Established in 2014, the Norton Healthcare Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency provides broad experience in antimicrobial stewardship and infectious diseases. Postgraduate Year 2 (PGY2) residency programs build upon Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) 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, if available.
Norton Healthcare employs eight (seven for adult patients, one for pediatric patients) full-time infectious diseases pharmacists. The system has an established, multidisciplinary antimicrobial stewardship program with a mission to optimize clinical outcomes while minimizing adverse consequences of antimicrobial use — including toxicity, the selection of pathogenic organisms and the emergence of resistance — and to reduce healthcare costs without adversely impacting quality of care. By using a novel electronic prospective audit and feedback program, infectious diseases pharmacists can streamline recommendation delivery, allowing for easier tracking of recommendations and greater patient reach. Residents work closely with the stewardship team and gain experience with a variety of evidence-based stewardship practices.
The antimicrobial stewardship program and its members have been recognized nationally, including with the 2018 Outstanding Clinical Practice in Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy Award, the 2023 Gita Patel Best Practice Award from the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists and a 2019 Best Practices Award from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Among these recognitions is Norton Healthcare’s rapid bacteremia response protocol — which leverages pharmacists as a key resource and incorporates rapid microbiology identification to expedite optimal antimicrobial therapy — and its penicillin allergy delabeling program.
In 2023, the Norton Healthcare Antimicrobial Stewardship Program was recognized as a global center of excellence by the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy’s Global Antimicrobial Stewardship Accreditation Scheme. The program received a Level 3 accreditation, which is the highest level awarded, and is the first center of excellence in the United States. This designation acknowledges the excellent work done by the program and positions Norton Healthcare to be part of a larger conversation worldwide about antimicrobial resistance.
Norton Healthcare has the largest clinical microbiology laboratory in Kentucky, processing inpatient and outpatient specimens. It is supported with numerous rapid diagnostic technologies, trained technical staff and a microbiologist with a doctoral degree. The close integration between the stewardship team and microbiology provides residents with valuable opportunities to understand how diagnostic testing can inform antimicrobial selection and patient care. Norton Healthcare is a training site for surrounding pharmacy schools, and residents will gain teaching experience by serving as co-preceptors for pharmacy students and PGY1 residents.
Norton Infectious Diseases Institute is home to the Kentucky Antimicrobial Stewardship Innovation Consortium (KASIC), a statewide antimicrobial stewardship initiative aimed at addressing inequalities in access to antimicrobial stewardship resources. Through KASIC, Norton Healthcare collaborates with infectious diseases and antimicrobial stewardship experts across Kentucky and neighboring states, providing opportunities to share expertise, develop innovative stewardship strategies and strengthen antimicrobial stewardship practices throughout the state. Within Norton Infectious Diseases Institute, residents have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with advanced infectious diseases research specialists and statisticians with expertise in the field of clinical epidemiology.
New rotations can be created and existing rotations can be adjusted based on the needs of the resident.
Required Rotations:
Required Longitudinal Experiences:
Elective Opportunities:
Jamie Montes de Oca, Pharm.D., BCIDP
Jamie is a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at Norton Hospital and the residency program director for the infectious diseases PGY2 residency. Originally from Lawrence, Kansas, he earned his bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, before receiving his Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He completed his PGY1 and PGY2 infectious diseases pharmacy residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. His areas of interest include antimicrobial stewardship, gram-negative resistance and opportunistic infections. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, walking/hikes with his dog and snowboarding.
Miranda Arzate, Pharm.D.,
Miranda is a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at Norton Clark Hospital, Norton King’s Daughters’ Health and Norton Scott Hospital and the residency program coordinator. She is from Nogales, Arizona, and graduated from Midwestern University College of Pharmacy, Glendale, Arizona, with her Doctor of Pharmacy. She completed her PGY1 at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and a PGY2 in infectious diseases at Norton Healthcare in Louisville, Kentucky. Her areas of interest include antimicrobial stewardship, gram-negative resistance and fungal infections. Outside of pharmacy, she enjoys spending time with family, going to the movie theater, outdoor walks and building Lego sets.
Carlee Berry, Pharm.D., BCIDP, AAHIVP
Carlee is a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she completed her Doctor of Pharmacy at Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, followed by PGY1 Acute Care and PGY2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency at Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh. Her professional interests include antimicrobial stewardship, infections in the critically ill and/or immunocompromised host, and education for learners and multidisciplinary teams. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, crafting, trying new restaurants and spoiling her dog.
Ashley Casper, Pharm.D.
Ashley is a clinical pharmacist specialist at Norton Children’s Hospital and is responsible for the pediatric antimicrobial stewardship program. Ashley received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2011. After pharmacy school, Ashley completed the PGY1 residency at Norton Children’s Hospital. Ashley enjoys spending time with her husband and four boys and enjoys watching the St. Louis Cardinals and Louisville Cardinals.
Audry Hawkins, Pharm.D., BCIDP
Audry is a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious disease in the Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy clinics at Norton Healthcare. Audry obtained her Pharm.D. from Sullivan University in Louisville, Kentucky, and went on to complete her PGY-1 at the VA Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama. After completing her PGY-2 in infectious diseases from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, Audry returned back to her home state of Kentucky to begin her career. Her areas of interest include antimicrobial stewardship equity, as well as process and quality improvement. In her free time, Audry enjoys spending time with her family, beach volleyball, golf, learning new sports and craft beer.
Lindsay Jackson, Pharm.D., MBA, BCACP
Lindsay is an ambulatory clinical pharmacy specialist with Norton Infectious Diseases Institute. She is from Florence, Kentucky and graduated from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, with Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration degrees in 2019. She completed PGY1 and PGY2 ambulatory care residencies at Norton Healthcare. Serving the system’s ambulatory infectious diseases clinics, she focuses on patients with HIV, hepatitis C and other chronic infectious diseases conditions. Outside of pharmacy, she loves traveling, trying new restaurants, and anything outdoors with friends and family.
Wes Johnson, Pharm.D., BCIDP, MPH
Wes is a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at Norton Audubon Hospital. Originally from Bowling Green, Kentucky, he received his Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Kentucky in Lexington. He completed his PGY1 and PGY2 in infectious diseases training at UK HealthCare. His areas of interest include antimicrobial resistance, clinical microbiology and stewardship in the emergency department.
Alan Junkins, Ph.D., D(ABMM)
Alan received his Bachelor of Science in microbiology at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, in 1984, and then went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His area of research was on mechanisms of intestinal colonization by Escherichia coli O157:H7, and he received his doctorate in 1991. Alan then spent 16 years teaching clinical microbiology to laboratory sciences students at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He went on to complete a two-year fellowship in medical and public health microbiology at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. He has been chief of microbiology at Norton Healthcare since 2009. Alan is preceptor for a clinical microbiology rotation for the infectious diseases PGY2 resident. His main interests are appropriate use of laboratory tests and optimizing reporting of bacterial identification and susceptibility results.
Matthew Song, Pharm.D., BCIDP
Matthew is the supervisor for the clinical pharmacy specialists in infectious diseases. Additionally, he serves as co-lead for KASIC. Matthew was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. He received a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences from Auburn University in 2011 and a doctorate in pharmacy from Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy in 2015. He completed a PGY1 pharmacy residency at St. Joseph Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and a PGY2 infectious diseases pharmacy residency at Norton Healthcare. Matthew serves as a preceptor to Norton Healthcare pharmacy residents, University of Kentucky pharmacy students and University of Kentucky Doctor of Nursing Practice students. His interests include antimicrobial stewardship, antimicrobial resistance and implementation science. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, traveling, Auburn University sports, fantasy football and spending time with friends and family.
Elena Swingler, Pharm.D., MBA, BCIDP
Elena is a clinical pharmacy specialist in infectious diseases at Norton Brownsboro Hospital. She graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, with Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration degrees. She then completed both PGY1 and PGY2 residency training at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her main professional areas of interests include implementing and evaluating antimicrobial stewardship interventions, developing system policy and protocols, antimicrobial resistance, and mycobacterial infections. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities, drawing and playing the piano.
The Norton Healthcare PGY-2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency uses a flipped residency research model. In a flipped model, residents are assigned a project in the first half of the year that has already been approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The residents will complete data collection and draft a manuscript in the first half of the year. In the second half of the year the residents will propose a project, write a protocol, and obtain IRB approval for residents in the following class. Using a flipped model allows the residents to become accustomed to the practices and needs of the institution and therefore better equipped at proposing projects that are feasible, correctly scoped and better aligned with organizational needs. The residents will present their first project at the Great Lakes Pharmacy Residents Conference, present a poster at the Kentucky Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists spring meeting or an equivalent meeting, and will be highly encouraged to pursue presentation at a national infectious diseases conference (e.g., IDWeek, MAD-ID, etc.) and publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Current Resident
Katie Edwards, Pharm.D.
Pharmacy School: Auburn Harrison College of Pharmacy, Alabama
Areas of interest: Resistance mechanisms, antimicrobial stewardship, novel antimicrobials
PGY1: Baptist Medical Center South, Montgomery, Alabama
Project 1: Use of Dose-Optimized Amoxicillin and Cephalexin Compared to Fluoroquinolones and SMX/TMP in Bacteremia Secondary to Urinary Source
Due to E. coli, Klebsiella spp. and Proteus spp.
Why Norton Healthcare? Norton Healthcare demonstrates a strong commitment to patient-centered and high-quality care that fosters continuous learning, collaborative practice and professional development. Additionally, the preceptors create an environment designed to encourage the development of an efficient and dependable infectious diseases pharmacist. I believe the opportunities Norton Healthcare offers will push me to become a better practitioner and communicator as well as build the confidence necessary to succeed in my future career.
Past Residents
2025-2026
Miranda Arzate, Pharm.D.
Midwestern University College of Pharmacy, Glendale, Arizona
Area of Interest: Gram-negative resistance, fungal infections, antimicrobial stewardship
PGY1: St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Project 1: Evaluation of Adherence to Guidelines for Treatment of Community-acquired Bacterial Meningitis (poster presented at MAD-ID conference)
Why Norton Healthcare? Norton Healthcare provides robust training opportunities in antimicrobial stewardship. The program offers opportunities to experience and learn how to create a positive impact through antimicrobial stewardship, from patient-specific interventions to system-level policies. The preceptors are also clearly passionate about teaching and eager to support the learner to develop their own knowledge and practice as an infectious disease pharmacist.
2024-2025
Connor Dowling, Pharm.D.
University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, Oxford
Areas of interest: Antimicrobial stewardship, resistance mechanisms
PGY1: St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi
Project 1: Retrospective Evaluation of Duration of Antibiotic Therapy in Adults Hospitalized for Bacteremic Pneumococcal Pneumonia
Why Norton Healthcare: Norton Healthcare offers a great training opportunity for antimicrobial stewardship in an innovative and stimulating environment. I also think that the preceptors and residency program are structured with residents’ best interests in mind, so I believe that Norton Healthcare will help push me closer to fulfilling my potential over the year!
2023-2024
Dakota Smith, Pharm.D., MSPGx
Manchester University, Indiana
Areas of interest: antimicrobial stewardship, infectious diseases education
PGY1: Norton Healthcare
Project 2: Retrospective Evaluation of Duration of Antibiotic Therapy in Adults Hospitalized for Bacteremic Pneumococcal Pneumonia
Project 1: Evaluation of Adherence to a Health System’s Guidelines for Treatment of Community Acquired Pneumonia
Madison Clark, Pharm.D.
University of Houston College of Pharmacy, Texas
PGY1: Presbyterian Healthcare Services, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Project 2: Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Hospital-acquired Pneumonia Receiving a Regimen With and Without Anaerobic Coverage
Project 1: Effect of Rapid Bacteremia Response Program on Outcomes in Patients with ESBL Bacteremia. Kentucky Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists spring 2024 meeting Best Poster Award winner.
Current role: Mercy Hospital South, St. Louis, Missouri – Infectious Diseases Pharmacist, Antimicrobial Stewardship Chair
2021-2022
Martin Brenneman, Pharm.D., BCIDP
Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy, Ada, Ohio
Project 2: Oral Vancomycin Tapers for First-occurrence of Clostridioides difficile Compared to Standard of Care: An Observational Retrospective Match Cohort Study. Poster Presented at IDWeek 2023
Project 1: Limited Impact of a Nudge Comment in Promoting De-escalation to First-generation Cephalosporins in Urinary Tract Infections. Kentucky Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists spring 2022 meeting Best Poster Award winner. Published in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology
Current role: Clinical pharmacy specialist – infectious diseases/antimicrobial stewardship coordinator, Baptist Health Corbin, Kentucky
2020–2021
Chris Whitman, Pharm.D., BCIDP
Auburn University Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn, Alabama
PGY1: East Alabama Medical Center – Opelika, AL
Project 2: Limited Impact of a Nudge Comment in Promoting De-escalation to First-generation Cephalosporins in Urinary Tract Infections. Published in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology
Project 1: Antimicrobial Stewardship Meets Transition of Care: Defining the Length of Therapy for Community-acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (CABP). Published in the University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections
Current role: Antimicrobial stewardship clinical pharmacy coordinator, Infirmary Health, Mobile, Alabama
2017-2018
Nick Tinker, Pharm.D., BCIDP
University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy, Aurora
PGY1: St. Anthony Hospital, Lakewood, Colorado
Project: Impact of Pharmacist-driven Ordering of First-dose Antibiotics in Patients with Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia
Current role:– Advanced clinical pharmacist, infectious diseases/antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist, Intermountain Healthcare, Murray, Utah
2016 – 2017
PGY-1: Saint Joseph Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Project: Opt Out Approach to Antimicrobial Stewardship Using Personalized Custom Electronic Alert Recommendations at a Community Hospital. Poster Presented at IDWeek 2018
Current role: clinical pharmacy specialist, infectious diseases, and KASIC co-lead, Norton Healthcare
2015 – 2016
Shaina Doyen, Pharm.D., BCIDP
Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
PGY1: UofL Health, Louisville, Kentucky
Project: Impact of 2010 Cephalosporin CLSI Breakpoint Revisions for Enterobacteriaceae on Susceptibility And Antibiotic Utilization. Poster Presented at Microbe 2016. Kentucky Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists 2016 spring meeting Best Poster Award winner
Current role: Manager, antimicrobial stewardship and antimicrobial stewardship system committee co-chair, Baptist Health System, Kentucky
2014-2015
Nick Hudson, Pharm.D., BCIDP
University of Cincinnati James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, Ohio
PGY1: Baptist Health Lexington, Kentucky
Project: Determining the Risk of Antimicrobial Resistance in Common Gram-positive and Gram-negative Pathogens Following Antibiotic Exposure. Poster Presented at IDWeek 2015
Current role: Infectious diseases clinical pharmacist at Elkhart General Hospital, Indiana
All application materials must be submitted via the Pharmacy Online Residency Centralized Application Service (PhORCAS). There are no additional application materials required beyond PhORCAS requirements. No material, including letters of recommendation, will be accepted via U.S. mail, email or by submission in person.
The candidate must have completed an ASHP-accredited PGY1 program or one in the accreditation process. A copy of the PGY1 residency certificate must be provided on or before the first day of starting the PGY2 residency program. All applicants must be eligible for licensure in the state of Kentucky.
Salary and Benefits
The PGY2 resident is eligible for full employee benefits of Norton Healthcare. Each PGY2 resident is salaried and receives a stipend of $64,480 plus benefits. Each position requires a one-calendar-year commitment.
Benefits at a Glance
For additional information, contact:
Jamie Montes de Oca, Pharm.D., BCIDPClinical Pharmacy Specialist, Infectious DiseasesResidency Program Director, PGY2 Infectious DiseasesNorton Infectious Diseases Institute2701 Chestnut Station CourtLouisville, KY 4029
Email: [email protected]