About this course

This course aims to provide advanced knowledge and skills for health care professionals on the topic of biosimilars, a class of biologic drugs or medical therapies that are highly similar to an existing originator medication that is off patent.

Biosimilars present a rapidly growing area in pharmaceutical development, treatment options, and patient care that require an evidence-informed implementation approach.

As awareness and use of biosimilars increases globally, this course will provide information and guidance to support the effective and safe use of biosimilars in clinical settings among health care providers.

The course will focus on enhancing knowledge and skills to affect change in attitude and behaviour of health care providers related to biosimilars.

The course will utilize a modular approach to provide content that is accessible and informative to all learners, including pharmacists, physicians, nurses, students and young professionals, industry, and policy-makers.

This course may be eligible for continuing education credits through professional accreditation bodies.

The course will also provide learners with opportunities to develop skills in each of these knowledge areas, with the overall aim of improving patient-provider communication and perceptions of biosimilar use and establishing a consistent foundation among health care providers for communicating with patients about biosimilar treatment.

This course will build off of the material in BSS101 to provide advanced knowledge and skills related to use and implementation of biosimilar medications in clinical settings.
 

Handbook for health care professionals on biosimilar biologic drugs
 

Course Dates and Deadlines

• 16 weeks, 3-6 hours per week
• Self-paced
• Free
   

Register

This course is designed for internationally educated health professionals who are in the process of becoming licensed in Canada. This course will provide learners with a deepened understanding of the Canadian healthcare system, what Canadian patients expect from their healthcare provides, and how to communicate with patients and caregivers. Participants will have an opportunity to interact with other internationally educated healthcare professionals in a supportive learning environment. There are no prerequisites for this course.  This is an online course.

Fall 2024 Registration is now closed.

The Spring 2025 Course begins April 21, 2025.

Registration will open in 2025

Sterile compounding in pharmacy is essential for providing safe, high-quality products to patients. In this course, you will learn the core principles of safe compounding practices. You will explore the practical application of NAPRA and Health Canada’s directives, as well as policies regarding manufacturing and compounding of medications. You will develop foundational knowledge in compounding methods, safe use of parenteral compounded products, formulation stability and risk assessment. You will come to appreciate the need for organizational investment in new technologies and staff specializations such as informatics and quality assurance. There are no prerequisites for this course.

This course is accredited by the Canadian Council on Continuing Education in Pharmacy. CCCEP number: 1528-2021-3261-B-Z
 

Audience

• Pharmacy Directors, managers and supervisors
• Community pharmacists
• Hospital pharmacists
• Pharmacy technicians
• Pharmacy students
• Pharmacy technician students
• Quality assurance personnel
• Veterinarians

Course Dates and Deadlines

Winter 2025 course offering: TBD

Registration deadline: TBD

Fees: TBD

Registration for the course must be completed online.

Registration is not open at this time.

Withdrawal Deadlines 

Full refund: withdraw by the end of the first week

75% refund: by the end of the second week 

50% refund: by the end of the third week

Why enroll in the course?

This program is needed for all staff and hospital/community administrators who perform or supervise any activities related to sterile and non-sterile hazardous and non-hazardous compounding, including clinical research trials and use of Special Access Programme medications. The compounding landscape is changing, requiring the implementation of the new Canadian NAPRA standards for sterile and non-sterile hazardous and non-hazardous compounded products.

This is due in part, to the several serious medication events including patient deaths that occurred in the US and Canada as a result of contaminated intravenous products or inappropriately compounded intravenous and oral products. This program will enable participants to understand current Canadian regulations and risks associated with compounding which can cause serious patients harm including death if not performed appropriately. This program is important as the current pharmacy landscape is changing from manual compounding processes to implementation of new technologies in order to fulfil Pharmacy Colleges accreditation requirements related to process standardization and product traceability.

Trends show that more and more healthcare organizations are committed to implementing new technologies and following new Canadian compounding regulations which includes implementation of safe compounding practices as a part of their quality improvement management programs.
 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

1. Adopt and follow safe compounding practices.
2. Help your organization apply and sustain a culture of high-quality compounding practices.
3. Ensure patient safety with respect to sterile compounds.
4. Promote organizational investment in new technologies to support safe compounding processes.
    

Explore Real-World Evidence (RWE) in a 4-day program designed by experts and tailored for professionals seeking to enter or enhance their knowledge in this field. This program is set at a beginner or novice level.  We will cover important basics of RWE, commonly used methods and designs, important data quality and linkage concepts, and explore how RWE can be used in private industry, government, and academia to make decisions, spark innovation, and shape healthcare policies.

Topics covered include:

1. Study Design

2. Data Quality

3. Common Methods

4. Critical Evaluation

5. Applications in decision-making

6. Communication and reporting

The draft curriculum is as follows:
 

Speakers

Lisa Lix

Lisa Lix is a Professor of Biostatistics in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality, and Director of Data Science in the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation. Her research expertise lies in developing and applying statistical and data science methods for administrative health data and electronic registries. She collaborates widely with research groups and organizations across Canada, including Health Data Research Network Canada, Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies, Public Health Agency of Canada, and International Health Systems Research Collaborative.

Tara Gomes

Tara Gomes is an epidemiologist, Program Director of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital and Senior Scientist at ICES. She is also an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and holds a Canada Research Chair in Drug Policy and Substance Use.  Her research interests include pharmacoepidemiology, drug safety and drug policy, with a specific focus on developing evidence to inform policies that address the ongoing drug toxicity crisis across Canada and that integrate perspectives of impacted communities.    

Dani Prieto-Alhambra

Dani is a clinician academic passionate to improve human lives through the use of health data. He trained in General Practice, Rheumatology, and Epidemiology, and currently works as a Professor of Pharmaco and Device Epidemiology at the University of Oxford and as Professor in Real World Evidence at Erasmus Medical Centre. He is a regular collaborator in the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) community, research co-ordinator in the European Health Data and Evidence Network (EHDEN), and from 2022 he is the Deputy Director and Development Lead for the EMA-funded DARWIN EU initiative.

Mina Tadrous

Mina is an assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Real-world Evidence and Pharmaceutical Policy. He is also a Scientist at WCH, WIHV Fellow, co-director with the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) and ICES adjunct scientist. He completed a PhD in pharmacoepidemiology at the University of Toronto and previously completed a Masters in Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Tennessee, and a Doctor of Pharmacy at Albany College of Pharmacy. He also completed a pharmacy residency in Drug Information and Health Outcomes at the University of Tennessee and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Mina leads research focused on evaluating drug policies and post-marketing surveillance of medications. He works closely with policymakers and uses large data sets to answer questions about medication real-world safety and effectiveness and improving the optimal use of medications.

Kelvin Chan

Dr. Kelvin Chan is a Medical Oncologist at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, a Professor at the University of Toronto, and an associate scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. He has completed both an MSc and a PhD in Biostatistics, and also holds an MSc in Clinical Epidemiology.

Dr. Chan’s research focuses on the different aspects of the value of cancer drugs, including health economics, health technology assessment, and real-world evidence. He is the Co-Director at the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC), funded by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS).

Dr. Chan is especially interested in cancer drug reimbursement related issues. He is a member of multiple provincial and national committees related to cancer drug assessments and recommendations including the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) Expert Review Committee (pERC), the Committee to Evaluate Drugs (CED) and the Ontario Steering Committee of Cancer Drugs (OSCCD. He is also the Clinical Lead for the Provincial Drug Reimbursement Programs (PDRP) at Ontario Health - Cancer Care Ontario (OH-CCO).

Course Dates and Deadlines

Course Fees

Refund Policy

• 100% refund until May 26, 2024 at 11:59PM EDT
• 50% refund between May 27 and June 9, 2024 at 11:59PM EDT
• Non-refundable beginning June 10, 2024 at 11:59PM EDT

Register here

About This Course

The Physical Findings and Assessment course provides participants with a general overview of physical assessment techniques for major systems including cardiovascular, respiratory, peripheral vascular, skin, abdominal, head/eyes/ears/nose/throat (HEENT), neurological and musculoskeletal. The course reviews the strategies to facilitate effective patient interviews to perform basic physical assessment on patients. The course focuses on the skills and knowledge needed to interpret physical findings that are pertinent to patient assessment and evaluation of drug therapy and serves to complement the knowledge and skills learned from previous education and experience.  

THIS IS A NON-CREDIT COURSE

DATES and DELIVERY

This course will be offered in Fall 2025.  Exact dates will be posted in early Summer 2025.

This is a hybrid course.  The majority of content will be delivered online, but there is a mandatory in-person Workshop that all learners must attend in November 2025 at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto.

Course Dates: Fall 2025

Final Exam Date: December 2025

Mandatory In-Person Workshop: One Weekend in November 2025.  Two days from approximately 9am-5 pm. 

FEES and REFUND POLICY

Course Fee: $2499 +HST

Refund Policy:

Full refund: withdraw within 5 business days of the start of the course 

75% refund: by the end of the second week 

50% refund: by the end of the third week

Registration for this course will open in Summer 2025.

ABOUT THIS COURSE

Cardiovascular disease (e.g., myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, arrhythmias) and its risk factors (e.g., hypertension, dyslipidemia) impact many people. Five out of the top 10 classes of medications prescribed in Canada are used to treat cardiovascular conditions (CIHI 2015). The goal of this course is to review the current treatments and guidelines and have a discussion of how these impact clinical practice.

THIS IS A NON-CREDIT COURSE

DATES and DELIVERY

 This course will be offered in Fall 2025.  Exact dates will be posted in early Summer 2025.

This is an online course.

Course Dates: Fall 2025

Final Exam Date: December 2025

FEES and REFUND POLICY

Course Fee: $1999 +HST

Refund Policy:

Full refund: withdraw within 5 business days of the start of the course 

75% refund: by the end of the second week 

50% refund: by the end of the third week 

Registration for this course will open in Summer 2025.