Pharmacy Residency Program

Wyckoff Heights Medical Center offers a one-year PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program. This program provides a variety of learning opportunities at an established teaching hospital located in a diverse neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. PGY1 residency programs build upon Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education and outcomes to develop pharmacist practitioners with knowledge, skills, and abilities as defined in the educational competency areas, goals, and objectives. Residents who successfully complete PGY1 residency programs will be skilled in diverse patient care, practice management, leadership, and education, and be prepared to provide patient care, seek board certification in pharmacotherapy (i.e., BCPS), and pursue advanced education and training opportunities including postgraduate year two (PGY2) residencies. This program’s primary goal is to equip the resident with the knowledge, skills, confidence, and abilities to provide care in a direct patient care setting. In this program, the resident will train under a passionate and expert pharmacy faculty in a multidisciplinary team that provide comprehensive medication therapy management across a broad spectrum of medical populations.

The PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center will develop the graduate into a clinical pharmacist with the ability to function within a health system. The resident will rotate through 12 months of inpatient and ambulatory patient care experiences to foster independent clinical decision-making through established collaborative drug therapy management agreements. Residents will have the opportunity to obtain a teaching certificate through an affiliated school of pharmacy. They will have a faculty appointment at Touro College of Pharmacy, with opportunities to teach small group didactic academic sessions. Residents will complete at least one longitudinal research project and present the results at a professional meeting.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must meet the following requirements to be eligible for a PGY1 residency:

• Graduated from ACPE-accredited Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program [or have a Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Committee (FPGEC) certificate from the National Boards of Pharmacy (NABP)]
  • Official academic transcripts required as part of application process (Minimum GPA 3.0)
• Eligible for licensure in New York State
  • See WHMC Policy and Procedure Manual, NYS Licensure for Pharmacy
  • https://www.op.nysed.gov/professions/pharmacist/license-requirements
• Apply through PhORCAS, including curriculum vitae, letter of intent, and three letters of recommendation (at least one from APPE preceptor)

Benefits

• Stipend: $55,000
• Medical, dental, vision insurance
• Commuter benefits
• Vacation/sick/personal leave (20 days)
• Reimbursement for professional meeting attendance

Program Structure

The PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center is structured in a manner that supports residents in achieving the aforementioned purpose and the required educational goals and objectives relating to patient care, advancing practice, leadership and management, and teaching and education. The experiential rotations include:

Required Learning Experiences:

• Orientation (3 weeks)
• Ambulatory Care (6 weeks)
• Cardiology (6 weeks)
• Critical Care (6 weeks)
• Emergency Medicine (6 weeks)
• Internal Medicine I (6 weeks)
• Internal Medicine II (6 weeks)
• Infectious Disease (6 weeks)

Elective Learning Experiences:

• 1 Elective Rotation (6 weeks)

Longitudinal Learning Experiences:

• Introduction to Academia (10 months)
• Personal Professional Development (49 weeks)
• Practice Management (49 weeks)
• Research (52 weeks)
• Staffing & Clinical Coverage (49 weeks, 1 weeknight and every 2-3 weekend)

ASHP Code: 22973

PGY2 Internal Medicine Pharmacy Residency

PGY2 residency programs build upon Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) education and PGY1 pharmacy residency training to develop pharmacist practitioners with knowledge, skills, and abilities as defined in the educational competency areas, goals, and objectives for advanced practice areas. Residents who successfully complete PGY2 residency programs are prepared for advanced patient care or other specialized positions, and board certification in the advanced practice area, if available.

The PGY2 Internal Medicine Pharmacy Residency at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center is designed to develop the resident into a highly-trained, independent pharmacotherapy specialist with advanced expertise in internal medicine. Through core internal medicine and subspecialty learning experiences, the resident will receive comprehensive and individualized training in countless aspects of internal medicine from passionate and expert pharmacy faculty. Various longitudinal experiences will focus on professional development, helping the resident build skills in leadership, communication, and clinical research.

Primary clinical responsibilities of the resident include rounding with assigned teams, performing pharmacokinetic monitoring, validating pharmacy orders, performing medication reconciliation, ensuring appropriate transitions of care, and providing patient education. Ultimately, the resident is responsible for providing comprehensive medication therapy management for internal medicine patients by designing, recommending, and monitoring therapeutic regimens that incorporate evidence-based medicine. The resident is expected to work professionally and respectfully and to build relationships with each multidisciplinary team.

Through its affiliation with Touro College of Pharmacy, the PGY2 residency program offers advanced training in academia. The resident will receive a faculty appointment at TCOP, facilitate recitation courses throughout the year, and complete a Teaching or Leadership Certificate program. The PGY2 resident will participate in a layered-learning model at the medical center with PGY1 residents and/or pharmacy students under the advanced direction of pharmacy residency faculty.

Program Benefits

• Stipend: $60,000
• Medical, dental, vision insurance
• Commuter benefits
• Vacation/sick/personal leave (20 days)
• Reimbursement for professional meeting attendance

Program Structure

The PGY2 Internal Medicine Pharmacy Residency at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center is structured in a manner that supports residents in achieving the aforementioned purpose and the required educational goals and objectives relating to patient care, advancing practice, leadership and management, and teaching, education, and dissemination of knowledge. This is a twelve-month (July 1 through June 30), full-time training program consisting of eight six-week learning experiences (rotations) in addition to several longitudinal experiences. Learning experience descriptions and associated educational goals and objectives can be found in PharmAcademic.

Required Learning Experiences:

• Orientation (3 weeks)
• Internal Medicine I (6 weeks)
• Internal Medicine II – Geriatrics (6 weeks)
• Internal Medicine III – Subspecialties (6 weeks)
• Internal Medicine IV (6 weeks)
• Cardiology (6 weeks)
• Infectious Diseases (6 weeks)

Selective Required Learning Experiences (1):

• Critical Care (6 weeks)
• Emergency Medicine (6 weeks)

Elective Learning Experiences (1):

• Ambulatory Care (6 weeks)
• Cardiology II (6 weeks)

Required Longitudinal Learning Experiences

• Academia (10 months)
• Coumadin Clinic (49 weeks, 2 days per month)
• Pharmacotherapy Grand Rounds (11 months)
• Research (52 weeks)
• Service Commitments (49 weeks, 1 weeknight and every 2-3 weekend)

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must meet the following requirements to be eligible for a PGY2 residency:

• Graduated from ACPE-accredited Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program [or have a Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Committee (FPGEC) certificate from the National Boards of Pharmacy (NABP)]
  • Official academic transcripts required as part of application process
  • Matched/accepted resident to present PharmD Diploma during onboarding process
• Successful completion of ASHP-accredited PGY1 pharmacy residency program
  • One letter of recommendation in application process must be from the applicant’s PGY1 Residency Program Director
  • Matched/accepted resident must present their PGY1 certificate of completion to this PGY2 Residency Program Director immediately upon graduation
    • Failure to verify completion of ASHP-accredited PGY1 pharmacy residency within 30 days of the PGY2 start date will result in dismissal from the program
  • Eligible for licensure in New York State
    • See WHMC Policy and Procedure Manual, NYS Licensure for Pharmacy
    • https://www.op.nysed.gov/professions/pharmacist/license-requirements
  • Apply through PhORCAS, including curriculum vitae, letter of intent, and three letters of recommendation

ASHP Code: 22972

NMS Code: 662956

Evan Sasson, Pharm.D., BCCP
Director of Pharmacotherapy, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Cardiology
Residency Program Director, PGY1
ESasson@wyckoffhospital.org
718-571-7982

Kendra Nielsen, Pharm.D., BCPS
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Internal Medicine
Residency Program Director, PGY2
KNielsen@wyckoffhospital.org
718-571-7976

Joseph Rumore, M.S., RPh
Director of Pharmacy

John Masi, M.B.A., RPh
Assistant Director of Pharmacy

Sulema Barron, Pharm.D., BCPS
Emergency Medicine Pharmacist

Roman Fazylov, Pharm.D., BCPS
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Ambulatory Care, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Touro College of Pharmacy

Michelle Jakubovics (Friedman), Pharm.D., BCPS, BCGP
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Internal Medicine, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Touro College of Pharmacy

Tony Jung, Pharm.D.
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Critical Care

Esther Kanner, Pharm.D.
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Infectious Diseases/Antimicrobial Stewardship

Susan Mirzakandov, Pharm.D.
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Ambulatory Care

Dominick Panzera, Pharm.D., M.B.A
Clinical Pharmacist Specialist, Acute Care, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Touro College of Pharmacy

Paul Schifani, Pharm.D., M.B.A
Emergency Medicine Pharmacist