Advocacy Leader in Pharmacy Shellyza Sajwani: ‘I'm excited about various initiatives happening within global health and climate change.’

SnapshotEducation:Masters of Pharmacy - Aston University (2010)Entry to Practice - UK (2011) and Canada (2012)PharmD - University of Toronto (2018)Climate Change Certification - Yale University (2022)Global Health Delivery Intensive Program - Harvard University (2022)\Roles/Title:President - Climaceutics Health SolutionsCo-Chair - Canadian Association of Pharmacy for the Environment (CAPhE)Ottawa Hospital - Clinical PharmacistPharmacists Without Borders - Past Co-President Adjunct Professor - University of OttawaDescribe your journey into the field of pharmacy and what inspired you to take on a leadership role in advocacy.I was very grateful to have some job shadowing with a few community and hospital pharmacists in the early 2000s while I was still in high school; I was impressed with the breadth of pharmacy work and the opportunities to impact patient care. Looking back, I am also grateful that I started having opportunities to volunteer on local boards within my community as a teenager, and quickly learned that attention to systematic change is crucial for the well-being of individuals, families and communities.I never saw myself as an advocate specifically, but rather as someone who attempts to 'build capacity' on a primarily volunteer level by bringing people together in a structured manner – creating committees, boards and other structures while partnering with other groups to build capacity to work for change. Ever since then I've thought of advocacy differently, as a form of partnership to unite various stakeholders with a common purpose or vision, rather than a 'boxing ring fight' approach where there is one 'for' group and one ' against' group. What this means is advocating for a general topic by building capacity: for example, helping within Pharmacists without Borders Canada to build partnerships with various host and external organizations to strengthen capacity within improving medication access, or building capacity and partnerships within the new Canadian Association of Pharmacy for the Environment (CAPhE) to improve awareness regarding sustainable healthcare and disaster planning. All these initiatives focus on helping, or 'advocating', for a particular topic to gain traction – but through partnerships and capacity building. What are some of the most significant challenges you have faced in your advocacy efforts, and how have you overcome them?My biggest challenge has been twofold: the first is, of course, managing the complexity of funding models within capacity building related to advocacy of a particular topic (global health, climate change etc.). The nonprofit sector in particular requires innovation within funding; bringing in individuals with various strengths related to fundraising and grant applications has helped in the past for this area.The second part of the challenge within advocacy has been to navigate the various priorities of different stakeholders. Here, I have learned that innovation and empathetic listening are needed to bring various stakeholders together through more 'three dimensional' work.An example of what this means in practice is shaping a proposal to reduce emissions – that can additionally help with a group's operational costs. Another example is building a proposal that considers equity as a centre priority while also focusing on low-hanging fruit that can achieve the highest emission reductions. How do you envision the future of pharmacy practice, and what role do you see advocacy playing in shaping that future?I envision the future of pharmacy practice as heavily influenced by leadership, partnership, innovation and advocacy to manage society's most difficult challenges. For example, global health is a topic getting traction in some areas of pharmacy curricula now, however the vast global inequities related to access to medication management are likely to worsen with impacts from climate change and the complexity of world conflict.I think we need continued advocacy in building capacity within global health: I envision that groups which are on the front line of global health efforts both in conflict and non-conflict zones will have more and more engagement with pharmacy professionals. Similarly, I can now see that pharmacy professionals involved in climate change are also partnering with other health based and non-health-based disciplines and I expect this trend to continue. Climate change and pharmacy is now becoming more discussed at pharmacy conferences, and discussions have now started in terms of innovative methods for incorporating pharmacy-related emission reduction and disaster planning efforts within various sectors. This interesting trend- applies to everything from academia planetary health work, hospital pharmacy environmental committees, corporate community pharmacy decision making, as well as procurement and regulatory arenas. This is a critical area to focus on, as the climate crisis is impacting access to medications and impacting health in real time, while pharmacy services are impacting emissions significantly. I think it will be more and more important for pharmacy professionals to speak up to be present at the table for key decisions regarding funding allocations. What strategies do you find most effective in engaging government and policy makers in discussions about pharmacy-related issues?I think it's important to engage other disciplines with a stake in issues related to medication to align efforts. An example of this would be the Canadian Association of Pharmacy for the Environment (CAPhE)'s engagement with various groups such as CASCADES, the Canadian Coalition of Green Healthcare, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment, which has led to new opportunities for more engagement with policy makers. An example of this in practice is also attending non-health or non-pharmacy-focused events related to specific topics of interest - to advocate for pharmacy as a whole. As an example, I often go to Green Drinks networking sessions in Ottawa, and I will be heading to the UN COP conference this year to discuss the importance of pharmacy regarding climate change. Another strategy that is important is, again, crucially adopting a multilateral approach, presenting options in manners that are of interest to particular stakeholders. For example, when presenting to City Hall in Ottawa about the relevance of pharmacy to fossil fuel bans, I discussed the impacts of climate change and other disasters on pharmacy businesses which causes reduced access to medications and worsened health, as well as business losses which impact the city. What advice would you give to young pharmacy professionals who are passionate about advocacy and want to make a difference in the field?We often think that we have to 'stay in our lanes' as a profession, however I would argue that without us at the table, decision making takes place without our engagement, which affects larger systemic issues that impact us significantly. I would also keep remembering that we have huge potential for impact when we come together with our various pluralistic strengths. At CAPhE for example, we rely on individuals who have experience within everything from CANVA to website building to minute taking, to management, to finances as well as individuals who have more experience within climate content arenas. In terms of beginning an involvement in a particular area, it may be a good idea to search up various keywords to have a general idea of a current state of a particular topic (I started with Googling climate change and pharmacy in 2018 or 2019). I would also recommend individuals to try to get involved with different nonprofits or committees within volunteer work, while also thinking about informal advocacy on an individual basis – having conversations with individuals around various topics with relevance to pharmacy and ethics. Can you highlight any current or upcoming initiatives that you are particularly excited about in your advocacy work?I'm excited about various initiatives happening within global health and climate change. Within climate change and pharmacy, the Canadian Association of Pharmacy for the Environment (CAPhE) has done quite a bit in collaboration with various stakeholders in climate mitigation and adaptation. We have a strategic plan and activity report that can be accessed on our website at caphe.ca. The team has been fantastic, and we are now expanding our structures. I'm personally working on a social entrepreneurship initiative called Climaceutics Health Solutions, which is working to support pharmacies in reducing emissions and improving disaster planning in a cost-saving manner. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) also published a great policy in environmental sustainability last year, which is relevant to all sectors of pharmacy including community, hospital, academia, industrial pharmacy etc. Finally, I've been excited to see the progress of global health groups like Pharmacists Without Borders – especially as various independent PSF organizations around the world are now coming together to see where they can collaborate. What personal qualities or experiences do you believe have been most instrumental in your success as an advocacy leader?I think the ability to bring people together and identify and empathize with various people's perspectives is really important. Humility and the willingness to learn throughout one's lifetime is also important. Another quality is the willingness to be excited about team success and the success of individuals on one's team – learning about people and understanding how to support people in the best way possible. I like to say that for me, collaboration is a lot more important than competition in advocacy work, because it's really about many kinds of players coming together to commit to a particular topic in their own way, which causes real change. Finally, I would say that a balance between patience and impatience is important… which might sound a bit odd. Impatience and dissatisfaction with inequities can motivate one to work on various initiatives, but patience in understanding that systems also move slowly can help with the long term marathon; it's important to celebrate the small wins. Looking back on your career, is there anything you would do differently, or any key lessons you have learned along the way?A key lesson I learned along the way is to not automatically disqualify oneself in being involved in initiatives. Imposter syndrome is a real issue particularly in racialized populations and women, but the impact of many people unconsciously limiting their belief in themselves, is silence – creativity and progress get impacted in the long run. A way around this is that I've learned not to be particularly ambitious or competitive for a particular position or a formal 'career path', but rather be ambitious as to how I can contribute with others to help a particular system or field move forward. When one takes the latter approach, you end up applying to positions not because you're excited about the status of a particular role, but more because you're excited on how you can contribute within your own capacity with others to move a system forwards. There's also less of a scarcity-driven fear-based stressful environment, and more of an exciting collaborative energy when one takes that approach. I am also five years in remission from cancer. I disclose this because I think cancer and the subsequent understanding of mortality at a relatively early age has really impacted how I see life as well as significantly impacted my advocacy within both climate change and global health work. I've learned that at the end of the day, I will want to have known that I've done everything I can within my ability to contribute to healthy systems that can provide improved protection to individuals, families and communities. Sherif Guorgui - FIP-Community Pharmacy Section | LinkedIn

Advocacy Leader in Pharmacy Shellyza Sajwani: ‘I'm excited about various initiatives happening within global health and climate change.’

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