PGY2 Oncology

Purpose

This PGY2 pharmacy residency program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) builds on Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education and PGY1 pharmacy residency training to contribute to the development of clinical pharmacists in advanced or specialized practice. PGY2 residency provides residents with opportunities to function independently as practitioners by conceptualizing and integrating accumulated experience and knowledge and incorporating both into provision of patient care that improves medication therapy. Residents who successfully complete an accredited PGY2 pharmacy residency should possess competencies that qualify them for clinical pharmacist and/or faculty positions and position them to be eligible for attainment of board certification in the specialized practice area (when board certification for the practice area exists).

Description

PGY2 residency in oncology pharmacy is a 52 week (one year) adult-based oncology program designed to transition PGY1 residency graduates from generalist practice to specialized practice focused on the care of patients with cancer. Following completion of the PGY2 residency, graduates will be equipped to meet the challenges of current and future oncology pharmacy practice. Residency graduates will be prepared to participate as integral members of the interdisciplinary teams caring for individuals with cancer in both inpatient and outpatient settings and assume responsibility for pharmaceutical care.

Graduates will gain significant knowledge of neoplastic diseases, cancer-related and cancer treatment-related disorders and supportive care/palliative care management. Graduates will also acquire knowledge of the preparation and distribution of anti-cancer medications including safe handling and disposal of hazardous substances.

Overall, graduates will gain experience participating on interdisciplinary teams to successfully serve health care organizations as a valuable resource for information about anti-cancer medications and decision-making affecting the care of patients with cancer.

We currently have two PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency positions for 2023-2024.

Program Educational Goals

At the end of the residency year, the MGH PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Resident will be able to:

• In collaboration with the health care team, provide comprehensive medication management to oncology patients following a consistent patient care process
• Ensure continuity during transitions of care for oncology patients
• Perform patient education activities, including patient counseling, adherence/knowledge assessment, and education material development
• Promote health improvement, wellness, and cancer prevention
• Facilitate and support safe and effective drug therapy for oncology patients

• Manage formulary and medication-use processes for oncology patients and oncology patient care areas
• Conduct an oncology pharmacy research project
• Conduct an oncology pharmacy medication use evaluation
• Provide effective medication and practice-related education to oncology patients, caregivers, health care professionals, students and the public (individuals and groups)
• Effectively employ appropriate preceptor roles when engaged in teaching learners in oncology
• Appropriately manage oncology investigational drugs and oncology investigational drug services
• Sustain ongoing development of expertise and professionalism in oncology pharmacy practice

Learning Experiences

Required Block Learning Experiences:

• Orientation – 1 month
  
  • Includes standard hospital orientation, MGH Department of pharmacy introduction, review of PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency program (purpose and practice environment; accreditation standards, competencies, goals and objectives; design of the residency program, program requirements, description of required and elective learning experiences), and side-by-side training with oncology pharmacy preceptors on the MGH electronic medical record/computerized order entry system.
  • MGH residents who early commit may have orientation decreased to ½ month
• Inpatient
  
  • Gynecology oncology and desensitization – ½ month, Monday through Friday
  • Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) – autologous and allogeneic – 1 month, Monday through Friday
  • Leukemia – 1 month, Monday through Friday
  • Lymphoma – ½ month, Monday through Friday
  • Melanoma/Severe Immunotherapy Complications (SIC) Service – ½ month, Monday through Friday
  • Pediatric oncology – 1 month, Monday through Friday
  • Supportive Care – ½ month, Monday through Friday
• Ambulatory
  
  • Multiple myeloma and breast oncology– 1.5 months
    • Multiple myeloma — Tuesday, Friday
    • Breast oncology — Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
  • Thoracic and genitourinary (GU) oncology and clinical trials – 1.5 months
    • Thoracic/GU – Monday, Tuesday, Friday
    • Clinical trials – Wednesday, Thursday
  • Gastrointestinal oncology – 1 month, Monday through Friday
  • Specialty pharmacy – ½ month, Monday through Friday

Elective Block Learning Experiences:

• Residents will get a total of 1 month of electives (early commit residents may get a total of 1½ months since orientation is shortened)
• Advanced core learning experience – ½ to 1 month, dependent on resident schedule & preceptor availability
• Advanced oncology management – ½ month, Monday through Friday
• Advanced hematologic malignancies – ½ to 1 month, Monday through Friday
• Cellular immunotherapy program (inpatient CAR-T cell program) - ½ to 1 month, Monday through Friday
• Community oncology – ½ month, Monday through Friday
• Infectious diseases – 3 weeks, Monday through Friday
• Other elective learning experiences may be developed based on resident interest and preceptor availability

Required Longitudinal Experiences:

• Residency advisor – 1 year, 1 hour per month
• Pharmacy practice experience – 1 year, hours as below
  • Decentralized inpatient clinical practice every 3rd weekend (two 8-hour day shifts on Saturday and Sunday), including 2 minor holidays and 1 major holiday. Minor holidays observed by MGH include MLK day, President’s day, Memorial day, Juneteenth, Independence day, Labor day, Indigenous People’s day and major holidays include New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas
  • 8 hour day shift every other week (on average) in ambulatory oncology infusion center
  • Resident officer positions for committees – 1 hour per month
• Oncology administration
  • Oncology service line (includes medication safety) – 6 months, opposite oncology P&T rotation, 3 hours per month
  • Oncology P&T subcommittee (includes formulary management and stewardship) – 6 months, opposite oncology service line rotation, 3 hours per month
• Education series (BCOP discussions) – 1 year, 1 hour per week
• 1-hour ACPE-accredited CE presentation – 11 weeks, 1 hour per week
• Research project – 1 year, 2 hours per week 
  • Residents may opt to do a flip-model research project, where the resident begins with a research project in the data collection tool refinement/data collection phase (rather than the IRB approval stage) and complete all remaining phases of the project up to manuscript preparation by the end of quarter 3. Then in quarter 4, you start another research project from scratch and prepare the proposal, IRB application, and data collection tool preparation for another resident to pick up next residency year
  • Read more about flip model research projects here
• Medication use evaluation project – 1 year, 1 hour per month
• Residency advisor – 1 year, 1 hour per month
• Optional Longitudinal Experiences
• Residents teaching seminar/teaching certificate at Northeastern University School of Pharmacy (optional) – 1 year
• For a full list of the activities that residents will need to complete in order to graduate from the MGH PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency program, please click here

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The MGH PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency program welcomes and encourages diverse applicants

The MGH Oncology Pharmacy pharmacists and technicians come from diverse backgrounds

• Here’s a list of some of the non-English languages that we speak: Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), French, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Ilocano, Khmer, Korean, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Toishanese, Vietnamese, Ybanag
• Click here for a photo of some of our oncology pharmacy team

Click here to view MGH’s present and past annual reports on equity in health care quality

• For information on diversity in Boston and living here, including information on housing and transportation to/from MGH, please click this link

Resident wellness and resiliency

MGH PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency prioritizes our residents’ well-being. Some (but not all) of the ways that we support our residents include:

• Access to the MGH-sponsored employee assistance program that includes free access to mental health tools and access to a mental health professional within 48 hours if needed
• Events planned by the resident led MGH Resident Social and Wellness Committee
• Residency advisor that is assigned to the residency for the year to act as a mentor and resident advocate
• Education sessions devoted to resiliency and managing burnout

Recruitment information

Our program has completed recruitment and filled our PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Resident positions for the 2023-2024 residency year.

For future recruitment years:

Our program welcomes and encourages diverse applicants. In the interest of accessibility and equity:

• In-person attendance at the booth/PPS at the Midyear Clinical Meeting will NOT count toward the application score. Applicants who are interested in attending a virtual information session in may sign up atto attend the session and/or receive materials from that session at a link that will be provided in the fall
• All interviews will be conducted virtually;
• Candidates who are invited to interview and who wish to see the MGH campus in-person will be invited to attend an open house that will be held AFTER this program has finalized and submitted the rank list to NMS (thus, in-person attendance at the open house will not affect candidate ranking)

Applications should be submitted via Phorcas, and should include the following:

• An up-to-date curriculum vitae
• 3 recommendation letters (at least 1 letter must be from a preceptor who oversaw you during a clinical rotation)
• When entering your work experiences in Phorcas, please detail any internship, technician, research, or other work experiences you held during pharmacy school; amount of hours weekly/monthly and the types of activities you were expected to complete during these work experiences is extremely valuable to showcase (especially if done during the academic year) – work can be pharmacy and/or non-pharmacy related.
• Letter of intent describing your interests in oncology and in our program, how our program will help you achieve your short-term and long-term career goals, and please also describe a time when you faced adversity and how you managed that situation (adversity does not have to be related to pharmacy)

Contact Information

Uvette Lou, PharmD, BCOP
Director, PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency
ulou@mgh.harvard.edu

Samantha O. Luk, PharmD, BCOP
Coordinator, PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency
soluk@mgh.harvard.edu

Social media

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