Across Canada’s health systems, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are working at the forefront of patient care, safety, and system sustainability. Their expertise spans an extraordinary breadth of clinical specialties and practice environments—from oncology and cardiology to geriatrics, surgery, compounding, planetary health, or obstetrics and gynecology. While their roles may differ, they are united by a shared commitment to advancing quality, safety, and value in medication use for patients and populations.
This series of articles highlights that critical work. Each piece brings into focus a specific clinical specialty or interest area where healthcare systems pharmacy professionals are making a measurable difference in patient outcomes, system performance, and the responsible stewardship of resources. Taken together, the series reflects both the complexity of modern health care and the essential role pharmacy professionals play in meeting today’s challenges—from rising clinical acuity and medication complexity to workforce pressures, sustainability imperatives, and fiscal constraints.
At the Canadian Society of Healthcare-Systems Pharmacy (CSHP), supporting this work is central to our mission. We believe that advancing pharmacy practice happens most powerfully when professionals are connected—learning from one another, sharing evidence and experience, and collaborating across institutions and regions. CSHP’s Communities of Practice are foundational to this vision. These Communities bring pharmacists and pharmacy technicians together across Canada to strengthen clinical practice, advance innovation, and respond collectively to emerging issues in health care.
Through our Communities of Practice, members working in diverse specialties and interest areas find a national platform for connection and leadership. These communities foster peer-to-peer learning, professional mentorship, practice alignment, and the dissemination of evidence-based approaches that can be adapted and scaled across health systems. They also provide an avenue for pharmacy professionals to shape conversations at a national level—ensuring that frontline perspectives inform education, policy, and system design.
The articles that follow also underscore the importance of leadership—both formal and informal—within healthcare-systems pharmacy. The individuals and teams featured exemplify how commitment, collaboration, and professionalism can drive meaningful change for patients and the health system as a whole. CSHP is proud to support these leaders and to create the structures that enable their work to thrive.
As you read this series, we invite you to reflect on the collective impact of healthcare-systems pharmacy across Canada—and on the power of connection in advancing our profession. Together, through shared expertise and communities of practice, we can continue to strengthen patient care today while shaping a resilient, high-quality health system for the future.
By Mary Gunther & Karla
Karla Thorpe, MSc, CHE — Chief Executive Officer & Mary Gunther, BScPharm, ACPR — CSHP President