There were three positions to fill for this election, and the network is happy to announce that they have a brand new President, Vice-President and Honorary Secretary.
Congratulations to the newly elected committee!
Introducing the newly elected PDA LGBT+ Network Officers
Scott Rutherford
President of the LGBT+ Network
Scott Rutherford (he/they) is a third-year pharmacy student at the University of Manchester and has been elected as the President of the LGBT+ Network. Scott is the first President of the Network since it launched in April 2020 as part of the PDA’s dedicated work to meet the growing and diverse membership demands and advance their work on equality.
In addition to his studies, Scott is a PDA Student Representative and he volunteers as part of LIVE with Scientists, a science communication and public engagement initiative.
Further to this, Scott has spent the last academic year as the Inclusion Officer for the Healthcare Alliance Society, which seeks to support interprofessional education at the University of Manchester.
Scott has a passion for inclusion and diversity, which has led him to get involved with the ‘Our Values’ group, which aims to make Manchester’s MPharm programme more inclusive in order to benefit its staff, students, and most importantly, the diverse set of patients to which pharmacists provide care.
Scott said: “Although I’m not yet a registered pharmacist, I believe that the student voice should be represented within the Network, in order to combat prejudice and discrimination against LGBT+ people, whether they are the public, our patients, or pharmacists. As stakeholders within universities, pharmacy students have the power to influence the Initial Education and Training of pharmacists in order to raise awareness of LGBT+ health inequalities and how they intersect with ethnicity, gender, disability, and class, and foster more understanding and respect towards LGBT+ people.
“From experience and my own research, the issues that impact LGBT+ people are underexplored, misunderstood, and widely not cared about. Highlighting these issues, such as the state of transgender healthcare and the mental health of LGBT+ people in general, and working towards fixing them is incredibly important to me – and now being elected as President of the PDA LGBT+ Network will help me to play my part in this.”
Lauren Keatley-Hayes
Vice-President of the LGBT+ Network
Lauren Keatley-Hayes (she/they), a clinical pharmacist in the North West, was elected as Vice-President of the LGBT+ Network. Prior to working in Primary Care, Lauren gained experience in both Community and Hospital pharmacy. Lauren believes that the connections between sectors are not very robust and so she would like to change this through guidance and training with Primary Care teams.
Lauren said: “I’m looking to make real changes for the world of pharmacy in the UK: to get pharmacists recognised for their role and hopefully help to improve some guidance and practices in order to make a positive impact for the patient experience. I have an especially good knowledge of women’s health and have had many opportunities to broaden my skills. I have a particular interest in improving the care of trans and non-binary patients.”
Soh Xi Ken
Honorary Secretary of the LGBT+ Network
Soh Xi Ken (he/him), a third-year pharmacy student at the University of Sunderland, was elected as the LGBT+ Honorary Secretary. Advocacy work is no stranger to Ken, who has been openly queer since the age of 17, even in his home country Malaysia, where homosexuality is outlawed. Although he is relatively inexperienced in the world of pharmacy, he believes that his passion for change and improvement are key qualities to being a good Honorary Secretary.
As a Course Representative at the University of Sunderland, Ken initiated conversations about how the MPharm programme content could be more inclusive during a student-lecturer liaison meeting and tried his best to represent the LGBT+ community during the follow-up seminar.
Previously as a BPSA Student Representative, Ken was responsible for passing a motion at their 79th Annual Conference to include more LGBT+ representation and awareness in the MPharm programme, which was overwhelmingly voted for by the delegation.
Ken said: “I am really pleased to be elected as the Honorary Secretary for the PDA LGBT+ Network. I hope we are able to increase much-needed representation, visibility and create a safe space for not just LGBT+ pharmacists and pharmacy students, but ultimately patients as well.”
Get Involved
- Follow the PDA LGBT+ Pharmacists’ Network on social media using the hashtag #PDAlgbt
- For more information about the PDA LGBT+ Network, click here.
- If you would like to get involved with the network and its activities, please email: lgbt@the-pda.org.
JOIN THE PDA LGBT+ NETWORK TODAY