�ձ�av��Ƶ

�ձ�av��Ƶ's College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Programs welcomed two residents to its Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program this fall.

As first-year residents who recently earned their Doctor of Pharmacy degrees, Catherean Thai and Orion McCartney this fall started their yearlong experience working as community-based pharmacists in Lewis Drug community pharmacies and Sanford ambulatory care clinics in Sioux Falls as well as teaching and mentoring advanced Pharm.D. students in Brookings.

What is a pharmacy residency?

Education isn’t always completed when the penultimate degree is earned. In many fields, continuing education is required, and in some cases, postdoctoral education can make an individual more competitive for certain career paths. For pharmacists, a postgraduate residency not only can make them more competitive for the career path they wish to follow but also provides hands-on experience in real-world settings.

In the United States, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, there are three distinct types of residency programs a Pharm.D. graduate can pursue in the first year after graduation. One residency is based within hospital settings, and another is based within managed care organizations. The third type, and the one offered through �ձ�av��Ƶ and Lewis Drug, is a community-based residency.

The goal of the �ձ�av��Ƶ Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program is to “to develop community-based pharmacist practitioners with patient care, leadership and education skills.” During the residency, residents receive the education and training needed to develop the “high level of skills required to manage patient care in the community pharmacy setting.”

The Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program is a full-year program involving multiple learning experiences in real-world situations at a Lewis Drug pharmacy location and in an ambulatory care clinic in Sioux Falls.

Another core component of the program is the development of leadership and management skills required to run a pharmacy or serve as a clinical supervisor. Residents also serve as adjunct faculty in the �ձ�av��Ƶ College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, where they develop the skills needed to serve as a preceptor — or experienced teaching mentor — for students enrolled in the Year Four course “Community Pharmacy Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience.”

Finally, residents undertake a research project designed to help them gain the scientific skills needed to investigate clinically relevant problems. As part of their research project, residents write a manuscript and submit it to a peer-reviewed journal for potential publication.

Meet the residents

Thai grew up in Orlando, Florida, and developed an interest in pursuing pharmacy as a career when she was in high school.

“I started in high school as a volunteer at an inpatient pharmacy at my local hospital, and that really encouraged me to pursue pharmacy as an undergraduate,” she said. Thai earned her bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences at the University of Central Florida and then earned her Pharm.D. at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

She chose to pursue the Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program at �ձ�av��Ƶ because she was attracted to its opportunities for teaching and mentoring. “I really liked how there were a lot of teaching opportunities. That is something that is unique that most residency programs don’t usually have,” she said.

While she is not yet ready to declare the career path she absolutely wants to pursue, Thai said that the robust ambulatory care component of the residency has helped solidify her initial feeling that she would like to have a career in ambulatory care pharmacy.

“They really do want to prepare us for when we are leaving the program,” she said. “I love ambulatory care — scheduling meetings with patients, talking about their medications and having a relationship with the patients. That really improves their care.”

Developing relationships with patients to improve their health outcomes has been important to McCartney, and his own experiences with a caring pharmacist shaped his desire to pursue his Pharm.D.

“I grew up in Kapolei, Hawaii, on the island of O'ahu, and I was at the University of Minnesota,” he said. “I really struggled with trying to deal with out-of-state insurance, and I met this one pharmacist who just really listened to me and helped me out, and that is what started me on this path.” Working as a pharmacy technician solidified his decision, and he went on to earn a Pharm.D. from D'Youville University in Buffalo, New York.

McCartney has appreciated the variety and robust nature of the Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program. “Between the retail pharmacy and the hospital, you really get the best of both worlds. The (learning) blocks build on each other, and every day is just a little bit different, but in a way where everything fits together, in context, and makes sense in terms of patient care.”

Like Thai, McCartney is leaning toward a career in ambulatory care clinics, possibly back home in Hawaii. “I would like to bring my skills back to my community,” he said.

Application deadline approaches

The next round of applications for the Community-Based Pharmacy Residency Program closes on Jan. 2, 2026. The process is coordinated through the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service.

To be considered, applicants need to be a graduate of a college or school of pharmacy accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and participate in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists matching program. Additional information about required application materials can be found at the Community-Based Pharmacy Residency webpage.