Pharmacy Innovation in Immunization Research Collaborative History

In a memo circulated to Executive Council, Associate Vice-President, Academic Mario Coniglio announced that Nancy Waite, Associate Director at the School of Pharmacy, became the Director of the Academic Leadership Program (ALP) on July 1, 2019. The ALP, which had supported leadership development for chairs, directors, and other academic leaders since 2002, was expanded in 2015 to include associate chairs, associate directors, and associate deans.

Professor Waite joined the School of Pharmacy in 2012 and led the development of the BScPhm (co-op), PharmD, and Bridging PharmD programs, which gained national and international recognition. With over 25 years of academic leadership experience in Canada and the US, she had also secured more than $10 million in research grants. Waite served as co-lead of the Ontario Pharmacy Evidence Network (OPEN), a platform for medication management research across five institutions.

Under Waite’s leadership, the ALP continued to offer high-quality training and mentoring, with a focus on internal succession planning and expanding diversity in leadership. Waite evolved the program to provide leadership development at all stages of one’s career.

Waite succeeded Professor Sheila Ager, who had led the program from May 2016 to 2019, making significant improvements and introducing valuable resources, such as triannual newsletters.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo found that offering a $15 consultation fee to pharmacists who consult with patients over 65 could prevent approximately 2,400 influenza cases and three deaths annually in Ontario. The study, led by PhD candidate Gokul Raj Pullagura, highlighted that pharmacists’ frequent interactions with seniors make them well-positioned to reduce influenza’s impact.

Using computer modeling, the researchers assessed the cost-effectiveness of the fee, factoring in vaccination costs, administration fees, and hospitalization costs. The study concluded that a $15 consultation fee, in addition to the current vaccination remuneration, would cost only $2 more per person while saving significant healthcare costs.

Pullagura noted that community-based prevention is more effective at reducing costs and suffering than hospitalization. Despite Ontario's pharmacists being able to administer influenza vaccinations since 2012, the province’s vaccination rate remains low at 34%. In the 2016/17 flu season, seniors accounted for 85% of flu-related deaths and 70% of hospitalizations.

The study, Cost-utility analysis of offering a novel remunerated community-pharmacist consultation service on influenza vaccination for seniors in Ontario, Canada, was published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.

Ontario Pharmacist Evidence Network researchers Nancy Waite and Sherilyn Houle co-led a workshop with Lisa Nissen from Queensland University of Technology, titled "Giving a ‘Shot in the Arm’ to Global Pharmacists-as-Immunizers Research." This two-day workshop brought together pharmacy practice research leaders from around the world, including faculty from Waterloo Pharmacy, Dalhousie University, and institutions in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.

The event focused on the role of pharmacists as immunizers, with discussions on current research, identifying gaps, and fostering international collaborations. With vaccines being a major global public health initiative, the workshop aimed to explore how pharmacists, as accessible healthcare providers, could expand vaccination outreach.

The invitation-only workshop, held April 21-22, was supported by the University of Waterloo's International Research Partnerships Grant, with matching funds from Queensland University of Technology.