MCW School of Pharmacy Inaugural Class Finds Success in First Residency Match Day

Sixty-three percent of residency applicants from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) School of Pharmacy Inaugural Class matched during Phase I of the annual post-graduate pharmacy match program on March 13th, tying the 2020 national average as a first-year participating School of Pharmacy. The program is sponsored by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacist (ASHP).

Of the 41 members of the inaugural class, sixty-six percent applied for residency programs following graduation through the ASHP match program. Ten of the students matched with residency programs in Wisconsin, including at our Milwaukee clinical partners, Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center and Children’s Wisconsin. Matching programs across the nation include Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, NorthShore University Health System in Illinois, and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Additionally, two students obtained two-year post-graduate training commitments with an Indian Health Services residency and a pharmaceutical industry fellowship prior to the match.

Additional students are already securing employment opportunities in advance of graduation in both community pharmacy and hospital settings. “Our student body should be proud of these accomplishments as an inaugural class,” says George E. MacKinnon III, PhD, MS, RPh, FASHP, Founding Dean and Professor of the MCW School of Pharmacy, “This is a testament of the MCW School of Pharmacy’s innovative Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program and the quality pharmacists we are creating. Our students are ready to begin practicing immediately after graduation as either pharmacists or post-graduate residents. We are excited for them in their future endeavors.”

A pharmacy residency is one of the post-graduate training options for pharmacy students once they have earned their PharmD. First year residencies provide additional, in-depth pharmacy practice experiences and offer graduates the opportunity to specialize in areas such as emergency medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, pharmacogenomics, oncology, psychiatry and more in subsequent years. In the U.S. upon graduation, PharmD graduates are deemed to be “practice ready” per ACPE Accreditation Standards, thus post-graduate training is not required in all sectors of practice.

The MCW School of Pharmacy is preparing students by educating them to fulfill the expanded role of the pharmacist. The accelerated PharmD program provides students early experiences in a variety of clinical settings that continue throughout their three years. Students receive training in advanced patient care skills such as physical assessment, point of care testing (including influenza or strep throat), and chronic care management that takes place in simulated patient care situations and mirrors real life. Through their educational experience, MCW pharmacy students learn how to provide quality healthcare as part of an interprofessional team to improve the health and well-being for patients and communities.