South Texas Veterans Health Care System awarded with the 2025 Residency Program Excellence Award

The Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacy (TSHP) is proud to announce that South Texas Veterans Health Care System - PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency Program is the recipient of the 2025 Residency Program Excellence Award. 

TSHP annually recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations within our community for excellence and a commitment to advancing healthcare and pharmacy practice in Texas. The awardees are selected by the TSHP Board of Directors based on nominations submitted by TSHP members.

A pharmacy residency program can earn this award with a track record of excellence in the training of pharmacy residents and consistently provides an exceptionally positive and rewarding experience their residents.

The PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency Program at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System has been accredited since 2005. In that time, the program has developed leaders, innovators, and staunch advocates for psychiatric pharmacy and mental health both locally and nationally. Graduates of this program have gone on to lead residency programs, accept managerial roles, and lead national committees and workgroups. The breadth of learning experiences allows trainees to experience psychiatric pharmacy in various clinical settings, preparing them to practice in diverse settings following graduation, to include clinical roles in outpatient practice, inpatient care, fellowships, industry, and adjunct professor positions at schools and colleges of pharmacy. Residents at South Texas are exposed to the highest level of clinical practice with all rotations being with a board-certified pharmacist and under the teaching of the largest concentration of psychiatric pharmacists in the entire VA system nationwide. This robust training environment strengthens resident knowledge to a point to achieve and maintain our program’s 100% first-time board certification pass rate. The PGY-2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency Program at the South Texas VA has a well-established track record of successful trainees who not only change clinical practice but have dedicated their time and knowledge in training future mental health professionals. This award is a recognition of all the graduates and their successes while simultaneously celebrating the growth of our program, mental health clinical pharmacy practice, and the role psychiatric pharmacists play in filling healthcare gaps, reducing stigmatization, and increasing access to care.

This honor was presented April 4 at the 2025 Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacy (TSHP) Annual Seminar in Irving, TX, at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas. TSHP’s Annual Seminar is the largest educational and networking meeting of pharmacists, new practitioners, students, technicians, and industry professionals in Texas. With a focus on quality patient care and medication safety, registrants may select from dozens of hours of live programming each year. TSHP Annual Seminar programs are designed to maintain and enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of pharmacy professionals in health-systems across Texas.

About TSHP

The Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacy began in 1949 with its first annual seminar for hospital pharmacists held at The University of Texas College of Pharmacy in Austin. Twenty-five founding members came together to form what has become one of the leading health-system pharmacy societies in the country with a dynamic professional membership association which serves Texas health-system pharmacy professionals dedicated to the mission, vision, core values, philosophy, soul, spirit, and motto of TSHP.

If you are interested in joining TSHP as a member or organization, visit https://tshp.org/membership.

For more information, visit https://tshp.org.