skills in research and pharmacy innovation.

Academic excellence

MedStar Georgetown is a 650-bed hospital nationally recognized for exceptional patient care in solid organ transplant, liquid/solid tumors, critical care, orthopedics, and internal medicine. The department of pharmacy is well-integrated into each interdisciplinary medical team, and the overall pharmacy culture is highly progressive.

As a result, residents’ learning experiences become more enriched, because pharmacists are constantly relied upon by each medical team to ensure appropriate medication use and patient safety.

Also, our pharmacy residency program has been accredited by the American Society of Health System Pharmacists since 2006.

Curriculum

  • Required Rotations

    • Orientation to Pharmacy
    • Pharmacy Administration and Practice Management
    • Antimicrobial Management
    • Hematology, Oncology, and Bone Marrow Transplant
    • Intensive Care
    • Internal Medicine
    • Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care/Transplant
    • Solid Organ Transplant
  • Longitudinal Rotations

    • Antiretroviral Inpatient Monitoring
    • Code Response/Management of Medical Emergencies
    • Staffing and Drug Distribution
       
  • Required Activities

    • ACPE Accredited Continuing Education Seminar
    • Drug Utilization Evaluation Presentation at Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee
    • Drug Monograph Presentation at Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee
  • Elective/Advanced Rotations

    • Advanced Pediatric Intensive Care and Abdominal/Liver Organ Transplant
    • Ambulatory Care - Anticoagulation/Adult Primary Care
    • Anticoagulation Stewardship Monitoring
    • Pharmacy Informatics
    • Drug Policy
    • Emergency Medicine
    • ICU – Surgical Intensive Care
    • ICU – Medical Intensive Care
    • Advanced Internal Medicine
    • Investigational Drug Service/Research Pharmacy
    • Advanced Solid Organ Transplant
    • Pharmacogenomics
    • Pain and Palliative Care
    • ICU – Neurocritical Care
    • Specialty Pharmacy
    • System Informatics, Med Safety and Operational Impacts
  • Teaching Certificate Opportunities

    • Participation in the University of Maryland Teaching Certificate Program

Rotations

Infectious Disease Consults

*Any required rotation can be repeated.


Additional requirements and activities

To complement their learning, residents must also participate in the following aspects of our program:

  • Drug distribution/staffing
    • One weeknight per week
    • One weekend per three weeks
    • One major holiday and two minor holidays
  • Preceptorship of PharmD students from affiliated schools of pharmacy
  • Preparation of Drug Monograph for presentation at corporate Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee
  • Collaboration with corporate MedStar Health Administrators for special projects and committee meetings
  • Organizing monthly journal club
  • Present two journal club articles during the course of the residency
  • Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) training and certification
  • Participation in the Washington Metropolitan Society of Health-System Pharmacists (WMHSP) Pharmacy or University of Maryland Teaching Certificate Program
  • Drug Utilization Evaluation (DUE)
  • Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) continuing education presentation
  • Conferences/meeting attendance:
    • ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting (December)
    • Annual Eastern States Residency Conference (April/May)
  • WMHSP Pharmacists Residency Seminars

Training locations

MedStar Georgetown is a world-renowned, not-for-profit, acute-care teaching and research hospital located in Northwest Washington, D.C.,

3800 Reservoir Rd. NW
Washington, D.C., 20007

Application information

Interested in applying?

Contact us

We welcome your questions about our program. For additional information, please contact:

Residency Program Director

Geoffrey R. Cox, PharmD
Directory of Pharmacy, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
Department of Pharmacy
3800 Reservoir Rd, NW
Washington, D.C., 20007

Residency Program Administrative Director
Varintorn (Bank) Aramvareekul, MHSA, MBA, RPh, CPHQ, CSSGB, CPHIMS, PMP, SHIMSS, FACHE
varintorn.aramvareekul@gunet.georgetown.edu