Pharmacists are critical players in public and global health initiatives. They are uniquely situated in communities, providing health education, vaccinations, and supporting primary prevention. “However, pharmacists are not formally classified as a profession within the public health work force, which limits their impact on population level health” Dr Dallas Smith says in this podcast. In this podcast, Dr Smith illustrates from his own professional experience in public health how pharmacists are and can be public health pharmacists on call.

Guest speaker: Dr Dallas James Smith, Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer/Pharmacist, Mycotic Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, USA

About Dr Dallas James Smith:
Dallas Smith graduated with his PharmD. from the University of Findlay, Ohio, USA in 2017. After graduation, Dallas was accepted to serve with the Peace Corps as a community health educator in Cambodia for 2 years. His passion for building capacity and empowerment led him to an additional tour with the Peace Corps Response program in Malawi as a Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacognosy lecturer at the College of Medicine, University of Malawi. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dallas was evacuated back to Arlington, Virginia where he managed a COVID-19 testing site and subsequent vaccine clinics. In July of 2021, Dallas started his current position as an Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer in the Mycotic Diseases Branch (MDB). He continues to teach virtually at the College of Medicine in Malawi while being involved in a variety of projects with the institution. Outside of work, Dallas enjoys cultivating native plants and fruits, listening to musicals, and learning about traditional and complementary systems of medicine.

Lebanon is grappling with an unprecedented economic and financial crisis which have been heightened by an ongoing pandemic and the devastation caused by the explosion in the heart of Beirut Port on 4th August 2020. In this episode, we talk to Dr Mohamad Hijazi from the faculty of pharmacy in Beirut Arab University in Lebanon to raise awareness about the unique experiences and challenges of pharmacists facing multiple crises in Lebanon.

Guest speaker: Dr Mohammad Ali Hijazi, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beirut Arab university, Beirut, Lebanon

About Dr Mohammad Ali Hijazi:
Dr. Mohamad Hijazi received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy from Beirut Arab University in 2007 with high distinction and honors. Based on his academic excellence, he was granted a master and Ph.D. degree scholarship from BAU in pharmaceutical sciences in 2010 & 2017 respectively.Dr. Hijazi joined the faculty of pharmacy at BAU as lecturer in 2014, and then promoted to Assistant Professor in 2017.

Counting on his diversified experience in pharmacy practice and education, he is responsible to develop and teach courses related to natural products therapy and pharmacy practice. In addition, he coordinates pharmacy students during their experiential learning at community pharmacies setting. He continuously struggles to raise the quality of teaching by implementing recent and diversified activities and assessment methodologies.

Dr. Hijazi has more than 15 years of experience in the various pharmaceutical sectors (community pharmacy, pharma companies, pharmaceutical education and research). For him, the twining between teaching and research represents the best response to challenges and community needs and ensure the highest quality of practicing and delivering health services. As a sense of responsibility towards pharmacy profession, he has launched few epidemiological and pharmacy practice projects to upscale the pharmacy profession and role of pharmacists. He has extended an arm in service to stakeholders and health authorities in Lebanon (MoPH, OPL, PHC, etc) to respond to surrounding challenges and crises threatening the pharmacy profession and community health as well.

Pharmacists around the world kept their doors open and lights on during the Covid19 Pandemic. We were our communities point of access and trust for their healthcare advice and needs.
Our ability to maintain and enhance our professional role in adversity was hugely challenging for pharmacists and their teams. How did we do it and what did we learn? What will Community Pharmacy look like in a Post Covid World?

Guest speaker: Daragh Connolly, Community Pharmacist, Irish Pharmacy Union, Ireland FIP Community Pharmacy Section Chair.

About Daragh Connolly:
I am a third-generation pharmacist with 25 years’ experience, predominantly but not exclusively, in community practice. Community practice is my joy and passion, I own and run my Community Pharmacy in Dungarvan Co. Waterford with a great team serving a great community. I am very fortunate that throughout my career I have met and collaborated with fantastic pharmacists here in Ireland and around the world to advocate and implement advancing our role to better serve our communities and our profession.
I was delighted to be asked to be lead author of the CPS Vision 2025 and in the spirit of collegiality and collaboration we have created a fantastic document to inspire peak practice of pharmacy around the world.

I believe every pharmacist in every setting should have the opportunity to practice to the best of their ability to improve the health of the people they serve. As we emerge from Covid19 and learn from our vital role in keeping quality healthcare accessible when others closed their doors we now practice at a most exciting and pivotal time.

In my spare time I love spending as much timeI enjoy long walks with my wife, kids and 2 golden retrievers. I love watching and following rugby and my ambition is to become a high handicap golfer.