The New Educators Print
Written by Laure James - Editor Pharmacy in Focus   
Thursday, 17 September 2009 15:07
The worlds of pharmacy education and practice are very different spheres but when integrated provide the most comprehensive and real introduction to the profession for the next generation of pharmaceutical care providers.
In helping to promote the value of practice based learning and give students the opportunity to benefit from external expertise, two honorary Professorships were awarded to two of Northern Ireland pharmacy’s luminaries.

Dr Mike Mawhinney, known throughout the industry as head of the Department’s Regulatory Team, has been appointed as a visiting Professor at the University of Ulster while Dr Mike Scott, who is head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management at the Northern Trust, has also been inducted as an honorary Professor at Queen’s University.

Congratulating Professor Mawhinney, Professor Paul McCarron, head of Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Ulster (Coleraine) said: “We are absolutely delighted that Mike Mawhinney has accepted the position of visiting Professor at The University of Ulster. His wide-ranging experience in many aspects of the regulation of pharmacy, his extended involvement with under-graduate and post-graduate education and his long association with the profession in Northern Ireland and further afield, places him in a position to make an invaluable contribution to our MPharm programme. We very much look forward to working closely with fellow professionals and pharmacists of Mike’s calibre, and his ongoing contribution to the new Department in driving forward a range of initiatives has been recognised at the highest level by the University. He brings a great deal of legal expertise to us; he will be instrumental in developing the MPharm degree.”

Speaking exclusively to NIPinF, Professor Mawhinney explained that such an accolade is a testament to the entire Northern Ireland pharmacy profession. “While I personally am very pleased to receive this honour, it adds further recognition to an already very vibrant and highly respected profession,” he said. “In terms of my role within the Department, it is vital to have an opportunity to engage with pharmacy students from all years, since regulation is at the very core of their future profession.

“I am delighted to be associated with the University’s MPharm programme which is fresh, innovative and attractive to students who want to embrace a forward-thinking and progressive healthcare profession. In setting about establishing the new Department, Professor McCarron and his team have engaged in a process of engaging directly with pharmacists in both the primary and secondary care sectors centred in North West, many of whom I know well and I look forward to working with them as the course develops. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my many colleagues from all aspects of the profession for their support over many years and for their recent good wishes.”

Professor Mike Scott echoed these sentiments when accepting his recognition. “Receiving the Professorship is a very humbling and wonderful achievement and I would like to extend my thanks to both Professor James McElnay, pro-vice chancellor and Professor David Woolfson, head of the School of Pharmacy,” he said. “People have been very kind indeed with their words of congratulations and I would like to congratulate all those who work so tirelessly within the School of Pharmacy and elsewhere in pharmacy academia. It is one of the finest providers of undergraduate pharmacy education in the UK and the School’s involvement and influence in research is highly commendable.

“I received the Professorship in recognition of the whole profession too, since its award has to be approved by academics from a wide range of specialisms throughout the university, not just within the School. It demonstrates how highly pharmacy is regarded. Pro-vice chancellor Professor James McElnay and I have run an academic practice unit between Antrim Hospital and the university, which offers grounding in linking practice with theoretical based learning. The success of such integration can be seen in both the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students and also in pharmacy practice research This can be demonstrated by the fact that work carried out in the Unit has won three national awards over the last five year.

“In relation specifically to the integrated medicines management work which paved the way for significant additional investment in hospital pharmacy services there has been Europe wide recognition. This has resulted for example in on-going collaboration with Uppsala University Hopsital in Sweden and indeed Swedish pharmacy students now can carry out research in Antrim It is essential that there be this integrated approach which enables the benefits that pharmacists bring to care of patients to be fully realised The profession certainly needs to maintain strong connections with universities and I am delighted to be involved with helping to preserve these.”

In congratulating Dr Scott, Professor Woolfson said: “I am delighted to personally congratulate Professor Scott on the award of his honorary professorship in the School of Pharmacy. This is a well-deserved recognition of the major contributions which he has made to teaching and research in the School and the profession over many years and I look forward to his continuing involvement with pharmacy education and learning.”

Professor McCarron added that building relations with those throughout the pharmacy profession is a very important objective for the new Department of Pharmacy. “These are obviously very exciting times and the addition of a new department is a significant development for Northern Ireland,” he told NIPinF. “We now have an opportunity for pharmacy education in the northwest and have gratefully received a lot of support from both community and hospital sectors, particularly Altnagelvin Hospital. Kathryn Burnett, our course director, has a wealth of experience from hospital pharmacy while Bronagh White and Janet Magee, the latter an independent prescriber, practise in both community pharmacy and within the university.

“We have a strong emphasis upon clinical learning and how this translates into practice. Medicines management and the use of medicines in vulnerable patients is something which Bronagh and Kathryn will be building upon, while other staff and I will be working on the clinical and research side of things, particularly research into advanced drug delivery devices. We are part of a much larger school of Biomedical Science, one of the most successful in the UK and are fortunate to share some very sophisticated facilities in the Centre of Molecular Biosciences. It will certainly be a challenging year but now that we have welcomed our first intake, we have a vision, direction and purpose for the future.”