Alumnus is Pharmacist of the Year

UQ Pharmacy alumnus and leading advocate for rural pharmacy, Karalyn Huxhagen, was announced as the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia's Pharmacist of the Year for 2010.

The award was presented at a ceremony at PAC10 on October 29 by Her Excellency, the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce AC.

Based in Mackay, Ms Huxhagen is a passionate community pharmacist and advocate for rural pharmacy. She is renowned as a leader and change agent across all levels of health care and her endeavours have helped to improve service delivery and health outcomes for Australians living in rural and remote areas.

“At heart I am a community pharmacist with a great passion for my customers, staff and the local community,” Ms Huxhagen said.

“Being awarded the Australian Pharmacist of the Year by PSA is an achievement beyond my comprehension. I am passionate about all aspects of Pharmacy and I have been lucky enough to be able to give to the profession my time and expertise in areas that interest me.

“I am a strong advocate for the areas of rural, regional and remote health in many areas of health but my particular focus has always been on delivery of pharmacy services to these areas.

“There has been a lot of good days and bad days in achieving the goals that I personally have set in achieving better outcomes in rural, regional and remote Australia and being awarded this award for my work tells me that my hard work has not gone unnoticed.”

Announcing the awards at the Pharmacy Australia Congress in Sydney, National President of the PSA, Warwick Plunkett said rural pharmacy had no better advocate than Ms Huxhagen.

“Her commitment to this sector is boundless and has resulted in some very real and positive developments for rural pharmacy in Australia,” he said.

Pictured: Ms Huxhagen receives her award from Her Excellency, the Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce AC. (Photo courtesy of The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia)

On this site