New Leader-in-Residence brings expertise in business and entrepreneurship to students

Mike Sullivan, CEO and co-founder of Cubic Health and the 2023-24 Leader-in-Residence at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, aims to help more pharmacy students see themselves as leaders in the profession and feel empowered to use their skills in a variety of leadership roles.

“Leadership means having the confidence to expand your scope, getting involved in things that you didn’t think you could do before, and then encouraging others to do the same. No one is born a leader. You can learn and pick up skills, and you can lead in different ways,” says Sullivan.

“Pharmacy students and pharmacists have terrific technical skills and competencies, and it’s not a big stretch to feel more comfortable in other areas. I’d like more students to feel like leadership, management, and entrepreneurship can be a path for them. Leadership is for everybody, not just those who fit the stereotype of being extroverted and confident. Some of the best leaders are more introverted, humble, empathetic, and flexible.”

As a pharmacist, entrepreneur, and business leader, Sullivan brings a different perspective to the Leader-in-Residence role that he plans to share with students to show them a range of opportunities for pharmacy careers.

“I’d like more students to feel like leadership, management, and entrepreneurship can be a path for them. Leadership is for everybody, not just those who fit the stereotype of being extroverted and confident.”

Sullivan’s father was a pharmacist, and he saw firsthand the impact that pharmacists make on their patients. He decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy at the University of Saskatchewan, then worked in both community pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry to gain a variety of experiences early in his career and learn what he wanted to focus on.

From these experiences, Sullivan recognized that, although he enjoyed working with patients, his strengths and interests leaned more toward the business side of pharmacy. He then began an MBA with a specialty in finance at York University.

In the final months of the MBA degree, Sullivan and two other pharmacists developed a business plan for an analytics firm specialized in the health benefits and private payer sector. That business plan formed the basis of Cubic Health. Incorporated 20 years ago, Cubic Health provides independent data analysis of health benefit plans for large self-insured private payer and builds data driven clinical and plan management solutions with the goal of ensuring both the financial sustainability of the plans they manage, as well as the health of the plan members they serve.

Sullivan says that pharmacists are underrepresented in areas like the employee benefits and group insurance sectors, but they provide much-needed expertise.

“When we started the business, we realized that very few pharmacists were managing these prescription drug benefit and health plans. We were stepping into the specialty drug era back in 2003, but these plans were being designed and managed by people who didn’t have any expertise in this area,” says Sullivan. “Working in this sector, you realize that you can impact benefit plans, and that you can impact health at a macro level.”

With decades of business experience, Sullivan is a leader in business and entrepreneurship. He is also an adjunct professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and has been involved with the Faculty in formal and informal roles for a number of years.

More pharmacists needed in leadership roles at a time of change in the profession

The Leader-in-Residence program is an initiative led by the Centre for Practice Excellence at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy that aims to bring industry expertise to the Faculty and provide opportunities for students, faculty and alumni to develop leadership skills.

Emily Musing, former vice-president and chief patient safety officer at the University Health Network, was the first Leader-in-Residence, with her term ending at the end of August 2023. During her one-year term, Musing engaged with students, both as guest lecturer and through informal student group meetings, worked with faculty on initiatives such as the curriculum renewal, and engaged with alumni through speaking events.

Sullivan plans to continue and even expand on some of these initiatives, particularly the one-week leadership intensive elective held this August, that brought Doctor of Pharmacy students together with leaders from business, government, pharmacy associations, and pharmacy practice.Sullivan brings a different set of experiences and skills to the role, which will provide students with a different perspective of leadership in pharmacy. But, like Musing, he is a staunch believer that pharmacists are well-equipped to take on leadership roles in health care and business. In the year ahead, Sullivan is looking forward to connecting students to a network of pharmacy leaders with a range of experiences, so more students will see themselves as leaders.

“There is so much opportunity out there, and I would like to see more pharmacists fanning out into different sectors and impacting health from a more diverse set of direct and indirect contact points with patients. And if you have more exposure and understanding of roles outside of direct patient care, you gain a new perspective that will help you be more effective, wherever you end up working,” says Sullivan.

“If we have a generation of pharmacists coming into the workforce that feel that same way, I think it’s going to be very powerful, especially at a time when there’s a lot of change happening in the profession."