PGY1 Program Specifics

The Carolinas Medical Center PGY1 Pharmacy Residency program with a Specialty Pharmacy focus within the Atrium Health Specialty Pharmacy Service is a 12-month program designed to build upon the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education to develop the resident to fulfill the major functions of a Specialty Pharmacist.

The emphasis of the residency is to train the pharmacist to support and manage specialty pharmacy clinical care and operations across the continuum of care. Residents will graduate with well-rounded skills in the specialty pharmacy, ambulatory, and inpatient settings, and will have the opportunity to pursue early commit to Atrium Health’s southeast regional PGY2 programs.

Application deadline: 1/2/2026

Program Start Date: 6/22/2026 (end date 6/30/2027)

Interview Set-up: Applicants selected for an interview will be offered a virtual interview which will be held on the Microsoft TEAMS platform.  Interviewees are expected to have operational cameras for these interviews.

Estimated stipend:

Positions available: 1 

Mentorship: The resident will have a longitudinal mentor throughout the year that will attend their monthly rotation handoff meetings between incoming and outgoing preceptors.  The mentor also meets with the resident outside of the monthly meeting to provide support with professional development, career advice, time and stress management and whatever else might be needed.

Required Monthly Learning Experiences

Clinical learning experiences are completed in one-month blocks with outpatient/ ambulatory clinics along specialty pharmacy service lines and inpatient/outpatient experiences developing strong medicine clinical acumen.

• Internal Medicine (Inpatient or Outpatient) 
• Critical Care 
• Specialty Pharmacy Administration 
• Infectious Diseases and Immunology (one required among) 
  • Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Clinic
  • Inflammatory Clinic
  • Neurology Clinic
• Rare & Chronic Diseases (one required among):
  • Pulmonary/ Cystic Fibrosis
  • Oncology
  • Thrombosis/ Hemostasis
• Research (month-long – December) 

Elective Learning Experiences

In addition to the remaining required options once one is selected from each of the Infectious Diseases & Immunology and Rare & Chronic Diseases categories, residents can choose from rotations among the following:

• Primary Care/ (Traditional) Ambulatory Care
• Pediatric Hematology/ Oncology
• Palliative Care and Senior Oncology
• Women’s Health Fertility
• Cardiology Clinic
• Solid Organ Transplantation

Operational Core (staffing)

Resident will staff one weekend every 3-week block, which will include covering 1:1 Rx medication management service 8am – 12pm on Saturday (depending on scheduled appointments), and the specialty pharmacy clinical queue 12:30-5pm Saturday, and 8:30-5pm Sunday (2 8-hour shifts) 

• Minimum 16 weekends/ 32 weekend shifts 

Additional staffing includes:

• Once weekday on the Specialty Pharmacy (SP) clinical queue (one 8-hour shift) 
  • Minimum 30 weekday shifts (one 3-hour shift, 4-7pm) 
• Minimum 3 concentrated weeks Carolina Care/ Kenilworth dispensing (40-hour week) 
• Holiday shifts: 
  • No major holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years) 
  • All minor holidays (3): Memorial Day, Labor Day, Good Friday (covering specialty pharmacy service queue) 
• On-Call (resident will staff the Specialty Pharmacy Service after hours On-Call service, every 6th week starting in October
  • Scheduling will generally align with weekends before coverage weeks to avoid workload overlap

Required Longitudinal Learning Experiences

• Research (12 months): The resident will complete an IRB-approved research project results presented at the REPS regional residency research conference in the spring of the residency year.  The resident will write the protocol and IRB submission documents.  Research practice presentations will be presented to the Specialty Pharmacy Clinical team and RAC Research Subcommittee.  A written manuscript suitable for publication must be completed and submitted by the end of the residency year.  
  • The Specialty Pharmacy Clinical team and RAC Research Subcommittee provides oversight for research projects and coordinates an annual Research Education Series with the Atrium Health Pharmacy Department inclusive of lectures on study design, biostatistics, drug information, data management with REDCap, data analysis using Excel and medical writing lectures.
• Medication Use Evaluation (6 months):The resident will complete an IRB-approved MUE with the results presented via a poster at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting or another equivalent conference in the PGY1 calendar year. MUE results and recommendations are required to be written up and presented to the appropriate subject matter expert committees and may include a P&T (or relevant subcommittee) meeting presentation or the Specialty Pharmacy Service staff. The Specialty Pharmacy Clinical team and RAC Research Subcommittee provides oversight for MUEs.
• Teaching Certificate (12 months):Designed to effectively develop teaching and precepting skills most essential to clinical pharmacy practitioners and preceptors of students and residents. The program is supported by the CMC PGY1 Pharmacy Residency Program Teaching and Learning Subcommittee and the Charlotte Area Health and Education Center. A certificate is awarded upon successful completion of the program. Major requirements of this learning experience include:
  • Three Pharmacy Noon Conference Presentations
  • One ACPE-Accredited Seminar Presentation
  • One School of Pharmacy Lecture
  • One Center for Advanced Practice Lecture (advanced nursing practitioners)
• Medication Policy Management (3 months): The purpose is to develop general knowledge of formulary processes through preparation or revision of a drug class review, monograph, treatment guideline, treatment protocol, utilization management criteria, and/or order set. Residents will be required to present the completed product to institutional stakeholders with clear evidence-based recommendations for the health system formulary; subsequently, the resident should assist with implementation of any clinical and operational steps if implementation timeline occurs within the residency year.

Vacation and Leave

All residents will be allowed a maximum of 30 days away from the residency program to include: 

• 10 paid time off days 
• 5 sick days 
• 5 professional business days for interviews 
• 5 bereavement days (maximum of 3 days per event in accordance with Atrium Health policy) 
• 5 holidays (based on Atrium Health Holiday schedule for the year) 
• For holiday schedule, see staffing/operational core above

Residency Showcases

SCHSP Residency Showcase, Columbia, SC: October 11

NCAP Residency Showcase, Winston-Salem, NC: November 2

MUSC Virtual Showcase: November 12-14

SNPhA/ACCP Virtual Residency Showcase: November 12th 8 to 9 p.m. EST 

ASHP Midyear Residency Showcase: booth 4421, Monday 12/9 afternoon session