Meet the Pharmacy Practice + Business Award winner for Practice Innovation Shoppers Drug Mart Store 500: Expanding pharmacy practice potential in the community
Under the leadership of pharmacist/owner John Papastergiou, the pharmacy team at this busy Shoppers Drug Mart in downtown Toronto provides enhanced clinical services, such as point-of-care diagnostic testing and pharmacogenomics, to enable personalized medication management in a community pharmacy setting.
Why they won
Starting with store-specific pilot programs which demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of enhanced clinical services in a community pharmacy setting, this pharmacy team has helped drive systemic improvements in healthcare delivery across the country.
The pharmacy’s groundbreaking pharmacogenomics clinic has significantly improved patient outcomes by optimizing medication efficacy and reducing adverse effects, while advancements in point-of-care diagnostic testing (POCT), including HbA1c screenings for diabetes, have filled critical gaps in chronic disease management. Not only have these services now become essential components of community pharmacy practice nationally, but they are gaining international attention.
For instance, the team’s work in POCT has been prominently featured at global conferences, such as the FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, where it earned the prestigious First Research Prize. In turn their research on pharmacogenetics in community practice has been published in leading journals, providing an evidence-based framework that could be replicated outside of Canada.
This work has redefined the potential of community pharmacy, with measurable impacts on patient care. Plus, the team’s ability to inspire both local pharmacists and a global audience of pharmacy professionals further highlights their leadership acumen.
- Q&A with John Papastergiou
What do you enjoy the most about what you do?
For us it’s about serving the local community where we’ve been for 20 years now and have become a real hub for health care. We saw the opportunity early on to offer innovative services such as pharmacogenomics and clinical diagnostic testing and really pioneered that. Seeing the value it has brought to our community has been very gratifying.
What is your biggest challenge?
With pharmacy evolving so quickly, staying ahead of the curve when it comes to staffing is always a challenge. We want to continue to push the scope of practice forward but doing that in an environment where there are labour shortages is difficult.
Is there someone in particular who mentored you, or served as a role model?
The foundation of much of what we’re currently doing is rooted in the influence of early mentors. I started my career in hospital pharmacy and when I came to community, I took a lot of the same principles we were trying to implement, in terms of practice research. Larry Jackson of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is still a great mentor to me and Artemis Diamantouros, while no longer with us, encouraged this idea of implementing small pilot programs, evaluating them and expanding them when they worked. Both the faculties at the University of Toronto and University of Waterloo have been a great source of support too.
What’s your favourite way to spend time outside of work?
I really do enjoy travelling and also promoting pharmacy in the media. I like doing radio and love to do our podcast, The Pharmacists Are In. To help promote what we’re doing to other pharmacists globally and within the public has been very exciting for me.
Name something you’re really good at that has nothing to do with pharmacy.
I love public speaking, but it’s usually about pharmacy-related matters. I always tell my daughters how important it is to be confident and comfortable in front of an audience, and I think that skillset is sometimes more important than academics.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give a young pharmacist who wants to make a difference?
I do a lot of work with students and I think they’re often fixated on working in one part of the profession. I was actually dead set against working in community but I’ve made a whole career out of it. So use your rotations to find the best environment for you, and if you find you don’t like it once you’re in it, change it, because pharmacy has so many opportunities for young graduates now.
What’s next for your team?
During the pandemic we had to scale back on some of our practice research and clinical work but now we’re once again looking at what to explore next. We’ll continue our work in genomics testing but we’ll also be looking at future opportunities where technologies such as artificial intelligence can be used to lighten the workload and improve patient care.
