About Us

Discover the team behind this website

The story behind the Pharmacy Careers Map

Did you know that over the last few years, the role of pharmacy has expanded across the healthcare system? This includes working within GP practices, care homes, urgent care, Primary Care Networks, private healthcare and other locations.

Pharmacy as a career has huge opportunities – yet so many people are unaware of this. A large proportion, including those in school, within undergraduate study, pharmacist training and the current pharmacist workforce do not know about these new and emerging roles.

We came up with the concept of a careers map to address this issue and share what it’s really like to work in the world of pharmacy. We hope that this interactive map and website not only attracts those thinking about a career in healthcare but also support those who are early on in their careers in pharmacy and unsure of what next steps to take.

If you are a student, pharmacy undergraduate, or a pharmacist looking to explore a career in pharmacy…check this site out to see what a career in pharmacy has to offer you!

Our Team...

Shabina Azmi

Project lead and concept creation
Health Education England – Regional Foundation Pharmacist Programme Lead London & Southeast

I started my career in community pharmacy around 10 years ago and have since worked in multiple roles and a variation of sectors from community pharmacy, academia, policy, private healthcare and the civil service. I was appointed as one of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Clinical Fellows between 2018-19 before joining HEE in February 2020. I love the fact I had opportunities to work in so many different roles – which in itself is a plaudit to pharmacy as a career. You honestly have the power to shape your journey; you just need to go for it!

As the project lead for this fantastic website, I am super excited to share the first interactive pharmacy careers map. When I started my role at HEE, I started looking at ways in which we could attract more people to pursue a career in pharmacy in addition to retaining the current workforce. In an impromptu kitchen conversation with a team member, I started thinking about how we needed more innovative ways to advertise pharmacy as a career and in general support those pharmacists early on in their career journeys to make informed choices about their next steps. I did some scoping and came up with this interactive concept that would showcase the vast number of roles one can pursue in a career in pharmacy. The senior project team and partners had one mission when we developed this map, which is that this needed to be fun and engaging to enthuse future and current pharmacy professionals. I really hope you find the content within the site, particularly the careers map and videos as inspiring as we do. Take your time exploring the site and fall in love with a career in pharmacy (again!).

Shane Costigan

National project input & subject matter expertise
Health Education England – Associate Head of Pharmacy for HEE London & Southeast

Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians and Pharmacy Assistants are uniquely placed to help patients receive the best outcomes from their medicines, and live longer, healthier lives. As a pharmacist, I am fortunate to be able to work with people every day to do just that. I started my Pharmacy journey as a student in 2007 and registered as a qualified Pharmacist in 2012. Since then, I have worked in a range of exciting settings, including in hospitals, community pharmacies and more recently working with Health Education England to support the development of the Pharmacy workforce in England. A career in Pharmacy offers endless opportunities and brings together elements of clinical work, leadership and management, education and training and research amongst others. I hope that this map sparks your interest in one of the wide and varied roles Pharmacy has to offer, and we look forward to hopefully supporting you on your Pharmacy journey in the future.

Atif Shamim

Project support and subject matter expertise
Health Education England – Associate Head of Pharmacy for HEE London &Southeast

Having worked in a variety of portfolio roles across multiple practice areas, I am thrilled to present this interactive look at the plethora of opportunities available within the profession. The creation of this map provides the perfect example of how pharmacy teams from different workgroups come together to create something new and innovative, a theme that reflects the increasing prospects available to aspiring pharmacists and support staff. On behalf of the senior planning team, I hope you enjoy spending time in our world of pharmacy, watch and listen to people tell you all about their exciting roles, and find something to inspire you!

Shilpa Shah

Project support & sponsor
Kent Local Pharmaceutical Committee – Chief Executive Officer

I qualified as a pharmacist in 1999 from Kings College University and have been a pharmacist for 21 years working for two large multiple pharmacy chains starting as a pre-registration student and working my way up to a senior position, as an Area Manager and now I am a Chief Executive Officer of Kent Local Pharmaceutical Committee.

Whilst I have always had a career in Community Pharmacy, I have seen over the years pharmacy evolve and grow into so many different roles, in different Healthcare settings. This shows the value of having a pharmacist in any Multi-Disciplinary Team. Over the last few years, I have seen many Pharmacists have portfolio careers which has so many benefits such as personal development, being able to understand other sectors and they way they work, to using skills learnt in one setting to apply in another, as well as being continuously challenged.

I am proud of the way that this project has developed and have been happy to have been involved as I believe it really encompasses all the different roles in Pharmacy and shows what an exciting purposeful career Pharmacy is.

Julia Powell

Project support & sponsor
Community Pharmacy Surrey & Sussex – Chief Executive Officer

My first experience of pharmacy was as a teenager with a Saturday job. I saw the care and support the pharmacist gave to the patients, many of whom knew her by name and appreciated her knowledge and clinical skills. This made me decide that I wanted to help people in the same way to get the best care for their health. I registered as a pharmacist in 1993 and I have worked in various positions across pharmacy. These have included working within community pharmacy as a Pharmacy Manager, Regional Pharmacy Manager and Head Office roles across both small and large size multiples. I have also gained experience in the prison, private hospital and hospice sectors. My role currently is as the Chief Executive Officer for Community Pharmacy Surrey and Sussex who represent community pharmacy contractors across the geography.

I have enjoyed being involved in this careers project and to be able to share my enthusiasm for the role of a pharmacist with others and to see how the role has evolved to encompass all the different areas where a pharmacist can work. Looking forward, future changes include all newly qualified pharmacists also being Independent Prescribers which will create more advances in the practice of pharmacy and open even more career pathways.

Hinal Patel

Project support & sponsor
Community Pharmacy Surrey & Sussex - Serviced development and support pharmacist

Since qualifying in 2008, I have done various leadership roles from being in community pharmacy, working within pharmacy and care home unit and within the outpatient department in a hospital. I have thoroughly enjoyed my roles in all the different settings and have learned enormously from people and work. The roles I did in the past were quite traditional to my recent one now where integration with all healthcare sector, close working with all stakeholders of the NHS is of prime importance. I have a portfolio role where I work as a clinical pharmacist in integrated and urgent care at Southeast coast ambulance alongside this current role. I have recently joined Academic Health Science Network as Programme Manager. It gives me a perfect balance of using my clinical expertise, relationship building, project management skills to be applied in various workstream.

I chose a career in pharmacy so that I can have a varied portfolio of working and I have to say, I am yet to know any different. It gives you so many opportunities across the board, irrespective of the sector you work in.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the individuals who provided their time to help us create the testimonial videos, write the website content and to all the organisations that have contributed: Medway NHS Trust, Eastbourne NHS Trust, Kamsons Pharmacy Chain, Day Lewis and all other organisations involved in this project.

Meet the development team...

Website design, scene animations & copywriting

loyaltyMATTERS specialise in the design and build of innovative career websites that enable organisations to promote their diverse career opportunities.

We've loved working on this website project; especially the development of the careers map and sector scene animations.

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Case-study video production

Mind Wick is a video and animation production company that specialises in creating content around health and mental health.

As a collective of creatives, Mind Wick is dedicated to sharing the stories of healthcare professionals and the people whose lives they’ve changed with new audiences.

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