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Professor of Practice Announcement

Roisín O’Hare, Lead Teacher Practitioner Pharmacist of the Northern Ireland University Network, has been appointed Honorary Professor of Practice in the School of Pharmacy at Queen’s

Professor O’Hare has made a significant and sustained contribution to the pharmacy profession, patient care and education over the last 20 years. Alongside her clinical speciality in cardiology, she leads the Northern Ireland University Teacher Practitioner Team in the provision of undergraduate and postgraduate experiential education in the hospital setting.

In addition to her contribution to numerous national and international pharmacy committees, she is the first female, Irish President of the Guild of Hospital Pharmacists in its 98 year history. Under her leadership the Guild have tackled issues around inclusivity and diversity, supported working during Covid-19, workplace bullying and more recently sustainability in Pharmacy and the NHS. 

With the publication of the new Standards for the Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists in 2021, UK Schools of Pharmacy have been charged with making the most significant changes to pharmacy education in the past 20 years. The Master of Pharmacy degree will now require students to build additional clinical and prescribing skills prior to graduation. In this appointment Professor O’Hare will continue to develop experiential learning in the hospital setting for undergraduate MPharm students across Northern Ireland. She brings her prescribing expertise and extensive experience in experiential learning to developing our new Master of Pharmacy course.

Speaking about her appointment Professor O’Hare said:

I am thrilled that in bestowing this great honour on me, it is evident that the School of Pharmacy at QUB recognise the enormous importance of experiential teaching and learning in practice for our future pharmacists.  I am delighted to share this achievement with my incredible team of colleagues in the Teacher Practitioner Team across NI, as well as all of the practising hospital pharmacists across the country who devote their time to supporting student engagement, learning and developmentI look forward to the advent of the new MPharm, where we will start to develop our future prescribing pharmacists right from year 1, with an increased emphasis on consultation and clinical examination skills, this will provide future pharmacy teams with additional skills and competence earlier in their career journey and will add to the Pharmacy Team’s ability to improve patient care and outcomes in all settings.

Professor Colin McCoy, Head of the School of Pharmacy at Queen's commented:

“I am delighted to be able announce the appointment of Professor O’Hare. It is a time of great change in pharmacy education and Professor O’Hare’s appointment is instrumental in helping us to meet the demands and opportunities of this change.

"For our undergraduate students, the increase in experiential learning in practice with Professor O’Hare’s team will offer a chance for them develop their skills and medicines expertise in person-centred care.  The appointment also reinforces the School’s commitment to the development of the pharmacy profession as our graduates qualify as prescribers at the point of registration in the future.”

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