Last week, the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA) ran its annual conference for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians throughout the province. Waterloo Pharmacy faculty, staff, students, alumni participated in a variety of ways at the conference.
Both faculty and students were among the presenters for the conference. Professor Nardine Nakhla partnered with alumnus Stacey D’Angelo (left) to discuss finding a niche in pharmacy practice and to examine the business principles of competitive advantage and differentiation. In another presentation, Professor Kelly Grindrod ran a session on naloxone training for pharmacists where participants worked to identify common barriers to take-home naloxone and then discussed potential solutions. Students Khrystine Waked and Ai-Leng Foong also shared their pharmacy practice research via the conference’s poster presentations.
OPA bestows several awards during the conference, and three of this year’s winners have ties to Waterloo Pharmacy. Douglas Brown, who was named Pharmacist of the Year, is a Regional Clinical Coordinator (RCC) for Durham Region and Peterborough. Mentorship Award winner Donnie Edwards is also an RCC and represents the Niagara area. As RCCs, Brown and Edwards are instrumental in supporting students while they complete their clinical placements in their final year of the program.
Professor Kelly Grindrod, Rx2018 student Khrystine Waked, and University of Toronto pharmacy Professor Lisa Dolovich at the poster session.
Adjunct professor Certina Ho was also recognized with the OPA award for Exceptional Achievement in Research and Academia. In addition to being an accomplished researcher, Professor Ho taught in drug information courses in Waterloo Pharmacy’s pharmacy program.
Waterloo Pharmacy also conferred two awards to leaders in experiential education at the Alumni and Friends reception. The reception brought together attendees of the conference who are friends of the School – alumni, co-op supervisors, preceptors, students and more – for an evening of celebration and catching-up. See our Facebook album for more photos from the reception and the conference.