Jeff Wong specializes in chronic disease management, travel medicine and medical directive development.
Where They’re Working:
“I knew I wanted to work in family health team practice ever since I completed my co-op placement at the McMaster FHT”, says Jeff, and for the past three years he’s been living that dream.
I’ve been at the same clinics now for more than 3 years, and I love that I’m able to take care of patients today that I’ve known since I started.
Reflections on the Program
"The experience from co-ops and Capstone was especially helpful for enabling me to make professional connections."
As a primary care pharmacist at the Hamilton FHT, a community-based FHT, Jeff takes on several roles in addition to working with patients. He mentors residents, aids quality improvement initiatives, and conducts practice-based research.
Jeff’s passion for frontline patient care was inspired by a residency through the University Health Network in Toronto. Through his home care rotation with the Community Care Access Centre, Jeff found himself working with patients who were recently discharged from hospital, with a focus on preventing readmission.
I really enjoyed meeting a wide variety of people, from all walks of life. Sitting in their homes and listening to their stories reminded me how wonderfully diverse our communities are.
This interest in diversity is one that Jeff shares with pharmacy students today. For the last two years, Jeff’s co-ordinated and delivered Practicing Pharmacy with Diverse Populations, an elective for third year students in the Waterloo Pharmacy program. Jeff’s course teaches students empathy and appreciation for specific patient populations. As he states:
"A person’s different identities hugely impact how they approach health care. All the different facets of who we are affect how we view health, disease, and treatments. Learning about these different perspectives can help us make informed clinical decisions that are patient-centered.”
Alumni Answers
UW: How did you go about becoming an instructor at UW Pharmacy?
JW: When I was pharmacy student, I approached faculty and staff about my idea of having an elective on cultural and diversity competency. I mentioned that I was very passionate about this topic, and presented ideas about how I would coordinate the course. Thankfully they remembered me after I graduated and approached me to be an instructor. I gave myself about a year to do some research and prep for the course, and I first offered it in 2014.
UW: Why a diversity course?
JW: When I was in pharmacy school, we learned a lot about pathophysiology, pharmacology, and the effective and safe use of medication. And I certainly agree that this should be the focus of pharmacy school. But I believe that we need to spend more time teaching students how to effectively interpret a patient’s history from not only a clinical perspective, but from a social narrative perspective as well.
UW: Do you have any recommendations for students interested in working in a FHT?
JW: Take some time to shadow a FHT pharmacist. Getting some co-op work experience would be helpful. It’s also important to have mentors; established pharmacists and other professionals who can help guide you through difficult career decisions. Even though I have been practicing for almost 4 years now, I’m lucky enough to have people in my life that I seek advice from regularly.
Non-Pharm Fun
“My favourite thing to do is travel! I have a special map on my wall that allows me to scratch off the countries that I have visited. My goal is to scratch off at least 1 country per year.
When I’m not working, I like to play squash, go to pub quizzes, and play board games.”
What to know where else pharmacy can take you? Read more Five Years in the Field profiles.