The University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy is home to the largest community-based pharmacy residency program in the nation. With a mission to prepare future leaders in pharmacy practice and a culture rooted in mentorship, the program partners with a diverse network of sites from independent pharmacies and ambulatory care clinics to public health departments and charitable pharmacies. This breadth allows residents to train in real-world settings that reflect the communities they will one day serve, while fostering innovation, collaboration, and patient-centered care.
“Residents get the chance to continue learning from established professionals who want to invest in their growth and development. It’s a win for us as a program because we’re training up future leaders in the profession.” shared Macary Marciniak, Clinical Associate Professor at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
With its rapid growth, UNC sought out a platform that could support the duality of their PGY1 programs without relying on disjointed tools.
A custom fit platform for every site
Although all residency sites use the same evaluation criteria, Kira allows each site to adapt the interview experience to their unique context.
“One site does a forum presentation with breakout sessions, another uses a panel interview,” explained Marciniak. “We give sites the flexibility to structure interviews in the way that works best for them, while still maintaining consistency across the program.”
“What’s nice is that these sites get to learn from each other, one might try a new format this year because they saw it work well elsewhere.”
“It took a little bit of learning that first year, but now it’s effortless to adjust timeframes, breakout rooms, or formats whenever a site wants to do something different.” shared Marciniak.
This kind of adaptability gave UNC the confidence to expand its residency sites without worrying about added complexity. But the real difference came not just from the platform itself but from the people behind it, whose support made the transition seamless.
A trusted partner in every rotation
“The Kira team felt like a safety net. Even if something went wrong, I knew someone was there to handle it — and that peace of mind is invaluable during interview season.” shared Marciniak.
“I’ve been so impressed with the responsiveness of the Kira team,” she shared. “It’s not just the platform, it’s the people behind it who help us troubleshoot, suggest improvements, and make the process stress-free.” shared Traci Shell, Program Associate at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
“Having that support felt like a security blanket. I had zero stress implementing Kira because I knew their team was there if we needed them, and we ended up having very few issues,”
“Implementing new technology can be stressful, but with Kira I felt none of that. The training, support, and responsiveness made it smooth from day one.” shared Marciniak.
Charting what’s next
What started as a way to reduce scheduling chaos and modernize their admissions process has now become an integral part of UNC’s PGY1 residency programs.
“It’s been an amazing solution, and I only see more opportunities to use it in the future.” shared Marciniak.
“We’ve already added more sites since adopting Kira, and yet it feels like even less work because the system handles the complexity so well.” shared Marciniak.
“I see opportunities to use Kira even more across our school, whether in admissions or additional residency processes, because it’s proven to be so adaptable.” shared Marciniak.
