A generous donation to the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy is funding a new professorship.
WATERLOO, Ont. (Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012) - A generous donation to the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy is funding a new professorship that promotes innovation and research initiatives in pharmacy.
The Ontario College of Pharmacy (OCP), the regulating body for pharmacists in Ontario, recently gave $600,000 to the school to establish the Ontario College of Pharmacists Professorship in Pharmacy Innovation. Professor Nancy M. Waite, the associate director of practice-based education at the school, now also holds this new position.
Pharmacists in Ontario are moving towards expanding their scope of practice. As part of the professorship, Waite will conduct research into how pharmacists taking these new roles can improve patient care and work with other health care professionals to ensure that the patients get the most benefit and fewest problems from their medications.
“The professorship represents rethinking the traditional role of a pharmacist, examining where pharmacy is now and going in the future, and engaging students in the classroom learning about this exciting time of transition,” said Waite.
She helped create the curriculum for the undergraduate program when the school was in the early stages of development. The educational research component of Waite’s new position incorporates her earlier work and the donor’s vision.
“OCP has provided strong leadership in the development of an expanded scope of practice for pharmacists in Ontario, and we are committed to producing graduates who will be prepared for and will embrace the role of medication therapy expert,” said professor David J. Edwards, Hallman Director at the School of Pharmacy.
Prior to joining Waterloo, Waite was an associate professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at University of Toronto, and the manager of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the Albany College of Pharmacy. She earned her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) and completed her post-doctoral studies at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Waterloo has the newest pharmacy school in Canada. With the only co-op pharmacy program in the country, it offers an undergraduate pharmacy curriculum that is one of the most innovative in North America.
About the University of Waterloo
In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada's Technology Triangle, has become one of Canada's leading comprehensive universities with 34,000 full- and part-timestudents in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world's largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces itsconnections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For more information about Waterloo, visit www.uwaterloo.ca.
Media Contact:
Pamela Smyth
Media Relations Officer University of Waterloo 519.888.4777 psmyth@uwaterloo.ca
www.newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca
Waterloo news release no. 11
