Meet the leadership team for the pharmacy residency programs at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Alison L. Apple, RPh, MS
Chief Pharmacy Officer (CPO) of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Alison Apple currently oversees all the pharmacy services at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and serves as the PGY1/PGY2 Health System Pharmacy Administration Residency Program Director. She received her BS in Pharmacy at the University of Rhode Island and her MS in Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina where she also completed a residency in hospital pharmacy. Most of Alison’s career was spent in Memphis, TN at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare serving in many roles over the years including Director of Pharmacy, Administrator for the Cancer Center, Administrative Director of Clinical Services, Transplant Program Administrator and System Director of Pharmacy. She was an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy and served as a residency program director for a PGY1/PGY2 Health System Pharmacy Administration Program for 15 years.
Alison has been very active with residency accreditation over the past 15 years including serving on the American Society of Health System Pharmacy Commission on Credentialing as Chair and as a Lead Surveyor in both domestic and international residency accreditation.
In 2012 Alison was the first recipient of the Fred M. Eckel Pharmacy Leadership Award from the University of North Carolina Hospitals and Clinics.
Nikitha Reddy Patel, PharmD, BCPS
Nikitha Patel is the Residency Program Director for the PGY1 Pharmacy Residency. Dr. Patel received her BS degree from The College of New Jersey and her PharmD from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy. After graduating, she completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Residency and PGY2 Internal Medicine Pharmacy Residency at Boston Medical Center. She then spent time at Massachusetts General Hospital developing her practice in Internal Medicine where she was an integral member in developing a discharge acuity tool, establishing a PGY2 Internal Medicine residency program and began ambulatory services in primary care. Dr. Patel joined HUP in 2023 in her role as the PGY1 RPD and an Internal Medicine Clinical Pharmacy Specialist. Her institutional involvement at HUP includes the Recruitment and Orientation Committee, Wellness Committee, the Residency Advisory Committee, and the Preceptor Development Subcommittee. Nationally, she is a member of ACCP and serves as a committee chair through the Adult Medicine PRN. Her professional interests include transitions of care, end-stage renal disease and anticoagulation. Dr. Patel is passionate about pharmacy education and mentoring new residents as they begin their career as a clinical pharmacist.
Colleen Timlin, PharmD, BCOP
Colleen Timlin is the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency. Dr. Timlin received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Wilkes University. From there she went on to complete both her PGY1 Pharmacy Residency and PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. Colleen joined the HUP oncology team in 2012 as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Hematology/Hematopoietic Cell Transplant and the PGY2 Oncology Residency Program Director. In her current role, Colleen has transitioned to the ambulatory care setting to establish clinical pharmacy services for the hematology, hematopoietic stem cell and immunotherapy patient populations here at Penn. She is a member of multiple pharmacy and interdisciplinary committees within the hospital, including the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, Residency Research Committee, Preceptor Development, and the Residency Advisory Committee. In addition to local committee involvement, Colleen is also an active member of national oncology committees, holding leadership positions in the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplant (ASBMT) - Pharmacy Special Interest Group (SIG) and the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA).
David Dinh, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP
David Dinh is the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Pharmacy Residencies. Dr. Dinh received his PharmD degree from the Jefferson College of Pharmacy. He then went on to complete a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center and PGY2 Critical Care Pharmacy Residency at Christiana Care Health System. After finishing residency, Dr. Dinh worked as a clinical pharmacy specialist at Yale New Haven Hospital, where he helped establish emergency medicine pharmacy services and create an emergency medicine pharmacy residency program. In 2018, Dr. Dinh joined the emergency medicine pharmacy team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In his current role, Dr. Dinh supports the 24/7 pharmacist coverage in the HUP emergency department. He is a member of multiple pharmacy and interdisciplinary committees within the hospital, including the Comprehensive Stroke Center, Residency Research Committee, Preceptor Development, and the Residency Advisory Committee.
Vasilios Athans, PharmD, BCIDP
Vasilios Athans is the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency. Dr. Athans received his PharmD degree from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He then went on to complete a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency and PGY2 Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Residency at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. After finishing residency in 2015, Dr. Athans worked as a clinical pharmacy specialist at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, where his practice focused on antimicrobial stewardship and infections in immunocompromised hosts.
In 2018, Dr. Athans joined the infectious diseases pharmacy team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. In his current role, Dr. Athans supports the HUP antimicrobial stewardship program and six infectious diseases consult services. He also serves as pharmacist co-director of the HUP Infectious Diseases Transition Service (IDTS), a nationally recognized program which oversees the safe provision of outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) for approximately 1000 hospital discharges annually. Dr. Athans has authored over 25 peer-reviewed publications on infectious diseases, pharmacotherapy or antimicrobial stewardship. His professional and research interests include antimicrobial stewardship, OPAT, antifungal pharmacology, and gram-negative resistance. Within the hospital, Dr. Athans is a member of the Antibiotic Subcommittee of the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, Stewardship Committee, Residency Advisory Committee, and Residency Research Committee. Nationally, he is a recent committee chair within the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists and a member of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Chelsea Sammons, PharmD, BCTXP
Chelsea Sammons is the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Solid Organ Transplant Pharmacy Residency. Dr. Sammons received her PharmD degree from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. After graduating, she completed her PGY1 Pharmacy Residency and PGY2 Solid Organ Transplant Pharmacy Residency at Tampa General Hospital. After developing her practice in liver and intestinal transplantation at New York – Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Irving Medical Center, she came to HUP in 2017 in her current role as a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in liver transplantation. She is also the dedicated clinical pharmacy specialist for the vascular composite allograft transplant program which performs uterus and hand transplants. Her professional and research interests include transplant pharmacotherapy, patient education and medication adherence, transitions of care, and long-term renal outcomes post-liver transplantation. Her institutional involvement at HUP includes the Transplant Unit Based Clinical Leadership Committee, the Medication Reconciliation Committee, the Residency Advisory Committee, and the Preceptor Development Sub-committee.
Danielle Ciuffetelli, PharmD, MBA, BCACP
Danielle (Ciuffetelli) Burkhart is the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Residency. Dr. Burkhart received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. She then went on to complete a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency and a specialized PGY2 residency in Infectious Diseases at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
After residency, Dr. Burkhart was the Regional Hepatology/HIV Clinical Pharmacy Specialist at Kaiser Permanente Foundation Health Plan, Mid-Atlantic States. She developed and implemented a multidisciplinary HIV Pharmacy Adherence and Patient Education Program that was shown to improve patient outcomes. She led the Hepatitis C Pharmacy Clinic that managed patients regionally and was the primary educator to pharmacists for various ID topics. Dr. Burkhart returned to HUP in 2015 as the Ambulatory Hepatology and Infectious Diseases Clinical Specialist. She specialized in HIV, viral hepatitis, nontuberculous mycobacterial infections, and PrEP. Her publications include articles published in the Journal of Pharmacy Technology and Clinical Infectious Diseases.
In 2019 Dr. Burkhart transitioned to a new role as Ambulatory Pharmacy Coordinator to work alongside the administrative team to manage and assist in executing goals of expanding Ambulatory Pharmacy services. Dr. Burkhart enjoys quality and safety process improvement with a Yellow Belt certification and a passion for educating the next generation of pharmacists.
Tanya J. Uritsky, PharmD
Tanya Uritsky, Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Pain Management and Palliative Care Pharmacy Residency Program. Dr. Uritsky graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.S in Biology and Spanish and received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Maryland College of Pharmacy. She then went on to complete a PGY1 Pharmacy Residency at Union Memorial Hospital and a specialized PGY2 residency in Pain Management and Palliative Care at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore.
Post-residency training in 2010, she started working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and was a founding member of the Palliative Care Service. She transitioned to the Opioid Stewardship Coordinator role in 2019 and serves as Co-Chair of the Penn Medicine Opioid Task Force. Dr. Uritsky consults with acute care providers and teams on the management of patients with complex pain needs, specializing in pain management in patients with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). She is Immediate Past-Chair of the Society of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacists (SPPCP) Opioid Stewardship Taskforce and will serve as President of SPPCP in 2023 (currently President-Elect, 2022). Dr. Uritsky has published many articles in journals such as The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Palliative Medicine, and The Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy. She has written chapters on pain management, palliative care, the role of the pharmacist in these settings, and more recently with a focus on patients with OUD or SCD. She speaks nationally and internationally on these topics and was awarded the Palliative Care Practitioner of the Year by the American Society of Pain Educators (ASPE) in 2015 and received the 2020 Pennsylvania Society of Health-System Pharmacists Joe E. Smith Award for excellence in practice and service to the community and pharmacy profession. Dr. Uritsky is a mom to two awesome kids and values progressing healthcare and her career through education, publication, and quality improvement initiatives.
Pardis Niami, PharmD, CACP
Pardis Niami, PharmD, CACP, has been a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist for the past 12 years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and serves as the Residency Program Director for the PGY2 Residency in Thrombosis and Hemostasis. She is a board-certified anticoagulation provider (CACP) and a 2023 recipient of the Anticoagulation Forum TRAIN Pharmacist Grant for developing a PGY2 residency program in Anticoagulation. She received her BS in Pharmacy from Temple University and her PharmD at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, St. Joseph’s University, in Philadelphia. She previously established a warfarin clinic in a collaborative care practice model at a large academic institution's community practice center in Philadelphia. There she was the recipient of the Dupont Pharmaceuticals Grant for Practice-based Research of Warfarin Use where she measured clinical outcomes resulting from improving the quality of outpatient management and patient education. At HUP, she serves as a lead member of the anticoagulation inpatient management team, and as a member of the Anticoagulation Subcommittee, is actively involved in updating the formulary, protocols, and guideline development for anticoagulant therapies.