Rise to the Challenge: Highlights from PDW 2024

Group photo of award recipients from PDW 2024

Professional Development Week (PDW) is a conference hosted in collaboration with the Canadian Association of Pharmacy Students and Interns (CAPSI) at one of Canada’s 11 pharmacy schools each year. During the conference, pharmacy students from across the country participate in educational speaker sessions, competitions, and networking events.

This year, PDW 2024 was hosted by the University of Toronto and themed “Rise to the Challenge”. Led by conference co-chairs, Alyssa Matsumura (2T5) and Lydia Wadie (2T6), the planning committee worked tirelessly over the past 14 months to see the four-day summit come to fruition. Nearly 400 students from across the country attended with 82 delegates from U of T. Attendees had the opportunity to hear from three keynote speaker and engage in 14 educational talks. Other highlights included PDW Health Fair and student networking and and school-spirit events “Canada’s Next Top Pharmacist” and the “Pharmafacts Bowl”.

Alyssa Matsumura, PDW Co Chair, with Natalie Crown, director of the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program.

Students participating in a PDW competition at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

U of T Awards and Recognition

Every fall term, CAPSI branches at each pharmacy school host their local competition season. Local winners proceed to compete at the national level at PDW. We are happy to announce that the following awards were won by U of T students at PDW 2024:

IPSF Health Campaign Award

1st Place, awarded to IPSF U of T’s Alissa Kong (2T4) and Sasha Mohindra (2T5)

CPhA Award of Professionalism

2nd Place, awarded to CAPSI U of T’s Theodora Udounwa (2T4) and Ayman Lakhani (2T5)

CPhA Student Literary Challenge

2nd Place, awarded to Lydia Wadie (2T6)

CCCEP Excellence in Professional Development Award

Awarded to PDW Planning Committee Education and Competitions Officers, Emily Crosier (2T5) and Lina Lo (2T5)

CFP Guy Genest Passion for Pharmacy Award

Awarded to Ayman Lakhani (2T5)

PharmaChoice Advice for Life Award

3rd place, awarded to Mackenzie Richardson (2T5)

Pyrls Over-the-Counter Competition

2nd place, awarded to Hamza Farah (2T5)

Medisca Compounding Competition

1st place, awarded to Said Aoude (2T5), Hamza Farah (2T5), Rachel Kuruvilla (2T5), Mackenzie Richardson (2T5)

Stephen Long PDW Co-Chair Awards

Awarded to Alyssa Matsumura (2T5) and Lydia Wadie (2T6)

Group of U of T students at PDW's Pharmafacts Bowl.

CAPSI Liason Ayman Lakhani receiving the CAPSI Award of Appreciation.

PDW Planning Committee

Thank you to the PDW Planning Committee for a conference we won’t forget!

"Being a Co-Chair for PDW was an experience that taught me many things that I will never forget. I learned the skills it takes to lead a team of individuals, but I also learned how important it is to support the team you are leading. Throughout this last year I have built irreplaceable friendships with the individuals on the planning committee, and together we all Rose to the Challenge. This conference would not have been possible without the hard work of each member of the 2024 planning committee. From an outside point of view it is hard to imagine the immense amount of work and dedication it takes to plan a conference. Every little detail that was experienced during the conference was thoughtfully planned by our committee. Their dedication and passion for representing the profession of pharmacy was evident in their ongoing commitment to planning this national conference. Planning this conference without a doubt changed my life and it was an honour to be able to work with such a strong and intelligent group of women who made this conference that started off as an idea 14 months ago, a reality."

Alyssa Matsumura

PDW Co-Chair, 2T5 PharmD

"Throughout the months of planning this conference, I kept asking one question: 'how can a bunch of students plan a national conference for 400 people?' And yet at every moment the answer was clear. Not how but by whom? By co-chairs that built each other up and provided guidance for their team, by a CAPSI rep that was a vital link to the national team, by sponsorship and health fair officers that worked tirelessly to secure funding and networking opportunities, by an education officer that searched for the most interesting speakers- whose merit was dependent on their work and not fame, by a competitions officer that ensured pharmacy students could showcase their skill and knowledge, by a social events officer that created unforgettable events, by a logistics officer that made transport across the country possible for students and ensured we had competent AV, by a finance officer that worked and reworked our conference into a viable one, and by communications and translation officers that were vital in getting the word out about the conference- in English and French. There are many brilliant minds in pharmacy, and through PDW 2024 I have had the joy of working with so many of them."