HEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY TEAM (HOT) INTERNSHIP

FOR PHARMACY STUDENTS

UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center | N.C. Cancer Hospital

Chapel Hill, NC

Internship Director:

John Valgus, PharmD,

MHA, BCOP

Assistant Director of

Pharmacy, Hematology/

Oncology and Pediatric

Clinical/Distribution

Pharmacy Services

Contact:

john.valgus@unchealth.unc.edu

INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW AND STRUCTURE

Overview:

The HOT internship is a two-year paid internship for pharmacy students that begins the summer after the first year of pharmacy school. Interns will gain expo-sure to the fields of hematology and oncology phar-macy through operational, clinical, and research ex-periences.

Structure:

Summer after PY1 Year: • 4-5 weeks of technician training in the Cancer Hos-

pital Infusion Pharmacy (CHIP) • 4-5 weeks of clinical/administrative rotations with

oncology pharmacists PY2 School Year: • Technician staffing in CHIP every third weekend • Begin longitudinal research project Summer after PY2 Year: • 7 weeks of clinical/administrative rotations with

oncology pharmacists • 1 week of CHIP staffing • Continue longitudinal research project PY3 School Year: • Technician staffing in CHIP every third weekend • Complete longitudinal research project

Operational training

and longitudinal

staffing

Summer intensive

program: clinical

shadowing and rotations

Longitudinal projects

CORE

EXPERIENCES

OPERATIONAL TRAINING AND LONGITUDINAL STAFFING

As HOT interns, students will gain experience in

pharmacy operations by working in the Cancer Hos-

pital Infusion Pharmacy (CHIP). Operational compo-

nents of the internship include:

• Technician training to develop competencies in

preparing chemotherapy, utilizing the BD CatoTM

medication workflow system, and delivering

chemotherapy

• Staffing in the CHIP every third weekend in rota-

tion with fellow interns throughout PY2 and PY3

years, with equal time spent preparing and deliv-

ering chemotherapy

• Staffing one major (4th of July, Thanksgiving,

Christmas) and one minor (MLK, Memorial Day,

Labor Day) holiday over the two-year internship

CORE

EXPERIENCES

Operational training and

longitudinal staffing

Summer intensive pro-

gram: clinical shadowing

and rotations

Longitudinal projects

SUMMER INTENSIVE PROGRAM: CLINICAL

SHADOWING AND ROTATIONS

During both summer sessions, HOT interns

will have the opportunity to rotate with clini-

cal pharmacy specialists in hematology and

oncology. The first summer consists of short-

er shadowing experiences of 2-3 days. During

the second summer, HOT interns can further

explore specific areas of interest through clin-

ical rotations of 3-5 days. Potential rotation

opportunities include:

• Ambulatory Breast/GI Malignancies – Aimee Faso, PharmD, BCOP, CPP

• Ambulatory BMT – Tatjana Grgic PharmD, BCOP, CPP; Maurice Alexander, PharmD, BCOP, CPP

• Ambulatory GU/CNS Malignancies – Katherine Morgan, PharmD, BCOP, CPP

• Ambulatory Gynecologic Malignancies— Alexis Jones, PharmD, CPP

• Ambulatory Infusion Clinic – Michelle Gardner, PharmD, BCOP, CPP

• Ambulatory Leukemia – Benyam Muluneh, PharmD, BCOP, CPP

• Ambulatory Lymphoma and Myeloma—Jordan Miller, PharmD, BCPS, CPP

• Ambulatory Melanoma / Head and Neck—Morgan Gwynn, PharmD, CPP

• Ambulatory Pediatric Oncology – Cassidy Fair-cloth, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP, CPP

• Ambulatory Supportive Care – Meredith Keisler, PharmD, CPP

• Ambulatory Thoracic Oncology – Amber Proctor, PharmD, BCOP, CPP

• Benign Hematology – Sheh-Li Chen, PharmD, BCOP

• Inpatient BMT – Ryan Shaw, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP; Jonathan Ptachcinski, PharmD, MA, BCPS, BCOP, CPP

• Inpatient Malignant Hematology – Stephen Clark, PharmD, BCOP; Jessica Auten, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP

• Inpatient Pediatric Oncology – Jenna Kaplan, PharmD

• Oncology Precision Medicine – Jill Bates, PharmD, MS, BCOP, CPP

• Oncology Administration – Nathan Barnes, PharmD; John Valgus, PharmD, MHA, BCOP

Operational training and

longitudinal staffing

Summer intensive

program: clinical

shadowing and rotations

Longitudinal

projects

CORE

EXPERIENCES LONGITUNIDAL PROJECTS

Overview:

After the first summer experience, HOT interns will have the opportunity to collaborate with a hematolo-gy/oncology pharmacy specialist on a longitudinal research project. Types of projects include clinical re-search and quality improvement studies and will last for approximately two academic years. Examples of Current Projects:

• Standardization of Preventative Medication Regi-

mens for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and

Vomiting in a Pediatric Outpatient Infusion Clinic

(Carolyn Rath, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020)

• Characterization of a Precision Oncology Land-

scape: A Mixed Methods Study (Raena Rhone,

PharmD Candidate c/o 2020)

• Evaluation of Venetoclax Initiation Process at

University of North Carolina Medical Center

(Raena Rhone, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020)

Past Projects and Publications:

• A Comparison of Clofarabine-based (GCLAC) and

Cladribine-based (CLAG) Salvage Chemotherapy

for Relapsed/Refractory AML; Clinical Lympho-

ma, Myeloma & Leukemia, 2017 (Katie

Buhlinger, PharmD c/o 2017)

• Retrospective comparison of outcomes in patients

with recurrent or refractory ovarian cancer treat-

ed with PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin at an

academic medical center [Accepted for publica-

tion] (Eric Shen, PharmD c/o 2017)

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Pharmacy Career Opportunities and Outcomes of

Former HOT Interns

Current HOT Interns

and Contact Information

• Taylor Dennison and Ryan Ragan, PharmD

Candidates c/o 2019: Completing Advanced

Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs)

• Steve Deptola, PharmD c/o 2018: PGY1

Pharmacy Resident at Indiana University

Health

• Justin Reid, PharmD c/o 2018: PGY1 Phar-

macy Resident at Michigan Medicine

• Katie Buhlinger, PharmD c/o 2017: PGY2

Hematology/Oncology Resident at UNC

• Eric Shen, PharmD c/o 2017: working with

Medical Affairs group at United Therapeutics

• Taylor White, PharmD c/o 2015: Completed

PGY1 Pharmacy residency at Rex Healthcare,

practicing in New Brunswick, Canada

• Justin Arnall, PharmD c/o 2014: Hematology/

Oncology and Blood & Marrow Transplant at

Carolinas HealthCare System

• Joe Moore, PharmD c/o 2014: Former

Eshelman Institute Fellow

• Carolyn Rath, c/o 2020

(cgr8@email.unc.edu)

• Raena Rhone, c/o 2020

(raena_rhone@unc.edu)

• Rachel Gilmore, c/o 2021

(rachel_gilmore@unc.edu)

• Taylor Werner, c/o 2021

(twerner@unc.edu)

Left to right: Raena Rhone, Carolyn Rath, Taylor Dennison,

Rachel Gilmore, Ryan Ragan