10 DKICP Student Pharmacists Chosen for ASHP Residencies

April 21, 2020

Ten students preparing to graduate in May from the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo recently were matched to post-graduate residency programs at hospitals and health care systems around the county. Two DKICP graduates from the class of 2019 were also matched for a second year of postgraduate residency.

The annual residency match program is coordinated by the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, and provides a process to help connect top graduates from pharmacy colleges with residency programs throughout the United States. Residency match is a highly competitive process for pharmacy graduates.

From the class of 2020 for PGY-1 residency:

  • Robyn Hart will be at Providence Alaska Medical Center, in Anchorage, AK.
  • Taylor Hori is going to the VA Southern Nevada Health Care System, North Las Vegas, NV.
  • Kelly Kofalt was matched to the VA Sierra Nevada Health Care System, Reno, NV.
  • Kamala Lizama will be at VA Pacific Islands Health Care System, Honolulu, HI.
  • Mary Lui is going to the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA.
  • My Nguyen was matched to Yuma Regional Medical Center, Yuma, AZ.
  • Stacey Nguyen will be at MountainView Hospital, Las Vegas, NV.
  • Brent Ocker will work at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA.
  • Shaina Saiki is going to Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla, La Jolla, CA.
  • Thi Hong Vo will be at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, Hilo, HI.

From the class of 2019 for PGY-2 specialty residency:

  • Kelsey Noetzelmann will work in oncology at University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, Aurora, CO.
  • Leigh Heffner will work in psychiatry and mental health at William S. Middleton VA Medical Center, Madison, WI.

“Match Day, and all the preparations for it, can be very stressfull,” says DKICP Dean Carolyn Ma. “We are proud of all our students in the Class of 2020 who dedicated themselves to fulfilling the many requirements of the program. For our matches from the Class of 2019, the progression to a specialty residency demonstrates their desire to commit to an area of specialty practice that will set them apart from their peers and offer the possibility of the prestigious future of specialty board certification.”

See more news from 2020.