Primary care and interprofessional education focus for new Teaching Stream faculty member

The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is pleased to announce Jennifer Lake as Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream. The full-time appointment will begin September 1, 2023.

As a pharmacist, researcher and award-winning educator, Assistant Professor Lake’s clinical and scholarly expertise focuses on primary care pharmacy practice and health services research. In 2021, she completed a PhD at U of T’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) that explored how pharmacists contribute to patient care in primary care settings. Specifically, she investigated how professional identity, team culture, and external priorities intersect to influence the responsibilities a pharmacist undertakes in their primary care team. As one of the inaugural Ontario Health Team Impact Fellows, she worked with the North Toronto OHT to implement and evaluate how interprofessional services could be networked to primary care organizations to improve equitable patient access to these services.

“I look forward to working with pharmacy students and faculty, as well as across U of T, to build interprofessional education that continues to support these principles and supports the development of excellent pharmacists of the future.”

In her new position, she will transition to teaching in the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program and will be the Pharmacy Academic Lead for U of T’s Interprofessional Education Curriculum for the upcoming year. She will also maintain her research portfolio and work to establish evidence-based strategies to further advance the role of pharmacists in primary care settings.

“Collaboration in health care means more than working in a co-located manner. It means being patient-centred, taking accountability for the care you provide, trust in your colleagues, and advocating to support the public and communities,” said Lake. “I look forward to working with pharmacy students and faculty, as well as across U of T, to build interprofessional education that continues to support these principles and supports the development of excellent pharmacists of the future.”

As the Pharmacology/Pharmacotherapy Lead in Undergraduate Medical Education (UME) at U of T’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine for the past five years, Assistant Professor Lake coordinates longitudinal teaching and assessment across all four years of the program. At the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, she has previously led admissions for the PharmD for Pharmacists program and taught PHM652 Contemporary Topics in Primary Care. She also leads #RxWritingChallenge at U of T, an international community building initiative focused on supporting and sharing pharmacy scholarship.