U of T Pharmacy launches new Leader-in-Residence program

Emily Musing, former vice-president at University Health Network, is the inaugural Leader-in-Residence at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is pleased to welcome Emily Musing as the Faculty’s inaugural Leader-in-Residence for a one-year appointment.

Recognized across the profession of pharmacy and the Canadian health care landscape as a transformational and collaborative leader, Musing is an alumna of both the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Until her recent retirement, she was the vice-president, clinical and chief patient safety officer at the University Health Network (UHN), where over a million patients are treated and cared for on a yearly basis. She led UHN’s sweeping Caring Safely initiative in partnership with the Hospital for Sick Children and, most recently, she co-led UHN’s COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy, delivering some of the very first doses of vaccines into the arms of frontline health care providers.

“We are very excited to have Emily join as the first Leader-in-Residence at our Faculty,” says Zubin Austin, professor and academic director of the Centre for Practice Excellence (CPE) at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. “Few professions or industries have experienced such significant, rapid and transformational change as pharmacy and now, more than ever, there is a need for leaders who are confident, competent and capable of influencing the future direction of practice and science.”

"...you don’t need to be the CEO to show leadership"

Hosted and organized by the CPE the Leader-in-Residence (LiR) Program provides a unique opportunity to bring industry expertise, focus and attention to the increasingly diverse student body, staff, faculty, and broader academic community. The LiR program will provide significant opportunities for community building and engagement at U of T and across Canadian partner institutions, as well as complementing existing curricular and para-curricular options for students to develop and grow as leaders of the future.

“Pharmacists make wonderful leaders for a variety of reasons,” says Musing who was pleased to accept the nomination for the first Leader-in-Residence position. “Our training and shared personality traits are a definite advantage, but we can be humble and, rather than seeing ourselves as a leader in the group we tend to see ourselves as the trusted supporter. But I’ve learned that you can step into that leadership role regardless of what your position is – you don’t need to be the CEO to show leadership.”

Throughout her extraordinary career, Musing prioritized working with and teaching students, whether as a clinical preceptor or by providing lectures on patient safety and healthcare leadership. Taking on this new role at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is a chance to actively build leadership-focused opportunities for students in across Doctor of Pharmacy and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences graduate programs. But Musing recognizes that this effort will need to be fully integrated into the learning culture and environment, building on previous successes in this area. “Leadership really shouldn’t be a stand-alone topic; it can’t be an isolated event. Rather, it’s something that you can live every day and so unpacking how we approach this will be important.”

Building new learning opportunities for students is an important area of focus but both Musing and Austin see the influence of this program stretching to other areas with the Leader-in-Residence intended to contribute meaningfully in academic, professional and personal ways to the lives of academic community members, based on their own interests, strengths and motivation.

“Everyone has leadership potential within them,” says Musing. “As a mentor, it’s a matter of helping to build confidence and to open people’s eyes to see that yes, they truly can and should play that leadership role.”