Beyond the Pharmacy Counter

Instead, many spend another year in residency, joining medical teams in hospitals and health systems where they round with physicians, evaluate medication regimens, conduct research and take on increasing responsibility for patient care.

Recent TCOP graduates and alumni are pursuing residencies at hospitals and health systems across the country. Some are just beginning that training, while others are moving into second-year specialty programs in fields ranging from pediatrics and oncology to psychiatry and managed care. In fact, 92 percent of TCOP graduates who participated in the 2026 ASHP Residency Match successfully matched to a residency. Although their career goals differ, they all describe residency as the point where everything they learned in pharmacy school begins to come together.

Finding the Right Fit

Julianna Diaz didn't always picture herself becoming a pharmacist.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, she studied neuroscience and psychology in college with plans to attend medical school. A pharmacology course changed the direction of her career. After graduation, she worked as both a medical scribe and medical assistant before attending TCOP. This summer, she'll begin a residency at Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital.

What stood out to Diaz was the program's emphasis on research.

"The way that their program is structured is very research based," Diaz said. "They actually give you a whole month to focus on your research."

Jefferson Einstein's Level I trauma center and emergency medicine electives also appealed to her, giving her the chance to combine research with direct patient care.

"I still came back to the conclusion that I wanted that interdisciplinary, patient-heavy focus," she said.

Diaz said Touro's emphasis on and opportunities in research encouraged students to explore areas of pharmacy beyond the classroom.

"I learned that there's more to pharmacy beyond the classroom and to explore different interest areas through research," she said.

While Diaz found her place in emergency medicine and research, Adina Kagan discovered that one of residency's biggest advantages is the chance to experience nearly every corner of hospital pharmacy.

Interested in biology from a young age, Kagan, also a graduate of Touro University’s Lander College for Women, knew she wanted a healthcare career but preferred working with medications to pursuing a more hands-on clinical profession. After graduating from TCOP, she began a PGY-1 residency at Westchester Medical Center, where each month brought her to a different clinical team.

She rotated through internal medicine, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, intensive care and transplant medicine, working alongside physicians while helping guide medication decisions.

"Our job is to be on top of medications," Kagan said. "We make recommendations because the medical team has a lot of work. We're the ones focused on the medications."

One of her favorite rotations was transplant medicine, where managing medications can be especially complex.

After completing her PGY-1 residency, Kagan will continue her training with a second-year residency in pediatrics, combining her interest in clinical pharmacy with a longtime desire to work with children.

She said TCOP's strong foundation in pharmacotherapy and infectious diseases helped prepare her for residency.

"I really came in with a good baseline knowledge," she said. "I could maximize my growth potential because of TCOP."

Sometimes the Path Isn't Straight

Not every residency story begins with a Match Day celebration.

When Mersal Danai opened her first-round Match results, she learned she hadn't matched with a residency program. Rather than give up, Danai met with faculty member Dr. Sharon Blum to talk through her interviews and reassess her options. She realized her interests aligned less with acute care than with managed care and corporate pharmacy, and she entered the second phase of the Match with a new strategy.

This time, she matched.

Danai will complete her residency with Kaiser Permanente in California, where she'll work at the intersection of patient care and health insurance. Her responsibilities will include evaluating medication formularies, reviewing both the clinical and economic evidence behind new medications and helping determine when certain therapies are appropriate for patients.

"You work with both the payer and the provider," Danai said. "You can make a larger impact through the insurance beyond the patient."

She said TCOP's drug information course, a managed care elective and advice from classmates already working in the field all helped prepare her for the opportunity.

"I was pretty lucky to have that elective," she said.

Building on Experience

For some pharmacists, a PGY-1 residency is only the beginning.

Rajsumeet Macwan recently completed his first year of residency at the University of Michigan and is preparing to begin a PGY-2 oncology residency at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

His interest in pharmacy started long before he entered the profession. Growing up in India, he often helped his grandmother keep track of the medications she took each day. Years later, after his grandfather died of cancer, his focus shifted toward oncology.

That interest deepened at TCOP, where he worked with a research professor on colon cancer research that was later published in a scientific journal.

"What I love with oncology is it's more evidence-based," Macwan said. "There are always trials and innovations coming into oncology."

He enjoys keeping up with new research and applying those findings to patient care.

"I really liked the idea of analyzing data and applying it to patients," he said.

The combination of research, clinical decision-making and direct patient care convinced him to continue his training with a second year of residency focused exclusively on oncology.

While Macwan is pursuing one of pharmacy's most specialized fields, Miriam Sprei found herself drawn to a different kind of patient care.

She moved to Connecticut to begin a residency at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, where she hopes to eventually specialize in psychiatric pharmacy. (Sprei is not the first TCOP alum to dedicate themselves to service.)

Long before pharmacy school, Sprei found herself paying attention to television commercials for prescription medications, wondering how the same drug could be used to treat several different conditions. Pharmacy school gave her the chance to finally answer those questions.

"I love puzzles," she said. "Medication is one piece. Finding the right medication that fits is like solving a puzzle."

An elective rotation in inpatient psychiatry ultimately convinced her she had found the specialty she wanted to pursue.

"You see patients come in at their worst," Sprei said. "Figuring out what medication regimens work best and seeing that improvement—it felt really good."

She intentionally sought out a Veterans Affairs residency because of its strong psychiatric pharmacy program and the opportunity to care for veterans experiencing PTSD, depression and substance use disorders. "They give so much for our country," Sprei said. "I really wanted to give back."