Al-Harith Mohammed transformed his career with a PharmD  for Pharmacists degree

Photo by: Steve Southon

How Mohammed is collaborating with healthcare, industry and policy leaders to transform pharmacy practice and patient care in Ontario.

When Al-Harith Mohammed began his career as a community pharmacist in 2015, he never expected that he’d be building a new hospital information system in one of Canada’s top hospitals.

“I was ready to take my career to the next level,” said Mohammed, a recent PharmD for Pharmacists graduate of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and working for a few years in community pharmacy, he wanted to transition his career into hospital practice.

“Breaking into clinical and hospital pharmacy is difficult without residency experience, so I decided to apply to the PharmD for Pharmacists program,” said Mohammed. 

One of the program’s signature features is its diverse education experiences in Toronto’s Academic Health Sciences Network, a vibrant ecosystem of 12 hospitals providing leading-edge research, teaching and clinical care.

After completing all his coursework over four terms, Mohammed began three direct patient care clinical rotations, one research, and one industry rotation, during all of which he was mentored by pharmacy preceptors and interdisciplinary experts.

“It’s competitive to secure top rotations, but through program connections, I landed placements in Sunnybrook’s surgical oncology department and Sinai Health System’s intensive care unit,” said Mohammed. He also completed a cardiology rotation at the Scarborough Health Network and an ambulatory care rotation with the Hamilton Family Health Team.

He says that working in a hospital as well as networking opened up opportunities before he even finished the program. Today he’s working in the malignant hematology unit at Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton with bone marrow and stem cell transplant patients.

“I’ve found that the more integrated I am as a pharmacist in patient care, the more fulfilled I feel,” said Mohammed. “It’s important to me that I’m practicing to the full extent of my scope and that I’m a critical part of an interdisciplinary team.”

This fall, Mohammed is starting a new role as Clinical Informatics Specialist at Juravinski where he will help create a new hospital-wide information management system.

“I’ve always been interested in data and computer science, as well as programming,” said Mohammed. He believes this will come in handy as he works as part of the informatics team that’s building a custom information management system tailored to the needs of Juravinski patients and health professionals.

Ushering in this massive organizational change is a big job, but one that Mohammed says he’s ready for.

“I had opportunities to work in multiple hospitals with different information systems – a diversity of experience that would not have been possible without the PharmD for Pharmacist program – so I feel prepared to tackle this challenge,” said Mohammed.

Discover the PharmD for Pharmacists Program at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, located in Toronto’s vibrant discovery district that’s a gateway between U of T, Queen’s Park and Toronto’s Academic Health Sciences Network.