Dr. Rappa teaches Doctor of Pharmacy students in their fourth professional year, who are performing their clinical rotation experiences. His courses include PHA5696, PHA5917L, PHA5918L, and PHA5919L. He also advises and precepts the PGY1 General Pharmacy Practice Resident each year.
Dr. Rappa received his Pharm.D. degree in 1995 from Nova Southeastern University, and subsequently became their first Psychopharmacology resident from 1995-1996. After completion of his residency, he moved to Sarasota, Florida to become Sarasota Memorial’s Psychiatric Pharmacy Specialist. In 1997, he became Board Certified in Psychiatric Pharmacy. In December of 1998, he returned to South Florida to to assume a full-time faculty position with Florida A&M University’s Miami Campus, College of Pharmacy. At that time, he established a practice site at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida teaching fourth year doctoral students on their Psychiatry Pharmacy clinical clerkship rotation. At Memorial, he has integrated himself and the students well into the non-teaching environment, making the milieu very open to a pseudo-teaching atmosphere. He has consistently exceeded his student teaching capacity and in his 1st, 5th, 9th, 11th and 12th years was awarded Teacher of the Year at FAMU. In 2010, Dr. Rappa facilitated a tremendous move of the entire Miami Campus to a new campus in Ft. Lauderdale, now referred to as the South Florida Instructional Site.
Dr. Rappa’s weekly activities in the Behavioral Health Department at Memorial include attending twice weekly treatment team meetings on each of the inpatient psychiatric units. His students prepare a summary of the patients’ medications for each treatment team meeting for all of the participants. In addition, he frequently provides drug therapy suggestions to prescribers in reference to alternative medications, drug interactions, side effects, monitoring, cost containment, polypharmacy, and dosing. Dr. Rappa has been awarded the Lifesaver Award twice at Memorial.
Other activities performed by Dr. Rappa are: Staff education via inservices, continuing education, or answering individual questions, physician-ordered Psychopharmacology Consultations on patients, (ie. pain management, treatment-resistance cases, difficult patients), and Guardian Advocate services for patients without ability to give informed consent. Dr. Rappa also provides the staff with computer assistance, as he is very proficient in this area.