Meet the Pharmacy Practice + Business Award winner for Business Innovation MAPflow’s Dr. Nardine Nakhla: Creating a gold standard in minor ailment prescribing
Dr. Nardine Nakhla is the co-founder and chief executive officer of MAPflow, (Minor Ailment Prescribing and workflow), a web-based, clinical support tool designed to help pharmacists (and other healthcare providers) in prescribing and managing treatments for minor ailments. She is also a lecturer in the pharmacy faculties of the University of Toronto and University of Waterloo, and co-owns Ash Medical Pharmacy in Scarborough, Ont.
Why she won: As a certified expert in minor ailments, Dr. Nakhla (along with co-founders Andrea Edginton and Michael Sevestre) has created a unique business solution that directly addresses key challenges in the profession, namely the growing need for accessible healthcare, pharmacists’ expanding scope of practice, and the operational complexities of implementing minor ailment services. The MAPflow platform empowers pharmacies to confidently deliver minor ailment assessments while adhering to the highest clinical standards. And best of all, patients are reaping the benefits.
In addition to reducing administrative burden on participating pharmacies while ensuring regulatory compliance, the platform has contributed to outstanding patient outcomes. With MAPflow the rate of symptom resolution among patients was 97.5% compared to the national average of 80.8%, and the rate of adverse effects less than 1%.
The tool’s innovative workflow design also allows all members of the pharmacy team to participate, from clinicians and technicians to assistants and students. With flexible subscription models, the tool can be adopted by both independent pharmacists and pharmacy chains too.
Her nominator noted that Nakhla has created a “scalable model that simultaneously improves patient care, expands healthcare accessibility, and provides pharmacies with the tools to succeed in an evolving practice landscape.” Meanwhile, one pharmacist user said it has been “a gamechanger” for assessing and prescribing minor ailments since day one, lauding the MAPflow team for their commitment to seeking customer feedback and continuous improvement.
- Q&A with Nardine Nakhla
What do you enjoy the most about what you do?
I'm passionate about empowering pharmacists and pharmacy students with tools that help them deliver exceptional patient care. There's nothing more rewarding than seeing pharmacy professionals use our platform to confidently expand their practice and improve healthcare accessibility in their communities. When pharmacists can work at their highest potential, patients receive better care and outcomes improve—that's what drives me every day.
What is your biggest challenge?
Balancing the demands of running a growing company while maintaining my commitments to teaching, research and family. But this multifaceted perspective actually enriches each role: my teaching informs product development, my research strengthens our evidence-based approach, and my family reminds me why accessible, quality health care matters.
Is there someone in particular who mentored you, or served as a role model?
I'm deeply inspired by Professor Emeritus Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's work on "flow,” that optimal state where challenge meets capability and work becomes energizing rather than exhausting. His research fundamentally shaped MAPflow's approach to pharmacy practice transformation. We designed our platform to help pharmacy teams achieve this state of flow, where clinical excellence becomes natural and rewarding.
Name something you're really good at, that has nothing to do with pharmacy.
Before choosing pharmacy, I seriously considered a career in fashion design! That creative eye for design still influences my work today, whether I'm contributing to the design of user interfaces for MAPflow or reimagining pharmacy workflow processes. Good design, whether in fashion or healthcare technology, is about making complexity feel effortless.
What's one piece of advice you'd give a young pharmacist who wants to make a difference?
Find work that creates a sense of flow—where your skills, passions and healthcare's needs intersect. When you're operating in that sweet spot, innovation comes naturally, and impact follows. Don't be afraid to look beyond traditional pharmacy roles to make a difference. Sometimes the best way to advance patient care is by solving systemic challenges that affect many practitioners.
What's next for you?
My dream is to lead MAPflow in becoming a global leader in transforming clinical pharmacy practice. I'm passionate about empowering healthcare professionals across borders and cultures to deliver exceptional patient care. With our proven success in improving patient outcomes—like our 97.5% symptom resolution or improvement rate—I see tremendous potential to revolutionize clinical service delivery on an international scale. The future of healthcare is about accessibility and excellence, and I'm excited to help drive that transformation alongside our dedicated team.
