Residency Information

Residency Program in Veterinary Clinical Pharmacy
The School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, is offering a residency program in Veterinary Pharmacy. Minimum qualifications include graduation from an accredited school of pharmacy and a California Pharmacy License or ability to obtain a license within one year. The selection of residents is made on the basis of academic achievement, career objectives, letters of recommendation, and pertinent experience.

Objectives
  • To provide non-degree postdoctoral education in veterinary clinical pharmacy and therapeutics.

  • To provide experience in designing a clinical pharmacology research project, undertaking the research, investigation, and publication of the findings.

  • To provide experience in the regulatory aspects of drug use in animals, including manufacturing (GMP practices, compounding), dispensation (extra-label use) and public health issues (food animal residues, feed additives).

Justification for Clinical Education
Veterinary Pharmacy is a practice that has slowly evolved from the role of a sole Veterinarian selecting, dispensing and sometimes manufacturing his/her own medications to a highly regulated, research-based pharmacy profession that requires a vast background of knowledge about pharmacology, therapeutics, law and compounding of drugs. The variety of species and scope of pharmaceutical information required to provide quality of care now necessitates a specialty residency to meet these demands. Academic veterinary centers, drug companies, manufacturing companies and regulatory agencies have all expressed interest in graduates from the program. Annual demand from the sources consulted with would approach one per year for academics (SVHP), 1-2 per year in regulatory departments (FDA), and 2-3 per year in commercial markets (Pfizer, Schering). We would anticipate at least 5-10 applicants/year (Robert Mowers-UCD, Michael Winters-UCSF). This would be the first established residency program in Veterinary Pharmacy for pharmacists.

The Veterinary Clinical Pharmacy Residency Program is designed to address these needs and provide non-degree postdoctoral education in veterinary pharmacy. The residency program will be a one-year program. Successful completion of the residency will result in a Residency Certificate.

The program utilizes the facilities and faculty of the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. A large clinical case load exists at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) to support a multitude of pharmacy services, including inpatient, outpatient, nutrition, sterile infusion services, oncology, compounding, and emergency services. The VMTH and its national reputation for veterinary pharmacy services provide a core drug information and clinical consulting center for veterinary practitioners as well as pet owners.

Residency Program: Courses of Activities
Duration
This will be a one year residency program for interested residents. A Certificate of Residency will be awarded to candidates successfully completing the program. Residents will be asked to work a minimum of 40 hours per week. Time off for sick leave and/or vacation will be according to established university policy (ie. 2 working days/month). Hours may be extended as required for travel to externship sites or rotations in the field.

General Scope and Nature of Training
In the first four months, residents will spend most of their time in the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital under the direct supervision of the two Veterinary Clinical Pharmacists. Residents will attend clinical rounds in small, large and exotic animal clinics. Rotation through one or more of the subspecialty areas of cardiology, dermatology, neurology, oncology, and ophthalmology will be included. The first four months will consist of approximately 50% clinical practice. The remaining time will involve work in drug information, design of clinical trials, and pharmacy. There will be no designated class room work.

Starting in the fifth month, residents will select a specialty area of emphasis based on their own interests. A research topic will be selected and the following four months will be tailored to develop skills around that area. The research topic will be submitted for approval by the end of the fifth month. During the next four months, students will have the option to rotate through several externship specialty sites to develop and complete their research projects. This may include a rotation at the University of California Davis Medical Center (UCDMC), for the preparation of sterile products including nutrition and oncology preparation techniques. Alternatively, residents may rotate through the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where they will obtain expertise in pharmaceutical compounding and manufacturing. The student may also rotate through the Pharmacology/Pharmacokinetics Laboratory at UCDMC where they will learn basic analytical techniques (HPLC) or in vitro assays to assess drug concentrations, metabolism and efficacy.

In the last two months, residents will undertake a brief overview of Veterinary Pharmacy regulatory processes. Depending on the residents area of interest that may be accomplished at any of the following external sites. This may include a regulatory agency such as 1) a drug company, 2) The Board of Pharmacy, and 3) The FDA or Public Health Department. These rotations should provide residents with a good appreciation of food animal residue issues, Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Residents interested in continuing into the second year will spend most of their time developing special interests. Approximately 10-20% time will involve teaching of pharmacy students and conducting clinical pharmacy rounds and Journal Club. The remaining time will be spent at a pharmaceutical company or a manufacturing company in order to learn about R&D, and further their understanding of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). The resident may also choose to continue or expand on their research project from the first year. Students will further their research methodology, critical assessment of the literature, research design, writing and presentation skills. Second year students will also have the opportunity to learn grant writing skills.


Time Line
Residents in their first three months will start in the Inpatient/Outpatient pharmacy at the VMTH, School of Veterinary Medicine, UC Davis, learning pharmacy operations, veterinary compounding and drug information. Students will learn the veterinary formulary and attend weekly rounds given by the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital., in both small and large animal services as well as several elective rounds in a subspecialty of their choice (ophthalmology, cardiology, oncology, etc.). Students will additionally select a drug information topic and learn how to critically evaluate the literature. The topic will then be either presented orally at pharmacy rounds or written up and submitted for publication to a peer reviewed journal. Students will identify an area of research interest by the end of the 5th month. Topics will be highly flexible and based on the specific interests of the individual resident. Starting in the 5th month of the residency program the student will learn the basic research techniques necessary to complete their research project. This will be done at the pharmacology/pharmacokinetics laboratory at UCDMC. Here students can learn a variety of analytical techniques (HPLC) to assess drug and metabolite concentrations or several in vitro cell culture models to assess drug efficacy. Alternatively, if their area of interest is involving drug manufacturing or compounding of formulations they will have the opportunity to develop these skills in the pharmaceutical laboratory at UCSF. Residents will have the opportunity to reside in San Francisco or in Vacaville, Ca. at a faculty members house during their externship. In the following 4-5 months the resident will design, perform and do data analysis on their research topic. They will work with Dr. Wiebe to write up results in abstract form for submission to the UCD, VMTH Annual House Officers Seminar Day. Research projects will also be written up for submission to and potential publication by a peer reviewed journal. The last two months of the residency will be spent in an externship learning regulatory issues with one of the following: 1) a drug company, 2) The Board of Pharmacy, and 3) The FDA or Public Health Department. Here the students will learn the basic processes of GLP, GMP and other drug approval processes.

Knowledge and Skills
The Pharm. D. level candidate will be provided with information and experience to apply their considerable skills in medical treatment of disease conditions, therapeutic regimen design, clinical trials, drug distribution and regulation, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, kinetics, drug information sources and services, etc. in the provision of pharmaceutical services for animal patients.

Graduates of this program will have a unique combination of skills. Their knowledge of drug marketing, quality assurance, and clinical trial design, tempered with their veterinary experience will make them valuable assets to the veterinary pharmaceutical industry, regulatory agencies, colleges of pharmacy, and colleges of veterinary medicine.

Structure and Organization
Residents will be supervised directly by Dr. Valerie Wiebe, Pharm.D. (Chief Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator). Approximately 40% of her time will be involved in directly overseeing the resident in a clinical capacity. Others who will participate significantly in the resident's instruction will include Gale Moniz, RPh (Chief of Pharmaceutical Services). She directly oversees pharmacy operations and will spend 20% time teaching inpatient and outpatient veterinary pharmaceutical dispensing to residents. Dr.Robert Mowers, Pharm.D., (Clinical Instructor at the University of California Davis, Medical Center (UCDMC), who oversees clinical residents at UCDMC will oversee externships performed at UCDMC. He will spend approximately 10% effort overseeing the residency.

Mr. Greg Wurz (Supervisor of the pharmacokinetics laboratory at UCDMC) will oversee research design, methodology, statistical analysis and analytical chemistry techniques of residents. He will devote approximately 20% time during the resident rotation. Dr. Wiebe will work to assist the resident in the selection, clinical design and methodology of the research project.

The resident will have desk space and computer access at the VMTH main pharmacy. Analytical equipment, chemicals and other required instrumentation to complete their research project will be available in the Pharmacokinetics laboratory at UCDMC.

Faculty Participating in the Proposed Program
Dr. Valerie Wiebe, Pharm.D. will be primarily responsible for the direct supervision and evaluation of residents. She will spend 40% time directly overseeing the resident. She will assure that the resident achieves the stated objectives of the program. Gale Moniz, RPH (Chief of Pharmacy Services) will oversee the operational instruction of residents. She will spend 20% effort in the first few months teaching sterile product preparation, compounding, and pharmaceutical preparation of veterinary drugs. Dr. Robert Mowers, Pharm. D. will oversee residents in externship rotations at UCDMC.

Process of Evaluation
Residents will be evaluated based on several criteria. Requirements that must be met before a resident can receive a Certificate of Residency for the program include: 1) Satisfactory completion of all rotations, 2) Satisfactory completion of the research project, 3) Satisfactory completion of the externships, 4) Determination that all requirements have been met by the Chief Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator. Attendance is mandatory for the entire program. Poor attendance will be grounds for dismissal. Residents must complete all requirements in order to obtain a Certificate. VMTH policy will be followed in cases where dismissal is required for any resident.

Certification
The specific academic requirements and conditions needed to complete the residency and obtain a certificate include:
  1. Demonstration of satisfactory knowledge and skills in:

    • dispensing veterinary pharmaceuticals to a variety of species
    • preparation of sterile products, TPN, chemotherapy, unit doses
    • efficacious compounding of pharmaceuticals for use in veterinary medicine

  2. Demonstration of skills and abilities in:

    • location/evaluation/critical assessment of drug information in the Veterinary literature
    • extrapolation of available drug information to the veterinary patient
    • clinical consulting

  3. Completion of clinical rotations in:

    • general medicine of small animals, horses, food animals and exotics
    • specialty rounds

  4. Preparation, completion and submission of a research project showing proficiency in:

    • research design
    • methodology
    • data analysis
    • scientific writing

  5. Demonstration of knowledge in:

    • food animal regulations
    • regulatory procedures for drug manufacturing and laboratory analysis of pharmaceuticals

For application procedures, salary and benefits, and other information about the residency program, please see General Information on the VMTH web site.

Veterinary Pharmacy Residency Program
Month
General Duties
Monthly Rotations
Projects
1
Pharmacy (general dispensing)
Inpatient-Small animal
Drug Information (Veterinary Ref)
2
Pharmacy (Sterile tech.)
ICU-Small animal
Drug information (select topic)
3
Pharmacy (Consults)
Inpatient/Outpatient (Equine)
Drug information (Write up)
4
Pharmacy (Compounding)
Inpatient/Outpatient (Food Animal)
Drug information (Submit for publication)
5
Research
Exotics/Anesthesia
Select Research Project
6
Research
Research
Research
7
Research
Research
Research
8
Research
Research
Research
9
Data analysis
Statistics
Write up results
10
Externship
Externship
Regulatory affairs
11
Externship
Externship
Regulatory affairs
12
Externship
Externship
Regulatory affairs