The Women in Pharmacy Leadership (WIPL) Alumni Mentorship Program pairs recent alumni who identify as females with working or retired professionals in their field of interest, to help them move towards their leadership goals. In this series, Waterloo Pharmacy spotlights their experiences.
Miranda So and Minh-Thu Nguyen (Rx2017) were one of six mentor and mentee pairs who participated in the 2023 alumni mentorship program.
Nguyen is an ambulatory oncology pharmacist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Her focus on systemic therapy in the outpatient setting, including standard of care treatment and clinical trials, required a mentor with a similar background.
Dr. Miranda So’s background in oncology was the perfect fit. She is the manager of the antimicrobial stewardship program lead at the University Health Network, and research director of the SH-UHN ASP in Toronto, Ontario. She is also a clinician-investigator with the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute. Her clinical practice and research focus on antimicrobial stewardship in haematology-oncology patients, stem cell transplant and organ transplant recipients.
Nguyen and So were fortunate to meet in person as their jobs are across the street from each other. The pair worked on many challenges including: career guidance, navigating difficult decision making, working through fears and establishing better boundaries.
This is my second year participating in the WIPL alumni mentorship program. I’ve mentioned this before, and I will express it again, I commend Waterloo Pharmacy for pioneering this program.
Miranda So and Minh-Thu Nguyen at a networking dinner
Q&A with the mentorship pair
UW: Fear of taking chances and pushing outside of your comfort zone stops many women from taking on new challenges. How do you recommend women push through this?
MS: Remember it is okay to not have all the answers right away. There is a cycle I personally go through with new opportunities. I start with an excited demeanor as a new practitioner or in a new environment. Once I hit my stride this gets replaced with the feeling that I’ve maximized what I’ve done and that there’s more that I can do. However, I need new tools and more support. This is the moment where I decide how to break through this: do I build upon what I have to broaden my skill set, do I change my mentality and approach to the situation, or do I change my environment. Over the years I’ve come to realize at the end of the day the main pathway to push through fear or inertia is to evaluate my options to decide on my next steps.
UW: What was your biggest accomplishment/take away from the program?
MTN: Overall, my approach to decision making has changed in a positive way. With Miranda’s help I feel to navigate various challenges, establish healthy boundaries for myself and have new tools to help achieve my goals. I’ve started to reframe my thought process about my professional strengths, current challenges and possibilities for the future.
UW: Has the program changes any aspects of your career/personal self?
MTN: I’ve reflected on my professional interests and strengths and realized I don’t have to be directly treating patients for my career to feel rewarding. There are many ways to help people that I couldn’t have imagined would directly link back to patient care. Seeing others in the WIPL program take untraditional career paths has been eye-opening as I had not previously considered using my skills for different roles. I’m excited to see where my career leads and am less afraid to try something new.
MS: The program has taught me about mentorship and coaching that has benefited me with my own team and helped me help Minh-Thu. It has given me insight into better understanding what different supports different people on my team need. I have four direct reports on my team who are all women. No two people are the same, I’ve learned how to tailor my mentorship style to better support them individually.
The possibilities seem endless with the WIPL alumni mentorship program. I feel so much more inspired than I did a year ago. It benefits mentorship pairs as each professional has a unique perspective that can help the other.
We created the Women in Pharmacy Leadership Program to build leadership capacity and empower women in pharmacy to achieve their full potential. To learn more about our alumni mentorship program visit our webpage.