School of Pharmacy

Adult Internal Medicine

The VCU School of Pharmacy has a long history of expertise in adult internal medicine. The VCU School of Pharmacy faculty includes Dr. Leigh Anne Hylton-Gravatt and Dr. Nancy Yunker.  Dr. Gravatt received her Pharm.D. from Virginia Commonwealth University. She completed a Pharmacy Practice residency at University of North Carolina Hospitals and Clinics and an Internal Medicine residency at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCUHS); she is a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist. Dr. Yunker received both a B.S. in Pharmacy and a Pharm.D. from Purdue University. She completed a Clinical Pharmacy residency at Medical College of Virginia Hospital (now VCUHS). She is a board certified pharmacotherapy specialist and serves as the program director for the PGY-2 Internal Medicine Pharmacy Residency at the VCUHS which currently has 2 ASHP- Accredited residency positions available a year. 

In addition to the adult internal medicine faculty on the Richmond campus, there are two additional faculty with internal medicine expertise on the Inova campus of the VCU School of Pharmacy. Dr. Casey Washington received her Pharm.D. from the University of Cincinnati.  She completed both her Pharmacy Practice residency and Internal Medicine residency at VCUHS. Dr. Alisa Escano graduated with a Pharm.D.from VCU and completed a Pharmacy Practice residency at Inova Fairfax Hospital and a Primary Care residency at the Medical University of South Carolina.  Both are board certified pharmacotherapy specialists.  

In addition to these individuals, Drs. Patricia Fulco, Teresa Potter, Kenny Snider, and Lindsay Hoffman also serve as adult internal medicine preceptors at the VCU Health System. Each member of the adult internal medicine group has subspecialty interests including pulmonary, cardiology, gastrointestinal, biostatistics, epidemiology, infectious disease and HIV pharmacotherapy. As a group, these individuals meet the service, teaching, and scholarship needs of the School of Pharmacy, Inova Fairfax Hospital and VCU Health System. In addition to the core group of internal medicine practitioners at the VCU Health System and Inova Fairfax Hospital, the School provides support to faculty in adult internal medicine practices around the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

Clinical Service 

For those practitioners based at VCU Health System, the group provides daily care to patients admitted to the adult internal medicine services. This dynamic, multidisciplinary practice site currently includes 5 general practice services, a specialty gastrointestinal service and the faculty attending services. Practitioners participate in daily patient care rounds and provide drug information, pharmacokinetic consults, therapeutic recommendations, medication reconciliation services, patient counseling, and professional development seminars. The adult internal medicine pharmacotherapy services at VCU Health System complement the medical and nursing services to optimize patient care on a year-round basis. The VCU Health System provides an ideal learning environment for Doctor of Pharmacy students, and postgraduate pharmacy residents in PGY1 and PGY2 programs. 

Teaching

The adult internal medicine faculty members provide extensive didactic and experiential teaching. Didactic teaching includes activities in the core and elective course curriculum including the 17 Clinical Therapeutics Modules (CTM), Clinical Chemistry for the Practicing Pharmacist (MEDC 543), Pharmacy Foundations Laboratory I-VI, the Cardiology elective and the Scholarship course sequence.  The faculty also provides pharmacotherapy lectures in the graduate VCU School of Nursing program (NURS 502) and Division of Physical Therapy doctoral program (PHTY 615). Dr. Gravatt co-coordinates the CTM Infectious Disease (PHAR 604).  Dr. Yunker coordinates the CTM Respiratory/Immunology (PHAR 603) in addition to the Advanced Nursing Practice Pharmacotherapeutics course (NURS 502) in the School of Nursing.  Dr. Washington coordinates the CTM Gastroenterology/Nutrition (PHAR 618).  Drs. Escano, Gravatt and Washington co-coordinate the Advanced Clinical Pharmacy (PHAR 666) elective.  The group at VCUHS and Inova Fairfax Hospital precept approximately 40-60 Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences for Doctor of Pharmacy candidates and provide 25-40 rotations for pharmacy practice and internal medicine residents. Each of the adult internal medicine faculty members on the Richmond campus serves as a faculty liaison to a student group at the School of Pharmacy: Dr. Gravatt to student chapter of VSHP (SVSHP) and Dr. Yunker to ACCP student members. 

Scholarship

Research and scholarly activities provided by the group are widespread, and reflect in part the members’ sub-specialty interests. These projects include, but are not limited to, improvement in care of hospitalized patients, database research, and anti-coagulation and infectious disease related trials. Please see the individual faculty member’s webpage for specific research interests, as well as the residency web sites.