[Pharmacy GRIT article no: 20251420]

Oration presented at Medicines Management 2024, 48^th National Conference of Advanced Pharmacy Australia, 14–16 November 2024, Adelaide, Australia.

When I received the call a few weeks ago, I was obviously then tasked with what I was going to say. How was I going to be able to follow the people that had been awarded this medal in the past and how I was going to, I guess, set the scene for my time to come?

I was lucky enough to be part of the intern reallocation working group with the Victoria State branch and I found myself as a third-year student sitting in a room with Fred J. Boyd winners, directors of pharmacy, and basically a lot of fancy grown-ups. And so, during the meeting, Dan Guidone — who I know a lot of you in the audience will know — as a man after my own heart, it doesn't take too long for him to stand up from a table, pull over a whiteboard to start mapping things out. He started the process and then realised he didn't have a whiteboard marker. And instantly, as all third-year pharmacy students do, I pulled out my brown leather briefcase, put it on the table, and removed an assortment of different whiteboard markers and a magnetic whiteboard eraser. I obviously didn't think there was anything peculiar about this whatsoever. And shortly after that meeting had ended, I had a pharmacist approach me and she said “Look, I had a bit of a hard day, it was a long commute down to the face-to-face meeting, but that little moment that you did there was just, it made my day.”

And that was the spark.

I look now, 11 years on, and that particular pharmacist, Renee Dimond, who's here today — our Deputy Director of Clinical Services and Education — has served as a mentor, a friend, and a constant source of inspiration in my practice as the years have gone on. And what's more extraordinary is that this is a pharmacist who trained in paediatrics and neonates, yet she's somehow been able to harness the cardiology pharmacist in me that I didn't even know existed when I started at Grampian Health Ballarat. And that got me thinking a bit more about the spark. It does start with the spark, however— and yes, I'm going to use a thermodynamics metaphor here — it also requires a fuel source, and that's exactly the role that Renee had played in that time.

I've also been really lucky to experience, I guess you could call it a perceptive duality, in the sense that I was a senior clinician at my hospital, and on a Tuesday afternoon, I was ‘maybe’ the clinical lead for that day, I was the go-to. And then come Wednesday morning, I was a fresh, first-year PhD student, who didn't know fractional regression from ordinal regression (this is a great statistics joke for those unaware). I was completely inept, and I was relying on people to guide me through, and I was under constant scrutiny of the work I did, as all students are, and I guess should be.

It was this wonderful juxtaposition I was experiencing, being someone having to give feedback, but also being someone constantly receiving it myself.

I want to thank my PhD supervisors and in particular Jed Morton, Lachlan Dalli, and Adam Nelson who have taught me the value of transparency in science and the value of ethical research. It has not only made me a better researcher, but it's also made me a better clinician.

My third source of fuel, I saved maybe the best for last, is AdPha. The Cardiology Leadership Committee were kind enough to put forth this nomination and they have been, despite our differences in practice settings, our states, and even countries, an amazing group of friends and colleagues to share in successes with over the years. In particular, Kate Ziser, you've taught me to be a better pharmacist, a better teacher, and also a better parent, as I think almost everyone in the Cardiology Leadership Committee over the years have started families. Thank you for that guidance. Thank you also to Garth Birdsey who gave me the courage to actually call myself a cardiology pharmacist several years before I was ever really employed as one, technically.

Now, one of the things I also wanted to note was to say thank you to Jules and to Sally and to the AdPha team for giving me a shot at chairing Medicines Management last year and for the constant

support you've given to the educational programs that we've done through the Cardiology Leadership Committee.

Now, going back to our thermodynamics metaphor, there is one thing that I've forgotten to mention, and unfortunately, it's something I myself have forgotten to do many times. I forgot about oxygen. I think it is easy to stand up here and talk about successes, but there have definitely been times when I felt suffocated and struggled with what to do or how I was going to overcome the challenges ahead. My parents instilled in me a strong work and study ethic. The gift of a good education is a treasured one, especially from two people who due to immigration and socioeconomic status were not able to complete year 10, let alone tertiary education. Thank you for the freedom and privilege to be able to make my own choices and feel supported in doing so.

Lastly, my greatest source of oxygen has been my wonderful wife Bec. You are a brilliant pharmacist, a beautiful and kind person, and an amazing mum to our daughter Rosie. Since our days in undergraduate pharmacy, you have been my best friend, my study buddy, and my companion through life.

Thank you.

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