VA Puget Sound Pharmacy Residency Programs in Seattle, Washington (PGY1 and PGY2 Programs)

• Core Experiences: Our residency program ensures residents gain exposure to a wide array of patient care environments. Core rotations cover essential areas such as Primary Care Clinic (available at both the Seattle and American Lake campuses), General Medicine with a focus on acute inpatient care, Critical Care in either the Medical or Surgical Intensive Care Units, Pharmacy Administration and Management where residents develop leadership and management skills and outpatient pharmacy/formulary management.
• Extensive Elective Opportunities: What makes this program stand out are the various elective opportunities available to accommodate the specific interests of the residents. The program offers four 5-week elective experiences and two six-month longitudinal elective experiences.  Options include but are not limited to oral oncology, bone marrow transplant, antimicrobial stewardship, infectious disease clinic, outpatient cardiology, mental health, outpatient endocrinology clinic, inpatient spinal cord injury, emergency medicine, anticoagulation clinic, and home-based primary care. Additionally, residents can complete electives through the regional Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN), including experiences in Pharmacoeconomics, Pharmacy Informatics, pharmacogenomics, and other clinical experiences offered through the network.
• Leadership: Residents will gain extensive leadership experience throughout the year. They will be directly involved in residency program operations, serving as a chair for operational elements of the PGY1 program, including the residency candidate selection process, community building, and other coordination efforts. Each resident will serve as a chief resident for five weeks, acting as a liaison between the residency cohort and the Residency Program Director. Additionally, residents can participate in federal-level leadership positions through the Federal Resident Council (FedREC).
• Residency Staffing: Residency program staffing requirements include a 12-weekend staffing scheduled every third weekend starting Mid-December. Residents complete various training sessions and competency assessments before independent staffing to ensure they have the skills to perform the duties as a staff pharmacist. Residents are not scheduled to staff on Designated Holidays.
• Career Advancement and Professional Development: Career advancement is a key component of our program. Residents have the opportunity to participate in ASHP's largest PGY2 early commitment process (VA-National Early Commit Process, VA-NEC). Within this early commit process, PGY1 residents can early commit to our internal PGY2 Health Systems Pharmacy Administration/Leadership and Oncology Programs. Additionally, residents have significant influence over their schedules to ensure that the selection and timing of rotations align with their professional goals. Furthermore, residents will have the opportunity to participate in various local, regional, and national professional conferences.
• Teaching and Precepting: Our program also emphasizes the importance of teaching and precepting. There are two optional teaching certificate tracks that residents may consider. One option is a didactic-focused teaching certificate program in affiliation with the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. Alternatively, residents can consider obtaining a teaching certificate through the VA National Pharmacy Residency Programs. In addition to the teaching certificate options, residents will have ample opportunities to precept UW IPPE and APPE pharmacy students during their residency year.

Thirteen paid days each of annual and sick leave accrued over the course of the year, 10 paid holidays, Professional leave for required conferences and licensure exams. Free parking on-site for both Seattle and American Lake campuses, Public transit lines that go directly into the hospital. Healthcare benefits including dental and vision, Duty free shopping through facility canteen goods store, Tax-Free pricing on sporting and concert events, Dedicated, individual workstation in office with view of Mount Rainier, Dual appointment Pharmacist Pay for internal moonlighting.

The PGY2 Health System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership (HSPAL) resident participates in various block and longitudinal rotations with members of pharmacy leadership. Additional learning activities include inpatient pharmacy weekend staffing (optional; paid as hourly rate under dual appointment), longitudinal residency project, P&T Committee facilitator, precepting at least one PGY1 pharmacy resident project or MUE, involvement in facility- and service line-wide clinical and operational initiatives, accreditation, and regulatory compliance. 

Required block rotations (6-7 weeks unless specified otherwise):

•              Orientation (2 weeks)

•              Outpatient Operations Pharmacy Management

•              Inpatient Operations Pharmacy Management 

•              Pharmacoeconomics and Informatics

•              Inpatient Clinical Pharmacy Management

•              Outpatient Clinical Pharmacy Management 

•              Formulary Program Management

•              Budget and Procurement

Required longitudinal rotations (vary in length):

•              Precept PGY1 Resident MUE (3 months) 

•              Quality Assurance and Medication Safety (12 months)

•              Longitudinal Residency Project (12 months)

The stipend is reviewed annually and set by the VA Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA).  

• Competitive resident stipend
• Dual appointment salary for weekend staffing (optional)
• Healthcare benefits
• 13 accrued vacation days
• 13 accrued sick leave days
• 11 federal holidays
• Office space
• Free on-site parking & nearby transit access
• Health Profession Trainees are not entitled to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Federal Employee Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), Federal Employee Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), military leave or Paid Parental Leave. 

Sara Lescher, PharmD, BCPS

PGY2 HSPAL Residency Program Director 
Email: Sara.Lescher@va.gov

The following are required components of the residency program and will be completed over the course of a year (52 weeks of full-time commitment or equivalent (at least 2080 hours)) as required by ASHP:

• Completion of customized residency development plans, reviewed quarterly with RPD
• Clinical Rotations (core and elective) ≥ 30 weeks
  • Will include (at minimum) 5 weeks of Ambulatory Infusion Oncology I & II, Bone Marrow Transplant/Heme Onc I & II, Specialty Pharmacy I & II
• Oncology Pharmacy Management
• Investigational Pharmacy
• At least one medication use evaluation
  • Presented to PN&T.
  • This may take the form of a local criteria for use creation (CFU), order set review, or other facility relevant project requiring assessment of primary literature and guidelines.
• One ACPE accredited CE presented to the facility
• Staffing Commitment (10 Saturdays)
• Major longitudinal quality improvement project
  • National poster presentation (optional)
  • Regional or local conference podium presentation (required)
  • Manuscript acceptable for publication (required)

Required block rotations (5 weeks unless specified otherwise):

•            Orientation (2-4 weeks)

•            Ambulatory Oncology Infusion I & II

•           BMT Heme/Onc I & II

•            Specialty Pharmacy I & II

•             Medication Safety

•            Oncology Pharmacy Administration & Management

•            Gynecological Oncology (4 weeks, virtual)

Required longitudinal rotations (vary in length):

•              Oral Oncology Clinic (6 months)

•              Residency Program Development (6 months)

•              Investigational Pharmacy (4 months)

•             Medication Safety (4 months)

•              Longitudinal Residency Project (12 months)

The stipend is reviewed annually and set by the VA Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA).  

• Competitive resident stipend
• Dual appointment salary for weekend staffing (optional)
• Healthcare benefits
• 13 accrued vacation days
• 13 accrued sick leave days
• 11 federal holidays
• Office space
• Free on-site parking & nearby transit access
• Health Profession Trainees are not entitled to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Federal Employee Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP), Federal Employee Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), military leave or Paid Parental Leave. 

Matthew Christianson, PharmD, BCOP

PGY2 Oncology Residency Program Director 
Email: matthew.christianson@va.gov