Pharmacists honoured

Ingrid Sketris.

Dr. Ingrid Sketris, Professor, College of Pharmacy received the CPHA Centennial Award at the Canadian Pharmacists Association meeting June 2-5, 2007. This award recognizes 100 leaders and builders of Canadian Pharmacists Association and the profession of pharmacy in Canada over the past 100 years. 

“Perhaps most noted as an educator and mentor, Ingrid Sketris has a lengthy list of contributions to pharmacy.  Her research work has received accolades and her expertise in drug use management has helped to direct government programs an-d policy.  Ingrid Sketris dedicated 15 years to CPhA on the Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialities (CPS) Editoral Board and was a founding member of the Canadian Pharmacy Practice Research Group. A former president of the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC), she also served with the Canadian College of Clinical Pharmacy (CCCP), Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSH|P), the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP), Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB), and more.”

Neil MacKinnon, Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy received the highest mark for his research oral presentation entitled “Evaluation of a Workplace Asthma Self-Management Program."  This was presented at the Canadian Pharmacists Association meeting held in Ottawa, June 2-5, 2007.

Chris Cameron was selected to receive an International Society for Pharmacoeconomics Outcomes and Resesarch ISPOR student travel grant of $1500 US to attend the ISPOR 12th Annual International Meeting.   

Susan Bowles successfully defended her thesis — Effect of Agents with Anticholinergic Properties on the Response to Donepezil Treatment for Alzheimer’s disease — on April 17, 2007. Members of the thesis committee are: Dr. Ken Rockwood, Geriatrics Division, Department of Medicine, Dr. Swarna Weerasinghe, Community Health and Epidemiology and Dr. Ingrid Sketris, College of Pharmacy.

Heather Lummis received the Gail McGlynn-Tuttle Memorial Practitioner Award, for recognition of significant contributions to hospital pharmacy practice, Nova Scotia Branch of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, May 2007.

Katrina Hurley, Drug Use Management and Policy resident and Graduate student in Health Informatics successfully defended her thesis, entitled “Practice-oriented knowledge abstraction in development of an ontology to model clinical pathways," on May 11, 2007.  Members of the thesis committee are: Dr. Raza Abidi, Dr. Michael Shepherd, and Dr. Vlado Keselj, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University.

Katrina Hurley received the Dr. Douglas Sinclair Resident Research Award for her presentation entitled: “Why are Emergency Departments holding back on holding chambers? Facilitators and Barriers to Change."  This was presented at the Emergency Medicine 12th Annual Research and Academic Day held on May 2, 2007. She also received the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation Award for her presentation on May 23, 2007.

Dr. Neil MacKinnon is the editor of a new book Safe and Effective: The Eight Elements of an Optimal Medication-Use System. This is the first Canadian text that addresses the safety and quality of medication use. This book will be officially launched at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Pharmacists Association in Ottawa with a presentation and book signing on June 3rd.

At the 2007 Canadian Therapeutics Congress Awards, travel studentships were awarded to:

• Nadia Barozzi, The University of Queensland (currently visiting the College of Pharmacy)
• Chris Cameron, Dalhousie University
• Katrina Hurly, Dalhousie University
• Jessica Meijer, Dalhousie University
• Chiranjeev Sanyal, Dalhousie University

Chiranjeev Sanyal, Drug Use Management and Policy resident and Graduate Student presented the poster entitled: "Utilization and cost of blood glucose self-monitoring test strips in the Seniors' Pharmacare Program in Nova Scotia, Canada. A retrospective database analysis" at the Canadian Association for Population Therapeutics forum held at the 4th Canadian Therapeutics Congress in Halifax May 27-30, 2007. This poster was among the CAPT finalists.

Chris Cameron, Drug Use Management and Policy Resident and Graduate Student received the Canadian Association for Population Therapeutics lst Place Student Poster Award for his poster entitled: “How does the cost-utility of therapies to prevent NSAID induced GI complications vary with age?”