Gala Evening Sees Conferment of New Fellows of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland

Three pharmacists registered in Northern Ireland have been recognised for their outstanding contribution to pharmacy and were made Fellows of the Pharmaceutical Society NI at an award ceremony and reception hosted by the leadership body Pharmacy Forum NI at the Belfast Harbour Commissioner’s Office on Thursday 28 October 2022.

Those conferred this year were: Gerard Greene, Chief Executive of Community Pharmacy NI; Prof Paul McCarron, Head of School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ulster University; and Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead at the Strategic Planning and Performance Group of the Department of Health.

Rewarding Excellence is a biennial  event, organised by the Pharmacy Forum NI, where new Fellows are conferred. It is also the occasion for awarding Gold Medals to the top scoring graduates of the University of Ulster and Queen’s University Belfast schools of Pharmacy.

The event was not held in 2020 or 2021, making it a particularly significant night for many of the attendees. Both 2021’s and 2022’s highest achieving graduates were awarded their Gold Medals on the night.

A Fellowship recognises individuals who have exhibited strong leadership and distinction in pharmaceutical science or practice and have promoted the profession to an exceptional degree or have rendered outstanding service to the community at large.

It is the highest honour that can be bestowed upon a registered pharmacist in Northern Ireland. It recognises those individuals who have attained distinction in a particular aspect or aspects of their career.

As Fellowships are based on nominations from members of the profession in NI, it also signifies the esteem in which a nominee is held by his or her peers.

Gerard Greene is recognised by the profession for his dedication to developing community pharmacy as a sustainable, patient focussed, first point of access to the health service whilst meeting many of the challenges faced within the community pharmacy sector over the past ten years.

Following his appointment at UU in 2008, Prof McCarron established a new School of Pharmacy and led it successfully through to full accreditation with the UK pharmacy regulatory bodies in 2014. Additionally, Ulster’s degree programme has been ranked as #1 School of Pharmacy in the UK by The Guardian League table for Pharmacy and Pharmacology for four years. He is also a highly successful researcher, with two patents to his name, and has established two businesses to commercialise his research outputs,

Kathryn Turner has most recently led on the commissioning of community services focussing on the development of clinical services, which has culminated during the pandemic in the delivery of an emergency supply service – Pharmacy First Services – and community vaccination services for both Covid-19 and flu.

There are currently 18 Fellows of the Pharmaceutical Society NI, including the recently appointed cohort, which are drawn from across the profession and represent a variety sectors and career stages.

The Gold Medals were awarded by the Forum to Christine Hartmann and Lydia Combe from Queen’s University Belfast, and Lisa McCaul and Christine Hay from Ulster University. For this and recent years, the Ronnie McMullan Award, which is awarded each year to the pre-registration student who receives the highest mark in the PSNI registration exams, went to Niamh Martin (2021) Ciaran Rooney (2020) and Victoria Kennedy (2019).