RPS Scotland is delighted that four pharmacists from Scotland received Fellowships this month. Clare Morrison, Director for Scotland, said: “Each member has made a significant contribution to the profession and clearly demonstrates commitment, leadership and excellence in their fields. I congratulate them all on their well-deserved recognition.”
The members receiving Fellowships are:
Mohammed Yousaf Ahmad
Yousaf is currently the Chief Pharmacist of Practice Plus Group that covers Primary, Secondary, and Health in Justice settings. He has further postgraduates and Masters in Hospital Clinical Pharmacy, Independent Prescribing and Pain Management and Healthcare Leadership. Yousaf has represented Pharmacy at a national level through committee memberships with UKCPA and RPS and as an advisor on a NICE panel committee, in addition to a number of advisory and editorial roles at pharmacy publications. He is passionate about workforce transformation and innovation in practice, including the role of technology in healthcare. He was appointed to the governing council of the General Pharmaceutical Council during the height of COVID19 and helped steer the profession in addressing key challenges such as online examination, provisional registration, the launch of the inaugural equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, and the publication of a revised education and training standard.
Fiona Marra
Fiona is a newly RPS accredited Consultant pharmacist in Infectious Disease and Hepatology (2021) and works in Glasgow as senior pharmacist in this area. She is currently network Lead Clinician for paediatric Infection and immunology for Scotland and has a part time academic appointment as Principal Pharmacist and is part of the Editorial Board of the University of Liverpool, Drug Interactions websites, where she writes the content. Fiona is completing a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology and has completed diplomas in International development and travel medicine, and an MSc in Advanced Pharmacy. She sits on the Committees of the British HIV Association (BHIVA) Hepatitis Group, the Scottish Malaria Group, JCVI travel medicine sub group and is co-chair of the Scottish Viral Hepatology Group. She is a lead author of the European Guidelines (EASL) for HCV 2018 and 2020, has contributed to WHO guidelines in HIV and lectures globally on HIV and HCV drug interactions where she has published substantially in this field.
Laura McIver
Laura is the Chief Pharmacist for Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS). She leads the medicines and pharmacy team which includes pharmacists, doctors, nursing professionals health service researchers, programme and administrative staff. Her team deliver Scotland wide guidance and learning systems to underpin NHS resilience and practice and enable service improvement and redesign particularly in prisons, cancer, palliative care, primary care and rheumatology. Through a number of Chief Pharmacist posts she has designed services to be patient focused and developed innovative opportunities for pharmacy teams to maximise the their contribution to the safe and effective use of medicines. Throughout her career, she has supported, mentored and coached junior pharmacists and the wider membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, in order to maximise their professional contribution for the benefits of patients and the public.
Susan Roberts
Susan is Associate Postgraduate Pharmacy Dean at NHS Education for Scotland (NES). Her NES portfolio includes post registration pharmacist education from post registration foundation to consultant level as well as pharmacy technician and pharmacy support worker education. Susan has worked as an advanced practice pharmacist in surgical, critical care and antimicrobials and led the development of patient facing services in all these areas. This included the pioneering introduction of pharmacy technicians in patient facing roles, 7-day working in hospitals and orthopaedic antimicrobial multidisciplinary care reviews. She has postgraduate masters level qualifications in clinical pharmacy and clinical education as well as being a qualified independent prescriber. During Covid-19 pandemic Susan took on the role of the Chief Pharmacist at the only Scottish Nightingale Hospital, NHS Louisa Jordan, and delivered a pharmacy service within 2 weeks. Susan is passionate about the development of pharmacy people and believes they are the key to transformation of the pharmacy service.