Specialty Programs

Purpose

PGY2 residency programs build upon Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) education and PGY1 pharmacy residency training to develop pharmacist practitioners with knowledge, skills, and abilities as defined in the educational competency areas, goals, and objectives for advanced practice areas. Residents who successfully complete PGY2 residency programs are prepared for advanced patient care or other specialized positions, and board certification in the advanced practice area.

Practice Site

The PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency is offered by Riverside University Health System (RUHS) Medical Center Department of Pharmacy in cooperation with RUHS Department of Behavioral Health and University of California Riverside (UCR) School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry.

The residency experiences are held at multiple locations throughout the Inland Empire. The majority of residency experiences will take place at RUHS Arlington Campus, located in Riverside. The Arlington Campus includes a 77-bed Inpatient Mental Health Hospital, and 2 Psychiatric Emergency rooms. Units include a 9 bed psychiatric ICU, two 28 bed adult units, a 12 bed adolescent unit, as well as adult and a pediatric/adolescent emergency departments. Additionally, the Arlington Campus pharmacy provides hospital discharge medications.

In addition to time at the Arlington Campus, residents will spend time at the RUHS Medical Center, located in Moreno Valley, for their geriatrics and psychiatric consult liaison services (PCLS) rotations, as well as potential electives. Academia learning experiences include lectures delivered to pharmacy students attending Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, CA and Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont, CA. Finally, the resident-run psychiatric clinics are telehealth clinics based out of RUHS Community Health Centers and Hospital Based Clinics located throughout Riverside County.

RUHS Psychiatric Pharmacists are responsible for providing both operational and clinical services at all sites. Psychiatric Pharmacists work under P&T approved protocols in the inpatient setting allowing for monitoring and ordering of appropriate lab work for clozapine, anticoagulation, and metabolic monitoring. Psychiatric Pharmacists conduct daily screening and documentation for Joint Commission Core Measure HBIPS, medication reconciliation, medication group, and treatment team participation.

RUHS Arlington serves as a main training site for RUHS Psychiatry Residency and Fellowship programs, UCR Medical School's Psychiatry Residency and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship programs. As such, there will be extensive collaboration with these trainees. Psychiatric pharmacy staff train student pharmacists attending multiple national universities, including University of the Pacific, University of Southern California, Keck Graduate Institute, Loma Linda University, Western University, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine. With the large amount of trainees rotating through the facility year round, the resident will gain ample exposure to preceptorship and hone these skills.

Andy Williams, PharmD BCPP – Residency Program Director

Ana Barron, PharmD BCPP

Niyati Butala, PharmD BCPP

Phillip Huynh, PharmD

Dalea Kandela, PharmD

Erika Kim, PharmD BCPP

Jessa Koch, PharmD BCPP

Melissa Mitchell, PharmD BCPP BCPS BCGP

Esther Moon, PharmD

Susie Park, PharmD BCPP FCSHP

Sabrina Snyder, PharmD BCPP

Additional pharmacy and medicine faculty provide selective learning experiences

RUHS – Arlington Campus (Riverside)

• Orientation
• Adult Inpatient Psychiatry
• Advanced Inpatient Psychiatry (Supervisory Role)
• Adolescent Psychiatry
• Emergency Psychiatry

• Consult Liaison Psychiatry
• Geriatrics

Academia/Education

• Psychopharmacology Series
• Psychopharmacology Clinical Pearls
• Pharmacy School Classroom Didactics
  • Keck Graduate Institute (co-precepted with Dr. Talia Puzantian)
  • Loma Linda University (co-precepted with Dr. Jessa Koch)
• RUHS Pharmacy Department Staff Meeting
• Community/consumer education (including NAMI local association meetings and/or RUHS Family/Peer advocate meetings)
• Grand Rounds/in-services (including RUHS Psychiatry Residency Didactics, RUHS Neurology Residency Didactics, etc)

• Following CA RPH Licensure, resident is granted mid-level practitioner privileges and assumes a patient case load within a RUHS FQHC or Hospital based clinic. 

• Staffing at Arlington campus
• Co-chairing Arlington Campus Medication Management Committee
• Completion of a monograph, MUE, or QA/PI project

Administration

Correctional Health Services

Developmental Disabilities

Neurology

Substance Use Disorders

Extension of any required experience

Teaching Certificate available if interested

The RUHS PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy resident is encouraged to select research topics that align with their interests and professional goals. Psychiatric Pharmacy faculty will collaborate with the resident in their research, facilitating and assisting with project design, implementation, analysis, and manuscript preparation. The resident is encouraged to present research as a poster at the midyear meeting for American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and/or the annual meeting of the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists (AAPP). The resident is required to submit an abstract for consideration to the annual RUHS Research Symposium, if research is not presented at other national conference. The goal of the research experience is to develop a research protocol or new service that is suitable for publication, and for the resident to gain better understanding and experience of utilizing research to enhance clinical services.

RUHS PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy resident research has been published in the following journals:

Current Psychiatry Mental Health Clinician Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics Journal of Psychiatric Practice Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Pharmacy

Applicants must have obtained a Doctorate of Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.) from an ACPE-accredited school of pharmacy and be eligible for pharmacist licensure in California. Applicants must be participating in, or have completed, an ASHP-accredited PGY1 pharmacy practice residency program or one in the ASHP accreditation process. Applicants must participate in the Residency Matching Program designated by ASHP and submit their application using the PhORCAS system.

Niyati Butala, PharmD BCPP (c/o 2019) – Emergency Psychiatric Pharmacist at RUHS

Sabrina Snyder, PharmD BCPP (c/o 2020) – Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Pharmacist at RUHS

Ana Barron, PharmD BCPP (c/o 2021) – Psychiatric Consult Liaison Psychiatric Pharmacist at RUHS

Erika Kim, PharmD BCPP (c/o 2021) – Geriatric Psychiatric Pharmacist at RUHS Connie

Kang, PharmD BCPP (c/o 2022) – Ambulatory Care Psychiatric Pharmacist at LA County Department of Mental Health

Haley Andrews, PharmD BCPP (c/o 2022) – Inpatient Psychiatric Pharmacist at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles

Stefanie Schwab, PharmD (c/o 2023) – Research Fellow with University of Colorado and Psychiatric Pharmacist at Children’s Hospital Colorado

Esther Moon, PharmD (c/o 2023) – Developmental Disabilities/Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Pharmacist at RUHS

Hayley Cliatt, PharmD (c/o 2024) – Neuro/Psychiatric Pharmacist at RUHS Accordion content 1.

Teressa Benbarka, PharmD | Teressa.Benbarka@ruhealth.org

Isabella Fregoso, PharmD | Isabella.Fregoso@ruhealth.org

Residency Program Director

Andy Williams, PharmD BCPP
Supervising Clinical Pharmacist, Behavioral Health
PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency Director
RUHS- Medical Center, Arlington Campus
9990 County Farm Rd
Riverside, CA 92503
Phone: (951) 358-6551
Email: andrew.williams@ruhealth.org