Final year student, Sophie Oliff, is leaving the School of Pharmacy with transferrable skills beyond her Pharmacy degree. Her hands-on approach and vision for a front-line of entrepreneurial leaders in primary health care has advanced through involvement in University of Otago and community projects, enhancing her vision and employability.
After completing her Bachelor of Health Sciences (Hons) in Population Health (The University of Auckland), Sophie saw Pharmacy as a profession where she could get amongst the action and really make a difference. Sophie is aware that to see positive changes in community health, inter-professional collaboration is key, and she is determined to make a difference in primary health care.
After studying the healthcare framework, Sophie has clear views and opinions on the role of a pharmacist, and was awarded “Blackmores Future Pharmacist of the Year” at the 2016 Pharmacy Awards for her essay titled; “Is entrepreneurial leadership the right prescription for Pharmacy?”
In Sophie's award winning essay, she refers to policy reform and strategic documents that have been written in response to current health issues. Sophie encourages pharmacists to embrace changes that have been put in place and “adopt an entrepreneurial spirit” to help enhance the role of Pharmacy in the primary care setting.
Earlier this year Sophie participated in the Tairawhiti Inter-Professional Education Programme where she gained the experience of training with students from other health disciplines and learnt more about how inter-professional collaboration works. Sophie was placed in the East Cape area working in both a Community and Hospital placement. “I would recommend this to anyone who wants to enhance their pharmacy degree, enhance their employability, and also enhance their understanding of Rural and Māori Health,” wrote Sophie in her reflection report.
Sophie was one of eleven students who were recognised with the University of Otago Student Leadership Award this year, marking the completion of a two-year extra-curricular programme that enables students to develop leadership skills and attributes that boost personal growth and employability, while making a positive contribution to society through volunteering.
Sophie has volunteered at Ignite Consulting since 2014 and is currently CEO of the Dunedin branch. Ignite is a student-run Non-Profit organisation that provides free business advice and strategic planning to charities in Dunedin and Wellington. Sophie developed skills through Ignite that she integrates back into her Pharmacy study.
“I think being down here has been the making of me” says Sophie. Being away from home has allowed Sophie to make more deliberate decisions about how she spends her time and how she will achieve her goals. The University of Otago is; “Really good at helping with this”. As undergraduate students in Otago you are “Core-Business”.
Sophie has been working under the direction of Professor Natalie Medlicott and Dr Ruth Ferguson on her group elective project “Pityriasis versicolor”. This research elective group won “Best Poster Presentation” at the 2016 Bachelor in Pharmacy Research Symposium in the School of Pharmacy.
Four of the students from this elective group will travel to the Cook Islands in Mid-November to gain experience working in another country in both the Hospital and Community setting. “It will be a good refresher” says Sophie, before she starts her full-time intern position next year at Wellington Hospital.
"If we are going to have patient-centred care, we need to have leaders at the front line and that's every pharmacist,” says Sophie Oliff (P4).