ASHP Accredited

Program Director: Briana Kocher, PharmD, BCACP
Email: briana.kocher@wvumedicine.org
Positions: 1
Application Due: January 2, 2024
Starting Date: July 1, 2024
Estimated Stipend: $53,000 + benefits

Purpose Statement & Program Overview 

Purpose Statement PGY2 pharmacy residency programs build on Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) education and PGY1 pharmacy residency programs to contribute to the development of clinical pharmacists in specialized areas of practice. PGY2 residencies provide residents with opportunities to function independently as practitioners by conceptualizing and integrating accumulated experience and knowledge and incorporating both into the provision of patient care or other advanced practice settings. Residents who successfully complete an accredited PGY2 pharmacy residency are prepared for advanced patient care, academic, or other specialized positions, along with board certification, if available.

Individuals completing the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Residency Program at WVU Medicine Ruby Memorial Hospitals shall be highly qualified independent providers of ambulatory care pharmacy practice. The resident shall be an integral member of the multi-disciplinary healthcare team, be an educator of healthcare professionals and patients, be able to perform practice-related research and be leaders in medication safety. The resident will exhibit a commitment to the profession of pharmacy and be able to develop their own personal plan for professional development. Residents will conduct their daily practice with a high level of maturity and leadership. Residents completing this program will have the knowledge, skills, and abilities in ambulatory care practice.

The program is a twelve-month postgraduate training experience composed of orientation, four required learning experiences in ambulatory care, and four elective learning experiences. Additionally, there is time devoted to research and training in the various dispensing areas of pharmacy.

Required Learning Experiences:

  • Administration
  • Primary Care (2)
  • Transitions of Care

Elective Learning Experiences: 

Resident must select four (4) and may select longitudinal experiences 

  • Academia
  • Anticoagulation (longitudinal)
  • Cardiology: Heart Failure Clinic
  • Cardiology: Lipid Clinic (Longitudinal)
  • Endocrinology
  • Family medicine
  • Gastroenterology
  • Infectious Diseases, outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT)
  • Neurology
  • Oncology
  • Specialty Pharmacy
  • Transplant

Additional learning experiences include the development and completion of practice-related research, development of oral and written communication skills through the completion of a Medication-Use Evaluation and ACPE Accredited Continuing Education Presentation, patient education, participation in various departmental committees, and practice in various pharmacy areas throughout the institution.

Pharmacy Practice Component

  • PGY2 Pharmacy Residents practice every third weekend.
  • All residents receive orientation to the pharmacy satellites prior to starting the practice component. 
  • All residents work one summer (Memorial Day, Labor Day) and one winter holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s).

Residents may opt to work additional pharmacist shifts and will be compensated at the standard pharmacist rate, including shift differential. Residents are reminded that the primary objective of the residency year relates to the residency program objectives, and achievement of these objectives should not be hindered by other activities.

PGY2 Ambulatory Care Residency Director

Briana Kocher, PharmD, BCACP, graduated from West Virginia University School of Pharmacy in Morgantown, WV 2014. Upon graduating, she completed a PGY-1 Community Pharmacy Residency at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy and Kroger Pharmacy in Lexington, KY. Briana currently provides pharmacy services in an outpatient internal medicine clinic as well as the lipid clinic at the Heart and Vascular Institute.