.png)
PGY1 Residency Program Director
Ephraim McDowell Health
Tara Neitzel, PharmD, BCPS was born in Paintsville, Kentucky and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She moved back to Kentucky to complete her undergraduate studies at the University of Kentucky where she also received her Doctor of Pharmacy. Tara completed her PGY1 residency at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville, Kentucky. Following residency training, she started her career as a clinical staff pharmacist at Ephraim McDowell and achieved her goal of becoming board certified in pharmacotherapy. She precepted residents in the Emergency Medicine required rotation and Advanced Emergency Medicine elective rotation. In 2018, Tara accepted the PGY1 Residency Program Director position at Ephraim McDowell. In the Spring of 2019, Tara incorporated Longitudinal Experiential Education in Pharmacy students into the residency program to allow residents the opportunity to precept students. In the fall of
2020, Tara assumed the primary role of coordinating the precepting of the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience students. Tara and a small group of pharmacists at Ephraim McDowell share the precepting duties which provides students a distinctive learning experience in a community hospital setting. In 2024, Tara received the Commonwealth Experience Rotation Preceptor of the Year Award from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.