Wed 28 October 2026

MM2026 Fred J Boyd Oration

Purpose, Partnerships and Practitioner Development: Shaping the Future of Pharmacy Practice

The Honourable Emma McBride, Associate Professor Tom Simpson, friends and colleagues. Thank you so very much for this immense honour. To be recognised by my peers, the very people whose dedication and expertise inspire me every day, is humbling beyond words. Looking across this room and reflecting on the past recipients of the Fred J Boyd Award, I am acutely aware of the deep responsibility that comes with standing at this podium.

Ten years ago, when I received the SHPA Medal of Merit, I stood before many of you to deliver an oration. The feedback I received in the years that followed was a profound reminder of the weight and privilege of this platform. A speech like this should not merely recount past achievements; it must offer insights that resonate, challenge, and endure. As we gather for this conference, I have asked myself: What can I say today that will stay with you this weekend, throughout this year, and perhaps over the next decade as you navigate the evolving landscape of your own careers?

I hope to use my short time here to do more than tell you about what I have achieved, rather to challenge each of you to consider how you can contribute to improving healthcare, with a reminder of the World Health Organisation’s mantra that there is no healthcare without a health workforce.

To guide us, I want to focus on three interconnected pillars - three 'Ps' that have defined my journey: Purpose, Partnerships, and Practitioner Development.

First to purpose. When we reflect on the legacy of Fred J Boyd, we are reminded of a true visionary. A hospital pharmacist, accountant, radiographer, and the founding President of our Society in 1961, Fred J Boyd understood that professional purpose extends far beyond technical tasks. He was a mayor, a Justice of the Peace, and a community leader who set an enduring benchmark for selfless service. He recognised that a profession is defined not by where its members sit, but by the impact they deliver to the community.

I have always considered hospital pharmacy to be my natural home, the place where I find my people but it has been a long time since I actively called myself a hospital pharmacist. I can’t recall the tipping point when I started to call myself an academic but I am first and foremost a pharmacist and my formative years as a hospital pharmacist have forged my professional identity and laid the foundation for everything I have accomplished since. In the first 10 years of my career, I worked with so many inspirational pharmacists and clinicians, who taught me so much about the importance of relationships and leadership in healthcare. I saw my role models manage challenging conversations clearly and kindly, listen more than they spoke, and invest in the personal and professional development of their teams. That is the type of leader I have aspired to be.

In our postgraduate programs, we challenge learners to articulate their expert professional practice in 50 words or fewer. It sounds simple, but summarizing your professional essence into a sharp, impactful statement is remarkably difficult. I have managed to distil my own purpose down to just 26 words:

"An internationally recognised expert in practitioner development across the lifecycle from undergraduates to Advanced Practice Pharmacists, with demonstrated leadership in engagement across academic and practice settings."

Looking back at the distinguished pharmacists who have received the Fred J Boyd Award over the last decade, almost all hold academic titles, some as traditional university scholars, but the majority through strong partnerships with academic institutions. When I joined Monash University in 1998, as our profession was transitioning from a three-year to a four-year degree, stepping directly into a teaching-focused role was novel, as was the concept of a joint appointment shared across the university and hospital. At that time, pharmacy degrees were anchored almost entirely in foundational basic sciences, with minimal exposure to real-world practice. Bringing practitioners directly into classrooms was revolutionary then; today, thankfully, it is the expectation.

I have always considered myself a very atypical academic, a full professor without a PhD is still very rare and I will be forever grateful to my colleagues at Monash, in particular the three Deans I have worked with (Colin Chapman, Bill Charman, and Arthur Christopoulos) for recognising the value of my contributions. I still have a raging case of imposter syndrome but I stand firmly behind the positive impact of bringing practitioners into academia. Modern academic careers, such as Monash’s dedicated Academic Practice pathway, now explicitly recognise the necessity and value of involving practitioners in healthcare education.

This brings me to my second 'P': Partnerships.

My dear friend and colleague Professor Tina Brock frequently reminds us of the timeless African proverb: "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together."

Healthcare is increasingly complex. The rise of multimorbidity, highly specialized therapies, and digital health means that no single clinician, and no single sector, can work in isolation. Integrated, person-centred care demands that we work across professional boundaries. In healthcare we traditionally think of this as interprofessional with the whole healthcare team working towards patient centred care. I would expand that further to focus on working across other arms of the profession, specifically partnering with academia.

The connection between clinical practice and academia is one of our greatest strategic assets. My current role as Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Education allows me to bridge these two worlds: examining how better education transforms clinical practice, and how real-world practice reveals what education must deliver. Furthermore, through my work as Deputy Chair of the Australian Pharmacy Council, I see firsthand how educational innovation strengthens our broader workforce infrastructure.

So, I ask you today: What does a partnership with academia look like in your daily practice?

Your role as an academic partner begins on the day you register as a pharmacist:
 

• Are you actively precepting undergraduate students on clinical placements, sharing not just your knowledge, but your clinical reasoning?
• Are you stepping up to mentor interns and residents?
• Are you bringing your clinical domain expertise back into university classrooms?
• Are you supervising student research projects that answer practical questions arising directly from your work?
• Is your health service supporting staff to undertake formal Master's or PhD qualifications in partnership with universities?

Imagine the untapped power of cultivating these bidirectional links to accelerate education and practice transformation.

The final 'P' is Practitioner Development - and more specifically, the absolute necessity that development leads to demonstrable impact.

In higher education, the criteria for career progression are clearly defined by sphere of influence: senior lecturers demonstrate impact at an institutional level, associate professors at a national level, and full professors at an international level. What would impact look like for you, in your specific setting?

Impact is a topic I discuss endlessly with postgraduate learners, often eliciting an audible groan from those building credentialing portfolios. Too often, pharmacists confuse completing an activity with achieving an outcome. We document that we attended a course, wrote a guideline, or completed a training program. But evidence of activity is not evidence of impact.

Consider pharmacist prescribing. Completing a postgraduate prescribing qualification is a magnificent personal achievement that fundamentally shifts how a clinician evaluates patient care and approaches decision-making. But the qualification itself is not the impact. Real impact occurs in what the practitioner does next. How has patient access to care improved? Has medication-related harm been reduced? What is the measurable benefit to the patient and the health system?

This leads me to a direct challenge for our profession and for AdPha.

We must continue to iterate our professional recognition pathways through ANZCAP to align with evolving global standards for credentialing and practice recognition, such as those articulated in the recently released FIP White Paper: Credentialing and professional recognition in pharmacy. As a member of the writing group I was pleased to note global consensus on guiding principles and I encourage you all to read this document and follow progress on this important initiative. I am heartened by AdPha’s renewed commitment to ensuring ANZCAP pathways remain flexible, portable, and fit for the future but I would challenge AdPha to ensure future plans for ANZCAP include a heightened focus on impact over activities, and outcomes over inputs.

As scope expands, for example Partnered Pharmacist Medication Charting (PPMC) and collaborative prescribing, we urgently need regulatory and credentialing clarity. We must bridge the gap between local health-service privileging models and pending formal national endorsement of pharmacist prescribers by the Pharmacy Board of Australia. AdPha must lead the charge in defining what scope of practice expansion in prescribing looks like in complex hospital environments, ensuring that frameworks designed for primary care are adapted appropriately for acute clinical settings. I am heartened by the recent AdPha submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into Access to and Affordability of Medical Specialists, calling for Endorsed pharmacist prescribers to be eligible to prescribe on the PBS in established team-based care models, including hospital, aged care and general practice settings.

To achieve this, professional unity is paramount. I commend the recent joint advocacy efforts where AdPha, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, and the Pharmacy Guild have spoken with a unified voice. If hospital pharmacists are to exert their full expertise outside the physical walls of health services, our professional bodies must continue to collaborate seamlessly.

As many previous recipients have observed, behind every professional trajectory lies a deep web of mentorship, generosity, and support. None of us achieve anything in this profession alone.

I am profoundly grateful to my academic and clinical colleagues at Monash University, the Australian Pharmacy Council, PDL, AdPha, and across our hospital networks. You have challenged me, supported my endeavours, and tolerated my relentless push for reform across the education practice nexus. Special thanks to those who nominated me for this prestigious award, and to Tina Brock and Catherine Duggan for their friendship and for writing lovely things about me in support of this award.

To the generations of students, interns, residents, and postgraduate practitioners whom I have had the privilege to teach and mentor: thank you. You are the true measure of our profession's future. Watching your growth, your clinical courage, and your commitment to patient care is the greatest reward any educator could ask for.

Most importantly, I express my deepest gratitude to my family. My most important partnership is with my husband David and our gorgeous boys, now fully formed adults. Thank you for your unwavering love, patience, and understanding through the countless early mornings, late nights, and trips away. Your support is the foundation upon which my career has been built.

As we step into the remainder of this conference, I urge you all to reflect on your own Purpose, to actively seek out transformative Partnerships, and to commit to Practitioner Development of both yourselves and the colleagues walking alongside you.

Let us be bold, let us measure our success by the tangible impact we have on patient care and our colleagues, and let us build a future for Australian pharmacy that is collaborative, impactful, and improves patient care.

Ask yourself: who did I help today? Who can and will do my job when I am not here to do it? Did I leave the ladder down to help others up, and the door open to let them in? Am I celebrating the successes of those around me? Everyone in this room is a leader, are you waiting for permission or creating your own opportunities?

Thank you for this enormous honour, and I look forward to hearing your stories of leadership and impact this weekend.