Last night at the Queensland Pharmacy Awards ceremony, held at Courtyard by Marriott in South Bank, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) acknowledged outstanding achievement across the state over the past 12 months.
PSA Queensland Branch President, Shane MacDonald, presented awards for Pharmacist of the Year, Early Career Pharmacist of the Year, Intern of the Year, Professor James Dare Graduate of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
"These awards recognise the outstanding contribution of the winners alongside the critical role pharmacists provided to communities throughout Queensland over the past year," he said.
"Their achievements highlight the incredible talent that we have across the pharmacy profession in Queensland. The winners truly embody PSA's vision for the profession, Pharmacists in 2023, and have all clearly demonstrated their contribution to pharmacy in the state.
"By empowering pharmacists to be more responsible for medicine safety, demonstrating working collaboratively within healthcare teams and providing support and education to the next generation of pharmacists, these winners exemplify practice here in Queensland. I congratulate them on their success and thank them for their commitment to furthering our profession."
This year's award winners are as follows:
· Selina Taylor MPS: Pharmacist of the Year (Bowl of Hygeia)
· Andrew Calabro MPS: Early Career Pharmacist of the Year
· Jacob Neilson MPS: Intern of the Year
· Samantha King STM: Professor James Dare Graduate of the Year
· Terry White AO MPS: Lifetime Achievement Award
The following Life Members were also recognised for 50 years continuous membership with PSA:
· Mario Barbagallo
· Gregory McGilvery
· Robyn Craig
· Tony Wright and
· Rhonda White AO
Warren Blee OAM FPS, Jacquie Meyer and Tegan Stark were also acknowledged for their service to the Queensland Branch Committee as outgoing Branch Committee Members. Tegan Stark as Early Career Pharmacist Chair, Jacquie Meyer as Early Career Pharmacist Chair and Branch President from 2017-2019 and Warren Blee who has served on the Branch Committee for an incredible 30 years', including two terms as Branch President in 1997-1998 and 2005-2007.
Award winner profiles below.
Selina Taylor: PSA Queensland Pharmacist of the Year
Mount Isa based pharmacist, Selina Taylor, was awarded PSA Queensland Pharmacist of the Year for her passion of the pharmacy profession. Selina is dedicated to the delivery of innovative pharmacist care to rural and remote communities, improving access to health services by equipping the pharmacist workforce to deliver expanded services – using research to ensure a robust evidence base for existing and future pharmacist programs.
Awarded the PSA Queensland Intern of the Year in 2009, her commitment to rural practice and our profession has gained momentum. In the last two years, Selina has made a significant contribution to the PSA's Action of Change, expanding services to meet the needs of her community and for rural communities in general consultation with all stakeholders including health professionals, consumers, and professional and legal organisations. This has culminated in ListenUp, delivering ear health services in two rural communities in a collaborative model of care.
Andrew Calabro: Early Career Pharmacist of the Year
The Early Career Pharmacist Award has gone to Andrew Calabro for his work in rural and regional North Queensland. Andrew's willingness to incorporate new community driven services is a testament to his ability and contribution to his community. A strong advocate for the pharmacy profession, Andrew has been involved in the PSA's Early Career Pharmacists working group acting as the group's Secretary for numerous years. A keen interest in the law, he has supplied his advice in numerous documents including the recently updated Poisons and Medicines Regulations and the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill. Andrew has provided advice that has aided the PSA's development of consultation reports, enhancing the role of community pharmacists by having a greater level of responsibility and accountability for medicines management as a result.
Jacob Neilson: Intern of the Year
The Intern of the Year award has gone to Jacob Neilson. Jacob is described by his preceptor as one of the most organised, well-prepared interns ever having the privilege to work with. A proactive and intelligent intern that utilises his knowledge along with his experience from both inside and outside the pharmacy environment.
He has been pivotal in the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations at his pharmacy. Excited to be part of the nationwide initiative, he showed no hesitation - training support staff to understand and record bookings and pre-screening details as well as taking on the role of vaccinator.
Jacob has been positively engaged in his profession from day one of his internship, and provides great confidence in the future of pharmacy.
Samantha King, Professor James Dare PSA Graduate of the Year
Samantha King, final-year student at the University of Queensland was recognised for her high level of communication and interpersonal skills, sound academic performance, leadership, strong ethics and contribution to the student community. Samantha displays initiative, generosity and social mindfulness in her various volunteering roles and involvement with QPSA, NAPSA and the PSA Early Career Pharmacist Working Group. Samantha was accepted into the University of Queensland Student-Staff Partnership program to redevelop a first-year pharmacy subject. Working alongside two key pharmacy academics, Samantha helped amalgamate a first-year chemistry and introductory pharmacy course, removing an assessment task that relied on 'rote-learning'. Samantha has already made a significant contribution to the profession in her various roles and will no doubt drive positive change in the future.
Terry White AO, Lifetime Achievement Award
PSA Life Member, Terry White, was described as an entrepreneurial pharmacist who has had a far-reaching impact as a leader and innovator in business, community service, politics and health care delivery.
Since starting out in the late 1950s as a pharmacist, Terry has never lost his passion for the profession. Thousands of fellow pharmacists note our Lifetime Achievement recipient as their mentor, confidant, friend and advocate for the profession. Terry uses his skills to help pharmacists be able to practice to their full scope in order to improve health outcomes for all stakeholders – patients, medical practitioners, governments and pharmacists.
Instrumental in kicking off the Queensland Pharmacist Immunisation Pilot (QPIP) – the respect and insight to act as counsel for the Queensland State Government in paving the way for Professor Lisa Nissen, Chris Campbell and the QPIP team to execute a strategy to see pharmacists vaccinating nationally in 2021.
Leading by example as an innovator and early adopter, Terry's focus has been on measures that enhance professionalism and directly benefit community health. The many accolades he has received include Officer of the Order of Australia: Queensland Great; Queensland Father of the Year; and Ernst and Young Champion of Entrepreneurship. He is also a member of the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.
Terry is known throughout the profession as a caring and passionate man who will always fight for the recognition of pharmacists. His philosophy is, it's the people that make the difference - and across his career, Terry has undoubtedly done so.
