The COVID-19 outbreak has affected healthcare practice across professions. Pharmacists are providing different services amidst pandemic. In fact, community pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare providers to the general public and the first touch point of patient engagement. In hospital, they are central to the treatment of patients with the disease.
This webinar highlights the roles of pharmacists in the COVID-19 pandemic. Our alumni working in Seremban (Malaysia) and Lincoln (UK) will share their experiences as front liners during the pandemic, as well as how they maximize their value and responsibility as pharmacists. Dr Lee Mei Kee, who is also our MPharm alumni, will be the moderator of this talk.
Date: Saturday, 11 July 2020
Time: 4.00 pm
About the speakers
Siow Sue Swen
After graduating from the UON in year 2012, I worked a registered pharmacist for Boots company for 3.5 years before returning to Malaysia for good.
Honestly speaking, the thought of working abroad has never cross my mind since young. Nottingham has a strong brand in the UK, and thus enable me to secure a job after graduation. The working experience was a little challenging, but that is what shapes me today. I actually received an offer to work as pre reg pharmacist in KHOO TECK PUAT hospital in Singapore but I turned it down because I wanted to stay closer to home, Malaysia. I thought I wanted to try something different after working as a retail pharmacist for almost 4 years.
I started off as a hospital pharmacy manager in my current hospital (totally out of my expectation!). My line manager offered me this job even though I do not have any prior experience. After working for 4 years, I am recently promoted as the operations manager in this hospital. Things have been challenging because of covid 19, however I have learnt a lot during this pandemic on how to manage a problem during stressful moments. I even take up a new role as a part time MC, I am currently hosting a Facebook live sharing session with all my specialist consultants in my hospital.
With the Mpharm degree, you can choose to work in community, hospital, operations, sales, procurement, lecturer, research, at the end of the day, as long as you are geh po ji enough, eager to learn new experience, the doors are always open for you.
Leo Sue Wen
Sue Wen unknowingly started her Pharmacy career in the University of Nottingham, after she attended a career and placement fair organised by the university and secured a hospital summer placement at Lincoln County Hospital in the UK, the place at which she will spend the next eight years developing into a senior pharmacist.
At the early stage of her career, she led in introducing a new generation of medicines - biosimilar medicines – to the fore for patients at her local hospitals, allowing her to share her expert knowledge as a speaker at the 2017 Biosimilar Medicines Conference in London.
In Sue Wen’s hospital pharmacy career, she specialises in antimicrobial and high cost drugs management. Her biggest achievement in antimicrobial is through developing an outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) service, allowing patients to be treated at home with intravenous antibiotics safely and effectively. She runs independent antimicrobial ward rounds and practises as a Pharmacist Independent Prescriber who prescribes antimicrobial treatment for her patients. She is also a guest lecturer for the MPharm students at the University of Lincoln since 2016. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sue Wen provided input to the Lincolnshire Research Team in managing treatment arms within the Covid-19 clinical trials. She is also appointed as the Pharmacy lead for remdesivir early access to medicines scheme at her local hospitals.
Sue Wen demonstrated strong project management skills and passion in health economics in her high cost drugs role too. She works closely with health commissioners, pharmaceutical industry, and many other key stakeholders in ensuring high cost medicines transit as seamless as possible between the pharmaceutical industry and secondary care, commonly known as ‘market access’, allowing patients to access highly specialised medicines through various treatment settings. She has extensive hands-on experience in implementing, managing and trouble-shooting various commissioning strategies for expensive medicines, putting her at the forefront to steer the direction of drug commissioning at local, regional, and national levels.
Today, Sue Wen is keeping herself busy with solving problems within the healthcare setting, specifically in treatment access and health economics, and empowering pharmacists to integrate skill sets beyond their work settings. Outside work, she is passionate in supporting women from all walks of life to return to their careers and find their passion, after being inspired by her mum Michelle and her good friend Shireen.
Start a conversation with Sue Wen on LinkedIn.
Dr Lee Mei Kee
Dr Lee Mei Kee obtained her Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree from University of Nottingham, UK in 2011. She then undertook pre-registration training in Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Malaysia. After qualifying as a fully registered pharmacist in Malaysia in 2012, she worked in Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, she decided to pursue her PhD in University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM). From Sept 2018 to Jun 2019, she worked as teaching practitioner in the School of Pharmacy in UNM. She received her PhD degree in Feb 2019 and joined the School of Pharmacy as a permanent staff in Jun 2019. Her research interests are natural products and calcium signalling in smooth muscle.