As the top-ranked faculty of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences in Canada and among the top ten in the world, we strive for continuous improvement across our education, research, and operational programs.

Under the leadership of Jamie Kellar, associate dean academic, and Natalie Crown, director of the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program, we have embarked on an ambitious curriculum renewal process to re-evaluate and improve our curriculum, enhance student learning, and continue to create practice-ready pharmacists who can meet patient needs in a rapidly changing world.

“A curriculum renewal is a dynamic process of rethinking, reimagining, revising, and redesigning a program of study to enhance student learning and societal impact. Our renewed curriculum will be more nimble, with multiple paths and streams of credential opportunities”

- Jamie Kellar, Associate Dean Academic

The curriculum renewal leadership team also visited the University of California at San Francisco to observe their leading-edge three-year PharmD curriculum, and gained several insights that will help inform our next steps.

For many students, experiential rotations – particularly those that involve travel to another country – are a life-changing learning experience. International rotations were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, resuming in 2022-23.

As students from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy are again travelling internationally to learn about pharmacy in other settings, international pharmacy students have also returned to our Faculty to learn about the Canadian pharmacy experience.

In April 2023, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, in collaboration with Ontario Health, launched two new massive open online courses (MOOCs) to help patients, caregivers, and health care professionals enrich their knowledge and skills related to the use of biosimilar biologic medications. More than 700 learners from over 70 countries have enrolled in the courses since launch.

“As more biosimilars enter the market and clinical settings, there is a need for consistent and reliable information to help people switching from originator biologics to biosimilars across therapeutic areas” - Kathy Vu, Assistant Professor - Teaching Stream

“As more biosimilars enter the market and clinical settings, there is a need for consistent and reliable information to help people switching from originator biologics to biosimilars across therapeutic areas,” says assistant professor Kathy Vu. “These edX courses will help people who are currently using originator or biosimilar biologic medications get access to comprehensive information they need to feel more informed about their treatment and be active participants in their care.”

The Discovery Pharmacy (DRx) provides an enriched, interdisciplinary student-learning environment where teaching, learning, research, and clinical service delivery occur simultaneously. In 2022, a total of 25 students completed five-week, non-direct and direct patient care experiential education rotations at the DRx. Students contributed to key areas of the pharmacy development process including technology, space planning, program and service development, and privacy.

Researchers at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy are at the forefront of their fields, contributing to discoveries and advances across drug development, medication use, and clinical care. By tackling important questions at all stages of the research continuum and leveraging new and emerging technologies, we continue to drive impact to advance science, health care, and healthier societies.

This past year, we saw the rapid rise of AI and machine learning across society, including in health care the delivery and new ways to advance research. Led by Professor Christine Allen, a new facility at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, one of six at U of T being funded by $200-million grant to the Acceleration Consortium, is leveraging AI and automation to speed the development of new and improved drug formulations. 

“The world is finally understanding the impact of formulation technology and how powerful it is. Now we can marry that technology with AI and machine learning, so we’re kind of unstoppable.”

- Professor Christine Allen, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

The path by which new drugs and health technologies are approved and make it to the clinical point of care is also shifting. Collaborating with experts from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) and Health Canada, Assistant Professor Mina Tadrous helped steer the creation of new guidance that lays the foundation for using real world evidence (RWE) in approval processes and helps develop a pathway to support the evaluation of newer drugs.

Interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration is key to research translation for patient and system impact. A leading example of this is PRiME, U of T’s precision medicine initiative based at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. We recently announced the exciting news that University Professor Molly Shoichet is now PRiME’s scientific director, and we look forward to her vision and leadership as she continues to advance PRiME as an accelerator and hub for innovation in precision medicine.

Faculty are also contributing to an enhanced role for pharmacy in a more integrated health system through the New Initiative and Innovation Awards, awarded to five research teams from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Dalla Lana School of Public Health. These awards are being funded through the newly created Network for Improving Health Systems (NIHS), established by a generous $3 million donation from Shoppers Drug Mart in late 2022.  

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been much discussion about the widespread challenges our health system and health professionals face. Change is urgently needed, and the recent expansion in Ontario of pharmacists’ scope of practice to treat minor ailments shows the vital role pharmacists can play in a better, more integrated health system. Through education, research, collaboration, and community building, we are playing a leadership role in defining the future impact of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.

“Innovative and future-oriented health education and research programs are crucial to improving health care and meeting patient needs.” - Lisa Dolovich, Professor and Dean

“Jurisdictions across Canada have been moving quickly to take advantage of pharmacist training and expertise to broaden pharmacist scope and improve access to and quality of care,” said Lisa Dolovich, pharmacist and dean of U of T’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. “Innovative and future-oriented health education and research programs are crucial to improving health care and meeting patient needs.”

On August 11, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy welcomed MPP and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health Robin Martin, who met with students, teaching faculty, and scientists to learn more about how pharmacists' training and exciting new research underway in pharmaceuticals sciences.

To help nurture and develop a leadership mindset and skills in emerging pharmacy professionals, the Faculty’s Centre for Practice Excellence launched its first Leader-in-Residence this year. Emily Musing, the inaugural Leader-in-Residence, is an alum of both the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at U of T and was, until her recent retirement, vice-president, clinical and chief patient safety officer at the University Health Network (UHN), where over a million patients are treated and cared for annually. Additionally, our successful Alumni Networking and Education events held a series on Leadership in Pharmacy that engaged nearly 4,000 viewers.

“As a mentor, it’s a matter of helping to build confidence and to open people’s eyes to see that yes, they truly can and should play that leadership role.” - Emily Musing, Leader-in-Residence 

“Everyone has leadership potential within them,” said Emily Musing. “As a mentor, it’s a matter of helping to build confidence and to open people’s eyes to see that yes, they truly can and should play that leadership role.”

Mentorship is essential to building leadership and this past year the Advancement and Alumni Relations team celebrated a successful second year of the PharmaSEE Mentorship Program for PharmD students, matching nearly 40 students with mentors and leaders from across industry, hospital, and community practice.

Tackling the big questions in health care, the third season of the I’m Pharmacy Podcast, hosted by Mina Tadrous, explored “Big Problems, Bigger Solutions” and featured interviews with top experts from across health care. In January 2023, the podcast was recognized internationally with two Signal Awards for excellence in podcasting.  

We rounded out the academic term in May with a high-energy Faculty Open House event attended by more than 300 people, including U of T colleagues, alumni, students, faculty, and friends. Guests had the opportunity to reconnect with each other and learn about the Faculty’s vision for the future of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences through mini-lectures, lab tours, and student poster presentations.

Enhancing our spaces and wellness:

• Leadership Crisis in Pharmacy

• Independent Ownership in Pharmacy

Technology is changing health care, and society more broadly, in ways that did not seem possible only a few short years ago. Digital technology allowed learning and business to continue during the pandemic, and machine learning and high-tech research systems allow researchers to generate more results faster, speeding up the discovery timeline.

From April 2022 to July 2023, U of T's Resilience Project Team gathered information on innovative practices developed by the U of T community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on our university operations. The Ideas and Adaptations Toolbox features the Faculty's use of virtual simulations during remote learning and shares key learnings for colleagues across U of T.

In addition to accelerating lab-based science and innovation, our researchers and alumni are exploring using AI in health care to help administrators and physicians make decisions. Muhammad Mamdani, professor – status at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, is a leader in using large data sets and machine learning to help develop solutions for frontline health care workers. Karen Ng, (PharmD 2T0) received this year’s Industrial Pharmacy Residency Program Award for work she did while at Leo Pharma to develop an AI tool called MUFASA (Medical information data Uses For AI Semantic Analysis) that received international recognition.

Environmental sustainability and climate change are top of mind, especially after a summer of wildfires, extreme weather, and record-breaking global temperatures. We know the environment and climate impact human health and that the health care industry has a multi-functional role to play in creating sustainable practices, leveraging technology to address the impacts of climate change, and caring for those affected by climate crises.

The Faculty’s Centre for Practice Excellence is working to develop tools to raise awareness, educate the pharmacy community, and advance climate conscious pharmacy practice.

But sustainability is not just about the environment. It is also about creating a health care system that is sustainable with a resilient, healthy workforce. Supporting the mental health and well-being of pharmacy students and pharmacists is key to ensuring that pharmacy professionals have the resilience and capacity to continue caring for patients throughout challenging times.

Faculty and staff from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy continue to collaborate with health science colleagues across U of T on the development of the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health, set to launch in 2026. In particular, there continues to be in discussions to have a physical location in the new SAMIH building at UTSC.

Students and Learners

Advancement and Alumni Relations

Media Engagement

Research By The Numbers