Overview
Two-Year Funded Fellowships available to post-graduate Pharm.D, M.D. and Ph.D.
During the two-year program, the fellow will be responsible for providing Clinical Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy, Pharmacokinetics, and Antimicrobial Stewardship services to the VAMC hospital and Infectious Diseases consult team for approximately 4 months per year (25% effort). In order to provide a wellrounded clinical experience, there is opportunity for the fellow to participate on the Antimicrobial-Sub Committee, and Infection Control Committee at the Providence VAMC. Participation on these committees is not required, but will be based upon current research projects in areas of Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Control.
The fellow is responsible for the development and completion of a research project and for the submission of research proposals to the VAMC Institutional Review Board (IRB; human), Safety Committee, and Research and Development Board (R&D).
Benefits
Fellows receive a competitive stipend that includes full medical and dental coverage (signal or family coverage). Additional benefits include paid membership in the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacy (SIDP) and American Society of Microbiology (ASM), book stipends, and paid expenses for professional meetings, fellow forums and conferences.
Qualifications
- Pharm.D. degree or RPh. with clinical inpatient internal medicine experience (preferred), Ph.D., MD or DO.
- For the Clinical Outcomes fellowship, applicants are encouraged to have completed a general practice or specialty residency with strong focus on inpatient medicine.
- Licensed pharmacist (or eligible) in the state of Rhode Island.
Rhode Island Infectious Diseases (RIID) Research Program
- Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), Providence, RI Funded Fellowship in conjunction with:
- The University of Rhode Island (URI) College of Pharmacy, Kingstown, RI
- Warren Albert School of Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI
The outcomes research division offers this fellowship focused on clinical outcomes and antimicrobial stewardship. The program is located in the State of Rhode Island, at the Providence Veterans Affair Medical Center in conjunction with The University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy. The Outcomes Research Division began in 2008, and is focused on Pharmacoepidemiologic Research, including a major focus upon Comparative Effectiveness, Outcomes, Risk Factors and Infectious Disease Epidemiologic Research. A larger focus of this program is in the area of antimicrobial stewardship.
The program is directed by Kerry LaPlante, Pharm.D. who has over 10 year experience, and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, abstracts and textbook chapters in this area of research. Dr. LaPlante is a tenured associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island and an adjunct associate professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. Her clinical practice site is at the Providence VAMC where she serves as an infectious diseases pharmacotherapy specialist consultant.
American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP ) Recognized Fellowship
A voluntary peer review process, conducted by the ACCP Fellowship Review Committee, is designed to assess whether a given program meets the ACCP Guidelines for Research Fellowship Training Programs. The review process is designed to help ensure quality in research fellowship training programs and to assist preceptors in improving fellowship programs. Both the preceptor and the fellowship site are evaluated. Although there are certain minimal criteria that must be met, the overall process is not intended to standardize fellowships, because it is well recognized that a highly individualized experience is the hallmark of an excellent training program.
This program have been reviewed by the Fellowship Review Committee (2013) and is recognized as meeting the ACCP Guidelines for Research Fellowship Training Programs.
Description / Purpose
The program is designed to provide skills that are necessary to pursue a career in academia, clinical research, and basic clinical practice focused in infectious diseases. The program integrates research experience (80%), teaching, both in the classroom and experiential (10%), and practical clinical experience for the Infectious Disease Consult team (10%). A major focus of this program is in research design, development, analysis and writing for final publication. Fellows are responsible for submitting their research to national and international infectious diseases meetings and submitting their papers to peer reviewed journals for publication.
Clinical Goals
- To become an independent pharmacy practitioner with a wealth of knowledge of the epidemiology and treatment of infectious diseases.
- To successfully serve healthcare organizations as the ultimate resource for information about antiinfectives including leadership in formulary decision-making for anti-infectives.
Research Goals
- To contribute to clinical, humanistic and economic outcomes analyses through infectious diseases pharmacy research.
- To employ knowledge acquired through experiential training, conduct infectious diseases practice research using effective research design and management skills by formulating a hypothesis, creating a feasible design for research projects, and utilizing appropriate statistical methods to interpret data.
- To effectively present the results of research, successfully employ accepted manuscript style for final research report, and secure publication of research results.
Essential functions
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy, and provide expert consultation with other healthcare professionals in development of pharmacotherapy plans for patients as appropriate.
- Participate in objective evaluation and dissemination of medication use trends and pharmacoeconomic/clinical outcomes information for appropriate areas throughout the system.
- Coordinate, support, and participate in research, research protocol review, and research development related to the specialty area. Prepare grant proposals for funding of research.
- Publish original research articles, and present at local and national functions relevant to practice area.
- Master understanding, application, and relevance of an ASP to an organization and ultimately in the delivery of safe, effective patient care.
- Promote and develop the application of antimicrobial stewardship strategies to reinforce practice infrastructure within Providence VAMC.
- Teach pharmacy, medical, nursing, and other personnel where appropriate. Co-precept clinical clerkship students and residents participating in practical experience training.
Teaching
The fellows will have several opportunities for teaching. The requirement will encompass classroom teaching at The University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy, Noon conference (given to Brown University medical students, interns, residents and staff), and assisting in precepting the 6th year Pharm.D. students during their Infectious Diseases experiential rotation.
Contact
Office Address
Veterans Affairs Medical Center (151)
Research Building #7
830 Chalkstone Avenue
Providence, RI 02908
Laboratory
Veterans Affairs Medical Center (151)
Research Building #7
830 Chalkstone Avenue
Providence, RI 02908
Fellowship Director
Kerry LaPlante, Pharm.D.
Office: 401.273.7100 x2339
Cell: 401.632.6009
kerrylaplante@uri.edu
Associate Director of Outcomes Research Division
Aisling Caffrey, M.S., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology, College of Pharmacy, University of Rhode Island and Investigator, Infectious Diseases Research, Providence VA Medical Center
