“We need to avail of the opportunities to improve patient care” — An interview with Dr. Catherine Duggan, FIP CEO
By Fabrice HUMURA
June 2018-June 2019, a year is full since Dr Catherine DUGGAN assumes the FIP office as CEO. She is a Fellow and double graduate of the UCL School of Pharmacy.
Find out about her insights to young professionals, her ideas for the future of the federation and the profession in this interview.
It has now been one year as the Chief Executive Officer of FIP and the first female to occupy such a prominent position. How has this journey been for you?
The journey in my first year has been amazing: both personally and professionally.
The support of all the FIP team, the volunteers and the ExCo, Bureau and President (Carmen when I started last June, and Dominique from September 2018) has made a massive impact on my journey.
I joined FIP just at the time when it was launching a new strategy which is an exciting opportunity to be part of developing this and then to support its delivery across a 5 year programme is so exciting. The agenda is huge and, like many other organisations, FIP needs to demonstrate its value to Member organisations, to the global health agenda and to global organisations like WHO and the UN.
At the same time as implementing much change in how we work externally (with philanthropic organisations, with corporate partners and with our member organisations), we have had to change the ways we work internally at HQ, by organising ourselves as teams, working across silos and in line with annual business plans. We have delivered the business as usual, while developing new products and partnerships, new regional conferences and events, and researching new value propositions and how we can better support our MOs.
Ensuring we work across all our constituencies (Boards, FIPEd, YPG, sections, Sigs and hubs), create new ways of working (through a regulators forum and a newly launched technology forum) consolidate existing ways of working (working groups and publications) and maximise communication channels (SoMe, newsletters, journals, partners, groups) means the new strategy comes to life more quickly and the impact of all our changes can be more easily implemented.
Finally, I am a true team player and I think it is so important to recognise how important your personal life is to your professional success- all part of the balance we try to achieve! So, the journey in my first year is made so much more positive by the support of my husband (a true leader in pharmacy) who supports me so superbly, in my career, my choices (which are obviously our choices as I live the NL during the week) and my passion for our profession.
You attended the very first FIP congress in 1992 and by then you were already presenting a poster. Furthermore, you’ve been an individual member of FIP for more than 10 years prior being who you are today. What was the drive of such unprecedented passion?
I see so many young professionals in pharmacy with so much passion, enthusiasm and motivation that impresses me daily. I remember having the opportunity to present a poster of my pre-registration project at FIP in 1992 and being so excited and honoured to do so, I attended the Congress and just marvelled at the experience. From that moment, I felt enthused and empowered to work across countries, regions and then, at global levels. The work I was doing then (in care homes) and through my PhD (working across community and hospital pharmacy) and then in my career (focussing on patient experience and the support professional development across pharmacy was inspired by some of the work I saw at FIP in 1992. I have made so many friends along the way. To me, being in a leadership role means you need to be a role model to others, so all through my career, I have sought to support others to have similar experiences along the way and try my best to live by that mantra and I truly believe the international experience at FIP gives you exposure to that from the start!
Some of our young pharmacists members may have dreams of becoming the next FIP CEO or leading the Federation in various endeavors. Please share some advice for them.
Some key advice is to develop yourself as a leader and develop leadership skills right from the start. Then, wherever you are, whatever roles are available, you will be a leader.
I also believe that collaboration is key and that you should never waste the opportunity to make good networks and joint projects and seek to try new things (areas of practice, services, research) and you will develop these skills without event trying! Then, when opportunities arise (be they projects, collaborations, jobs at FIP) you will be in the most ideal position possible!
Finally, I am mentoring several colleagues who may be at different stages of their career, but have the same requests as YPG colleagues and need support, advice and opportunities so I am thinking about how FIP can support colleagues at all stages in our careers, across all our regions to build their experiences and portfolios to increase their opportunities and endeavours. I’m sure there are ways we can do this better!
One of FIP’s 13 Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals is Gender and Diversity balances. What do you think are strategies that will enable the increase of the female proportion of workforce to achieve the 72% target by 2030?
This is such a good question. So the proportion of females to males in our profession is dependent on factors to do with university entrants and registrations. What’s interesting (across all professions) is the proportion of females and males in different leadership roles at various stages of careers thereafter. So the 72% of the profession being females is less of a target than the proportion of females in leadership positions and across all stages of the career ladder. FIP will seek to support the opportunities for progression for everyone, to ensure equity is better achieved and that (as in the point above) leadership support and development opportunities are readily available so that everyone feels able, enabled, empowered to take on new, emerging and leadership roles.
What role do you think FIP should have in supporting the advancement of pharmacy in developing countries?
So, the way in which we consider our nations should be based around objective measures of income levels rather than the long standing notion of developed vs developing. Consider all countries as ‘’developing’’ in some way is a more equitable and ensure we don’t become complacent about our systems, our health provision and our profession’s development in each of our countries. FIP is developing an Atlas to identify what and how we can best target to support the advancement of pharmacy in each of our countries. A needs analysis in the country (patient and public need) alongside the needs of our MOs in each country (whether they require, academic infrastructure, regulatory support, remuneration, professional & service development and workforce development / transformation) will ensure we can match those MOs with needs with the support that’s available. This moves FIP into more of a proactive role to support the advancement where it’s needed. FIP can also build on our excellent reports and policies with toolkits, webinars and support tools for each MO to advocate and implement new services within their nations. Finally, through our partnerships with the WHO and the UN, we can work with regional leaders and in nation to support the profession’s position in delivering Primary Health Care.
What are your aspirations for the future of the pharmacy profession in the changing world where technology is disrupting several career practices?
So, for me, we need to support the profession to adapt and accept the challenges that new technologies can bring us. If we consider the challenges our societies face with changing ageing demographics, the fiscal challenges around healthcare provision and the challenges around primary health care and universal health coverage, pharmacy is ideally placed (politically) to play our part in these challenges and technology can support us. Our profession is highly entrepreneurial and we need to avail of the opportunities to improve patient care, the ways we can deliver and administer medicines and care for patients living longer with more co morbidities. FIP will continue to showcase how different MOs and countries have adopted and adapted technology into practice and provide toolkits to enable those who may be struggling with recognition, investment or remuneration, so that we turn disruption into opportunity.
What advice would you give an early career pharmacist for their future career?
I think all your questions have been very smartly phrased so that I can refer to the above. My advice?
- Take advantage of opportunities to collaborate, network and learn
- Seek support for career advice and find good friends and mentors to support you
- Look to your strengths and grow your leadership style based on the traits you admire in others
- Prepare yourself as a leader early in your career and you will be ready for anything as you progress
- Seek feedback from those you trust and don’t treat yourself too harshly
- Don’t burn bridges along your journey (it’s a small world
7. Finally, enjoy the challenges and opportunities your professional life brings so that you take the good from everything life throws at you and you have a wonderful set of experiences to look back on and learn from.
And I wish you all GOOD LUCK, I look forward to seeing so many of you in leadership roles where ever medicines are involved in the future
