Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon
Friday 4 August 2017 10:53pm

Pharmacy awards poster-418px

The University of Otago, School of Pharmacy, is excited to announce the inaugural Green Cross Health Pharmacy Awards Ceremony, which will be on Friday 11 August 2017.


Historically, the school has recognised undergraduate students in an annual awards ceremony, but thanks to the support of Green Cross Health, the awards ceremony has been expanded to be a celebration and recognition of outstanding students, staff, preceptors and alumni.


School dean Carlo Marra says the school is honoured to house some of New Zealand's best researchers and teachers, whose leadership and guidance is reflected in the school's high-achieving postgraduate and undergraduate students.


The awards ceremony will provide an opportunity to recognise these staff members.


Director of the undergraduate programme, Arlene McDowell, who is coordinating the teaching awards, together with postgraduate programme director, Dan Wright, says the idea behind these awards is to compliment the awards currently given to staff for research.


“Being an academic involves these two components and so we wanted to recognise those who are achieving great things in their teaching portfolio,” Dr McDowell says.


There will be a number of awards distributed for research and two awards for teaching for staff who demonstrate excellence and innovation (see below).


This year's awards ceremony includes inaugural awards for hospital, community and rural preceptors who have an important role in shaping New Zealand's future pharmacists.


Professor Marra says the school is lucky to have a history of supportive preceptors and wishes to show its appreciation. A new undergraduate curriculum is on the verge of being rolled out, which will see an increase in preceptor involvement.


Professional practice fellows Aynsley Peterson and James Windle, who have co-ordinated these awards describe preceptors as often the “unsung heroes” of the profession.


“It's such a crucial role and that interaction between preceptor and student can, and has, shaped future career choices,” Ms Peterson says.


“They are our colleagues and fellow professionals in the pharmacy world and it's nice to have the opportunity to recognise some of this great work, even if it is in a small way.”

In an effort to reaffirm connections with alumni, an inaugural Distinguished Alumnus Award will be presented to the awards ceremony's guest speaker.


Everyone at the school is welcome to the awards which will be held at the St David Street Lecture Theatre on Friday, August 11, from 6.30pm. Please send your RSVP to pharmacy.events@otago.ac.nz.

Awards List


Undergraduate Awards


• New Zealand Hospital Pharmacists' Association Syd Little Memorial Prize
• Otago Pharmacological Association Prize
• Pharmacy Prize in Pharmacy Practice 3rd year (Douglas)
• Ken Campbell Memorial Prize in Pharmacy Practice
• Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand Prize
• University Book Shop Prize in Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• New Zealand chapter of the Controlled Release Society Pharmaceutics Prize
• Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (Inc) Prize in Pharmacy Practice
• Toniq Prize for the Top Student in the Second Year of the BPharm Programme


Postgraduate Awards


• Best overall grade: Postgraduate Certificate in Pharmacy (endorsed in Medicines Management)
• Best overall grade: Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy programme


Staff Research Awards


• Publications Diamond Medal (200 international peer-reviewed papers)
• Publications Platinum Medal (75 international peer-reviewed papers)
• Publications Silver Medal (50 papers international peer-reviewed papers)
• Publications Bronze Medal (25 papers international peer-reviewed papers)
• Researcher Excellence Award 2016
• Emerging Researcher Award 2016
• Best Paper Award 2016 Academic Winner
• Best Paper Award 2016 Postgraduate Student Winner


Staff Teaching Awards


• Excellence in Teaching
• Innovation in Teaching


Preceptor Awards


• 2016 Hospital Preceptor of the Year
• 2016 Community Preceptor of the Year
• 2016 Rural Preceptor of the Year

Otago Alumni

2016 Distinguished Alumni Award


Article written by Liane Topham-Kindley for School of Pharmacy newsletter V2I2, August 2017

Back to top