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October Faces of Pharmacy:
Dr. R (Sham) Moodley
Community pharmacist and a Director in the Care Group of Pharmacies. Vice Chairperson and member of the Board of Directors. Chair of NHI Pharmacy Stakeholders Consultative Forum Task Team. Chair of Pharmacy First Forum. FIP-CPS Ecxo, Pharmacist Lead. Coordinator – KZN Medicine Supply Disaster Management. Honorary Research Fellow School of Health Science UKZN. South African Pharmacy Council’s National Pharmacist of the Year in 2008 and Community Pharmacist of the year 2018. He has presented at various pharmacy conferences in South Africa.
Sham is active in the student sector, as guest lecturer, preceptor for externships for 3/4th year students at UKZN, co-supervising UKZN masters internship at community pharmacy and hosting international students (6th year) attached to UKZN. Recently appointed as Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Health Sciences at UKZN for 5 years. He is also a first implementer of Medicine Therapy Management (MTM), Medicine Use Review (MUR), AMR and Transition of Care (TOC) projects in his community pharmacy – including providing free training and resources for other pharmacists to implement.
Sham is leading the National COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign on behalf of Pharmacy in South Africa. Community pharmacy is the largest contributor of the vaccines in the country outside of the government.
Mona K. Patel, PharmD, BCCCP, FCCM
Mona is a clinical pharmacist in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at New York-Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH), Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in Saint Louis, Missouri and completed Post-Graduate Year 1 and Post-Graduate Year 2 Critical Care Residencies at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Mona worked as a Pharmacy Clinical Specialist in the SICU at Shands prior to her position at NYPH, where she has worked as a member of the Pharmacy Department and interprofessional SICU team for the past twelve years.
Mona plays an integral role with the management of critically ill patients. She rounds daily with the interdisciplinary team to help optimize pharmacologic management. NYPH has recognized the benefits of her commitment through her initiatives, education, and daily interventions. In addition to patient care responsibilities, she has participated in the development of guidelines at NYPH and the SICU that have directly impacted ICU patients including the use of methylene blue for the management of vasodilatory shock, use of direct thrombolysis for the management of limb-threatening deep vein thrombosis, and a spontaneous awakening and breathing protocol for mechanically ventilated patients. Mona was also integral in the creation of guidelines for the use of opioids and sedatives for mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19. She regularly participates in quality meetings to create process changes to ensure that every patient in the SICU receives timely, safe, and effective care.
Mentoring and educating learners is also a passion of Mona’s. She has assisted in optimizing learning experiences and precepting for students, residents, nurses, pharmacists, and physicians including critical care fellows. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Sciences and Pharmacology for Anesthesia and Critical Care at the Columbia University School of Nursing and an Affiliate Clinical Assistant Professor with St. John’s University College of Pharmacy. Mona has delivered presentations at the regional and national level and has had publications related to critical care.
Mona is an active member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. She was the Chair of the Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology (CPP) Section Communications Committee, serves as the senior editor of the CPP Critical Care Pharmacotherapy Literature Update, and involved as a member of the Society’s Drug Shortage Committee. She has been a secretary NYPH’s Subcommittee on Critical Care Therapeutics and was a member of the Institutional Review Board at Columbia University Medical Center.
Deborah (Debbie) L Thompson, BScPharm, BCPP, PharmD
Deborah Thompson received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington and a BScPharmacy degree from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC. Debbie completed a residency in Nuclear Pharmacy at Vancouver General Hospital Department of Nuclear Medicine, Vancouver, BC and has been Board Certified in Psychiatric and Neurological Pharmacy practice since 1996. She has also held research positions at the UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and T.R.I.U.M.F. in Vancouver.
Over the years, Debbie has had the opportunity to work on a variety of research projects starting as an undergrad with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. During her residency, she worked on the development of radio-labelled fatty acids for myocardial infarct imaging. As a psychiatric pharmacist, Debbie worked with clinical teams investigating a number of second-generation antipsychotics. As a community Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Debbie collaborated with First Nations Elders on a project investigating Traditional Healing options for the management of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. Recently she was privileged to work with a multidisciplinary team identifying and publishing a case report on an interaction between a vaccination and clozapine levels.
Debbie transitioned to Mental Health and Substance 40 years ago, and has been working in a variety of dedicated psychiatric facilities and community Mental Health Teams since. She is currently a community Clinical Pharmacy Specialist with Fraser Health Authority, Mental Health and Substance Use Services. She works with Mental Health Clinicians, Clients and Care Providers to identify challenges and to develop individual treatment plans. Recently Debbie helped develop the Psychosis Treatment Optimization Program (PTOP). PTOP was developed to identify patients with Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia, supporting eligible patients transitioning to clozapine.
This career path has allowed Debbie to promote psychiatric pharmacy through education and support to pharmacy undergraduates, residents and PharmD candidates. Debbie has a long history of providing and supporting education about medications, mental illness and substance use through conferences, workshops, presentations and articles to consumers, staff and programs. Dr. Thompson is a member of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists, a member of the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society (BCSS) Medical Advisory Committee and is frequently asked to act as a content expert/reviewer for psychiatric articles and programs.
Debbie has written numerous articles on a wide variety of medication-related mental health topics. Additional professional interests include the management of metabolic disorders, treatment resistant schizophrenia, marijuana use and abuse and smoking cessation.
Outside of pharmacy, Debbie enjoys time with her husband, horses and hobby farm.