This year was the 18th European Women Pharmacists Meeting, which took place in Thessaloniki on 5 October 2024. The title of this year’s conference was ‘Working around the clock: Work-life balance of women pharmacists’.
The PDA NAWP Network have been supporting the conference every year to help empower and support women pharmacists. I have been part of the committee to help organise this event and I am so honoured to be part of such an incredible team that supports each other. Past NAWP Presidents who attended the 18th meeting included Dr Christine Heading, Monica Rose, Hazel Baker, Anita White, and myself.
We had incredible speakers focusing on how women pharmacists try to balance their work and personal lives by looking at different topics and finding ways to help us thrive at work whilst looking after our mental health.
I wanted to take this moment to thank the Panhellenic Association of Hospital Pharmacists (PEFNI) for organising this amazing event, especially Despoina Makridaki who is part of EWPM and was the main person organising the meeting this year.
Our speakers this year were:
Dr Bahijja Raimi-Abraham, a pharmacist, Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at King’s College London, Founder of King’s College London Fight the Fakes and Academic Lead. She also leads her research group ‘The Raimi-Abraham Group’. She is also the FIPWiSE (International Pharmaceutical Federation Women in Science and Education) Chair and her segment title was focused on enabling positive practice environments for women in science and education. She spoke about what can help women thrive in leadership roles and how important it is to establish a positive environment in your workplace for women working in these sectors. We need to be part of the solution!
Jana Lass, a clinical pharmacist and associate professor of clinical pharmacy from Estonia, focused on the everyday life of a hospital pharmacist, including dealing with medicines information inquiries during spare time and short staffing levels. Jana is trying to change the role of pharmacists in a positive way and to train more clinical pharmacists in Estonia.
Our UK speaker this year was PDA member Tülin Lester, a clinical pharmacist in a Primary Care Network, who talked about ‘embracing your shadow through your journey because it is the proof of your existence’. She focused on the struggle women can face in the workplace and how hard it can be to start from scratch as a pharmacist who qualified in a different country.
Dr Dimitra Hadjipavlou-Litina a professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece discussed RESET (Redesigning Equality and Scientific Excellence Together) and how we can change the statistics and help more women in leadership roles and how we can all support each other regardless of our gender. We need to close the gender equality gap.
Tina Karabinski is a psychologist, PhD student, and research assistant at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany. She focused on how we need to recover from work and how important it is to take breaks. She taught us the different ways we can take a break and how we shouldn’t feel guilty as our productiveness increases with frequent breaks.
Most importantly, this year was very special as we celebrated 20 Years of EWPM and honoured one of the founders, Antonie Marqwardt with the DAB’s Certificate of Honour! We hope to carry on with our EWPM work to ensure a better future for women pharmacists.
Finally, I am delighted to announce that the 19th EWPM will be in Vienna, Austria.
EWPM 18th meeting in Thessaloniki
By Ayah Abbass, NAWP Immediate Past President and Clinical Pharmacist
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