So, You Want To Be A Veterinary Pharmacy Resident…
Join our collegial team focused on delivering outstanding care, educating future veterinarians and pharmacists, and advancing veterinary pharmacy.
What are the similarities and differences between veterinary and human pharmacy residencies?
The role of a veterinary pharmacy resident is very similar to the role of a traditional pharmacy resident. A veterinary pharmacy resident will rotate throughout the Veterinary Teaching Hospital’s many specialties to gain knowledge of the clinical decision making that leads to the use of certain medications. Unlike a traditional pharmacy resident, a veterinary pharmacy resident will have to learn how to interpret PK/PD information of medications and extrapolate their understanding of how the medications will work for multiple species. The veterinary pharmacy resident will also have to understand differences in physiology and metabolism among various species to help with prescription review and verification, as well as address drug information questions.
What experiences does the resident get to have?
At Illinois, you’ll have opportunities to work with a wide variety of services seeing species from large animal, small animal, zoological medicine and wildlife. The residency includes several opportunities to experience diverse practice settings and apply veterinary pharmacy fundamentals. These include required rotations at a compounding pharmacy and inpatient hospital pharmacy as well as elective opportunities to experience practice at contract zoos, Medical District Veterinary Clinic (our primary care practice in Chicago), the University of Illinois Chicago College of Pharmacy, and Midwest Equine. For those interested in pharmacy management, there are several opportunities for rotations designed to develop critical management skills.
The best part about this position is that you can build it to match your interests!
- Rotate through typical specialties such as Emergency, Critical Care, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Primary Care, Urgent Care, Equine Medicine and Food Animal Medicine.
- Rotate through unique specialties such as Zoo Med and Wildlife, Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Shelter Medicine and many more.
- There is also a human inpatient pharmacy experience and the possibility to even rotate through the pharmacy services at a different veterinary teaching hospital.
What does a veterinary pharmacy resident’s schedule look like?
The typical responsibilities of the veterinary pharmacy resident are varied to ensure a well-rounded education. Examples include:
- Weekly book club discussions and bi-weekly journal club discussions
- Lead weekly ER/Critical Care rounds for the fourth-year veterinary students on their ER/Critical Care rotations. Topics consist of pharmacy math practice and topics that the resident and students find important and engaging
- Lead topic discussions, as requested, by certain services
- Review charts for the patients in the Intensive Care and Intermediate Care units
- Staff in the pharmacy as scheduled and participate in the pharmacist on-call rotating shifts
- Work closely with the RPD to develop and implement a longitudinal research project
- Assist with precepting responsibilities for both pharmacy students and veterinary students that rotate through the pharmacy
- Participate in both a Residency Teaching Certificate Program and a CE Seminar Series in conjunction with traditional pharmacy residents through the University of Illinois Chicago
- Develop formulations and perform sterile and non-sterile compounding procedures, including those for hazardous drugs including certification to perform sterile compounding in the USP 797/800-compliant cleanroom
About Our Team
We currently have two full-time board-certified clinical veterinary pharmacists as well as one part time pharmacist. Our pharmacists are supported by two full-time certified pharmacy technicians and one office support specialist that is also a certified pharmacy technician.
Residents receive support from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and UIC’s Department of Pharmacy Practice, the home department of all our residency trainees. The department educates and trains students, residents, and fellows as well as practicing pharmacists to become recognized for their leadership, knowledge and competence in practice, research, and teaching.
All application materials or questions regarding the application process can be directed to VCMGradProgram@vetmed.illinois.edu.
For more information on how apply see below.
You’ll find the amenities needed for a modern, innovative pharmacy service at the University of Illinois:
- USP <797> and <800> compliant cleanroom
- Large non-sterile compounding room
- Supportive and collaborative faculty and staff throughout the hospital that are engaged in continuous improvement of pharmacy services and research
- A hospital administration supportive of both house officer training and well-being as well as the skillset brought to the clinical setting by pharmacists
Our pharmacy service prides itself on providing exceptional patient care as the medication therapy experts responsible for:
- Teaching the next generation of veterinary professionals
- Assisting with high-quality research through ensuring availability of medications and drug information
- Overseeing legal compliance and best practices
- Performing quality assurance and improvement in a positive, collaborative and proactive manner
Applicants
A PharmD degree from an ACPE-accredited school must be obtained prior to the program start date.
Participants must be a citizen of the US, Canada, Mexico, US permanent resident (i.e. holding a “green card”), or other foreign national with employment authorization from US Citizenship and Immigration Services valid for and during the program’s period of proposed training without our provision of assistance, support or sponsorship in obtaining employment authorization.
All application materials or questions regarding the application process can be directed to VCMGradProgram@vetmed.illinois.edu. Application materials required are: letter of intent, including career goals, all transcripts, CV, and three letters of reference. Letters of reference must be sent directly by the writer to the application email address. Applicants must submit all materials by December 31 to receive full consideration for the residency beginning the following calendar year.
Watch Dr. Lauren Forsythe speak about this program!
More About The College
Boarded clinicians in 16 areas of specialization
Innovative approaches to integrated veterinary education, post-graduate veterinary education, and online learning
Part of a top-ranked public, land-grant university
Located in a vibrant, diverse, and international community that still offers Midwestern friendliness and affordability
~ 50 residents and interns
> 500 veterinary students