Meet our Fellows

Roger Odd

After qualifying as a Pharmacist Roger worked for Boots the chemists. He was elected to the Council of the then Pharmaceutical Society for three years from 1977 to 1980. He was then recruited by the Society as head-designate of the practice division in 1990, and took over as head in 1991 on the retirement of Bruce Rhodes.

When the Society restructured in 1998 Roger moved to the new Public Affairs Directorate as head of professional and scientific support. In this capacity he contributed to the Society’s work in a number of areas, including management of the British Pharmaceutical Conference and support for the science secretariat. In addition, he was involved with many aspects of membership activity, including looking after the branch network. He was also involved in running the Agricultural and Veterinary Pharmacy Group and represented the RSGB at European level. Roger was also the Society’s spokesman and was often interviewed on radio and TV.

Roger was a key promoter of the reclassification of Levonorgestrel to “P” status in the UK following an episode while practising in community pharmacy. He was legally unable to sell the EHC to a very distressed patient who then tried to commit suicide. This motivated him to lobby for a change of status, which was achieved when Levonelle became a “P” product in 2001.

During his time at the RPSGB Roger became interested in the work of CPA. It was on his retirement he became much more actively involved having been appointed to the post of Hon. treasurer and in 2009 the post of Hon Secretary.

Having been responsible for the management of the RPSGB conferences in the UK his expertise ensured the smooth running of international CPA conferences in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in 2007, and subsequently in Accra (Ghana) in 2009, Durban (South Africa) in 2011, Nassau (Bahamas) in 2013 and Sydney (Australia) in 2017. He also has facilitated workshops in Valletta (Malta), Chennai (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and in Nassau and St Lucia in the Caribbean region of the commonwealth.

However the conferences and workshops were only a small part of the work Roger carried out on behalf of CPA. In a small organisation such as CPA much of the work done is unseen and unpaid. Roger has given of his time freely and tirelessly in the pursuit of improving the role of pharmacy across the commonwealth. He has met with and represented CPA frequently at the Commonwealth Secretariat and Commonwealth Foundation. He has met with Presidents, Prime Ministers and Health Ministers across the commonwealth in his capacity as Hon Secretary and has supported many Presidents and Councillors in their roles on the Council of the CPA.

In his role as Hon Treasurer prior to taking up the role of Hon Secretary Roger ensured the finances and financial reports were submitted in a timely manner to the Commonwealth Foundation. This was a key feature in the CPA being highly regarded by the Foundation and being able to obtain grants for the work of CPA. He was key to achieving the name change from the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association to the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association when it was becoming clear that governments were seeing the organisation as a representative organisation of the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2011 Roger was key in supporting a change in direction of CPA while at the same time being the only person with connections to the RPS with the collective memory and history of the organisation. His support during the years 2012-2013 was key to keeping the CPA functioning. He was also key in lobbying for financial support during a time when income was severely limited.

Coming out of the 2012-13 period of transition, Roger again was key to the appointment of Norman Morrow who took up the role of Strategic development officer in 2014. Norman developed along with Roger and the Exec Committee a new 5-year strategic plan, and key to that was achieving Charitable status with the UK Charities Commission. Roger worked with Norman on the application and this was finally achieved in December 2015/January 2016. This enabled CPA to move to the next stage of development which again Roger was key to.

Norman Morrow stepped down in March 2016 and Victoria Rutter was appointed as Exec. Dir. Roger, being steeped in the CPA history, inducted Vicky in the history and ethos of the organisation. He has helped bring the best of the old and mixed this with the best of the new, changing the ways of working and networking with Councillors, and the Exec Committee.  Roger has always seen the need to develop the organisation and meet the challenges ahead, while at the same time not lose the history and connection with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. A connection, which goes back to the foundation of CPA in 1970.

Roger has been the key person at CPA over the past 10 years. He has been key to the success and survival of the organisation and it is an honour to announce him as a Fellow of the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association.

John Bell

Mr John Bell AM is an outstanding pharmacy leader who had served national and international pharmacy organisation in leadership roles over the last 3 decades. Importantly, he is a former President (1999-2003) and Secretary (2003-2007) of the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA). 

John Bell established the community pharmacy John Bell Pharmacist Advice in 1969 in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. He is still an active and senior partner in the practice which also provides medication management and clinical services to private hospitals and aged care facilities.

John is a Director of Maroquin Pty Ltd, Pharmacy Consultants. He is Corporate Relations Consultant to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and Advisor to the Pharmacy Self Care program – the consumer health information and pharmacist and pharmacy assistant training program managed by PSA. He is also a Practitioner/Teacher in Primary Health Care at the Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney.

John was National President of the PSA from 1987-1988 and President of the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice from 1996-1998. From 2008 until 2010 he was Vice-President of the Pharmacy Practice Foundation of the University of Sydney.

John co-authored the PSA’s Dispensary Technicians Training Course and is one of the PSA’s approved trainers in the Standards of Practice for the provision of Pharmacist Only and Pharmacy Only medicines.

John has represented Pharmacy on a number of Australian Government Committees.  He was a member of the Australian National Health & Medical Research Council’s “Health Care Committee” from 1985 to 1993 and deputy chairman from 1991 to 1993.  He was a member of the National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee from 1995 to 1999 and served continuously on the Poisons Advisory Committee of New South Wales from 1974 to 2013.  John was a member of the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code Council from 1998 to 2002 and has served as a member of the advertising Complaints Resolution Panel and as a member of the Medication Continuity Expert Advisory Group of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

John is a Board member of the Australian Medic Alert Foundation and of Diabetes NSW/ACT. He is also a member of the Global Respiratory Infection Partnership – an international multidisciplinary group established to address the issue of antibiotic resistance. He has previously served on the Board of the Australian Tinnitus Association, on the Education Committee of Asthma NSW and as honorary pharmacist to the Coeliac Society.

John has taken an active role in international pharmacy for more than 30 years.

He was Vice President of the Federation Internationale Pharmaceutique (FIP) from 2006 to 2014; and formerly President (1999-2003) and Secretary (2003-2007) of the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA), the body which represents 43 national professional pharmacy organisations throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.  During these terms of office John was a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Advisory Committee on Health which meets each year in Geneva prior to the Commonwealth Health Ministers’ Meeting and the World Health Assembly.

He has been awarded Fellowships of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice.

In 1990 He was awarded the Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Association’s award for services to community pharmacy. In 2004 John received FIP’s highest pharmaceutical practice award – the Andre Bedat Award for services to international pharmacy practice. In 2009 at its biennial conference in Ghana CPA presented John with the Albert Howells award for services to pharmacy in the Commonwealth. For services to pharmacy John was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1993.

In recent years he has been a member of delegations to Bangladesh, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Zimbabwe and Zambia to consider and make recommendations on matters relating to pharmacy practice and public health.  John has also acted as consultant to the Tiwi Health Board regarding pharmacy practice in remote indigenous communities in Australia. John was Chairman of the CPA/FIP/WHO Malaria Task Group which implemented consumer awareness programmes in developing Commonwealth countries.

From 1981, and for over 30 years, John presented a weekly, state-wide talk-back radio program “The Friendly Pharmacist” and from 1985 till 2013 wrote a weekly health column distributed to over 400 newspapers and magazines throughout Australia. He is still a regular contributor to TV news and current affairs programs and to various print media, with a monthly column in PS Magazine.

Publications

Bell, J., Dziekan, G., Pollack, C. & Mahachai, V. 2016, ‘Self-Care in the Twenty First Century: A Vital Role for the Pharmacist.’, Advances in therapy, vol. 33, pp. 1691-1703.

Bell, J. 2016, ‘A new solution for Pharmacy’, Australian Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 97, no. 1157, pp. 24-25.

Bell, J. 2015, ‘Treating colds and flu: An evidence based approach’, Australian Journal of Pharmacy, vol. 96, no. 1140, pp. 64-67.

Altiner, A., Bell, J., Duerden, M., Essack, S., Kozlov, R., Noonan, L., Oxford, J., Pignatari, A.C., Sessa, A. & van der Velden, A. 2015, ‘More action, less resistance: report of the 2014 summit of the Global Respiratory Infection Partnership’, International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 370-377.

Van Der Velden, A., Bell, J., Sessa, A., Duerden, M. & Altiner, A. 2013, ‘Sore throat: effective communication delivers improved diagnosis, enhanced self-care and more rational use of antibiotics’, International Journal of Clinical Practice, vol. 67, no. s180, pp. 10-16.

Dr Bhojraj Suresh

Dr. Suresh Bhojraj was on the founder board of trustees of the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association when it was registered with the Charities Commission as a charity. As an Executive Member of the CPA he served several years as a council member representing India, and as a regional representative for Central Asia.

He has been the architect, drawing together plans for a system that will  ensure the future of quality pharmacy education in India so that the graduates of pharmacy education institutions are well prepared to take on the health care needs of  their respective communities.

Born on 5th March, 1959, at Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Dr. B. Suresh, as he is fondly  known, is a rare combination of a committed research scientist, a pharmacist and a medical educationist. For the past three decades, he has been actively involved in  uplifting the standards of not only pharmacy education, but also committed himself to nurturing medical education at all levels in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere. Starting his career in 1982 as a Lecturer in J.S.S. College of Pharmacy, Ooty with an M.Pharm, Ph.D., he was, within three months, elevated to the post of Principal In Charge  on  the  basis  of  his  unmatched  handiwork,  performance, sincerity and dedication. As a renowned academician, he has 218 National and 75 International  Scientific Publications to his credit, besides 48 general publications.

Being the youngest President of the Pharmacy Council of India, he has striven to highlight the Indian Pharmacy profession in the international scenario, particularly with the USA, UK, Australia, Asian and sub Saharan countries. Dr. B. Suresh was the first to introduce a post graduate course in “Pharmacy Practice” and the Pharm.D. program in India.

He was the elected President of 58th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress ‐ 2006 held at Mumbai, besides being the first Indian academician to be awarded the FAPA Ishidate Award ‐ 2004 for services rendered in the field of Pharmaceutical Education. He also has been the past President of the Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy, and Chairman of the Educational  Section of the Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Association.

His Excellency Sri Surjit Singh Barnala, the then Governor of Tamil Nadu and Chancellor  of the Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai University, conferred upon Dr. B Suresh,  the  Doctor  of  Science  (Honoris  Causa)  degree  for  his  contribution  in  the  field  of  Pharmaceutical Sciences on 11th October, 2007, during the seventh convocation of  the university. Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur also conferred the Doctor of  Science (Honoris causa) degree for his contribution to Pharmaceutical education at its  26th convocation held on 2nd November, 2012 by his Excellency Sri Ram Naresh  Yadav, the Governor of Madhya Pradesh.

Dr. B. Suresh was unanimously elected as President, Indian Pharmaceutical Association  in March 2008. On June 13, 2008, Dr. B. Suresh assumed charge as Vice‐Chancellor of  JSS University, Mysore. He was reelected as the President of Pharmacy Council of  India, New Delhi, in August 2008 for a period of five years. He was recently nominated  as the Chairman of the Scientific Body of Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, which is responsible for setting standards for pharmaceutical substances and formulations.

Dr. B. Suresh is also the member of the United States Pharmacopeia Convention and has been  invited recently, to become a member of ACPE  International Services Program Advisory  Group, USA.

Dr. B. Suresh has spearheaded the organization of the World Congress of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2011, 71st International Congress of FIP. He has been an active member of FIP Pharmacy Education Task Force. He had also organized for the  first time in the country, the International Conference of Health Sciences and mooted  the concept of forming an Indian Alliance of Health Sciences bringing together all health councils to be a part of the alliance, to provide better health care to the  country.

Dr. B. Suresh has been the Syndicate Member and Board of Management Member of the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai; Bharathiar University, Coimbatore and Sri Ramachandra (Deemed University) Medical College and Research  Institute, Chennai. Till date  he holds the record of being elected thrice as the Governing Council Member, and as Senate Member continuously for past 18 years  from the inception.

Dr. B. Suresh is the recipient of many National and International awards for his excellent contribution towards pharmacy profession, education and industry oriented. Dr. Suresh was a  past President of Indian Pharmaceutical Association and his contribution towards the association is exemplary.

Mary Ann Sant Fournier

Mrs Sant Fournier has been actively involved in the CPA since 1988, when she headed the Maltese delegation at the CPA regional workshop on Pharmacy Education and Practice in the UK. As President, she hosted the CPA Executive Committee Meetings in 1989 and 2005 and co-organised and conducted proceedings of the workshop Pharmacy and the European community  in collaboration with the European Region (1990), and organised together with the CPA the Congress 1989 seminars as part of the Commonwealth People’s Forum in 2005 and 2015.

Mrs Sant Fournier has led as President of the Maltese Chamber of Pharmacists with dedication and commitment for the past 37 years, and has spearheaded  the development of Pharmacy in Malta in line with International trends, The organisation of a workshop on Pharmacy Education in Malta in 1988 set in motion the foundation for the reconstruction and modernisation of the pharmacy curriculum,  Emphasis was laid on the introduction of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy. She spearheaded reforms in the Government pharmaceutical services (1988).

She worked with other stakeholders and led delegations to discuss draft legislations and proposals for directives on aspects related to pharmacists, medicines and pharmacy. These included the  strong thrust on the transposition of the Directive on the amendments to the Health Care Professions Act with regard to the transposing of the provisions of Directive 2013/55/EU which came into force on 1st January 2016. More recently, she worked with other stakeholders on the implementation of the EU Directive on Falsified Medicines; and is currently working on the Proportionality Directive. This directive is envisaged by the Chamber together with its health professional colleagues, doctors and dentists, and their three umbrella organizations the PGEU, CED and CPME, as undermining the achievement of the high standard of professional services to patients The Chamber is following the guidance of the PGEU on this matter.

Under her leadership, the Chamber has made an important thrust for the achievement of Pharmacists’ Prescribing Rights. She worked with other stakeholder, headed delegations and negotiated for the decentralisation of the  National Health Service Medicines through the pharmacy of the patient choice (POYC). POYC was introduced to enable better access of patients to their pharmacists’ professional services and their medicines, in the community Since the introduction of the POYC, she has striven for the further development of the system to better meet the needs of the patients and at the same time for the scheme to be sustainable for pharmacies.

Raymond Anderson

Raymond is a Past President of the Commonwealth Pharmacists’ Association (2011 – 2017), with an interest in healthcare provision in low and middle-income countries. Having visited India a number of times in the late 1980’s and 1990’s he was made aware of the challenges involved in developing healthcare systems in LMIC’s and the need for such systems. He has spoken at many international conferences on the role pharmacy can play in supporting the health of commonwealth citizens using the skills of pharmacists.

Raymond is the elected representative for the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) for Northern Ireland and a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of N. Ireland’s Pharmacy Forum. He was appointed to the European Medicines Agency’s “Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC)” in April 2016.

Raymond has experience of working in Community Pharmacy for over thirty-six years. His current post is as a partner at Andersons Pharmacy, Portadown. He is an Independent Pharmacy Prescriber since 2007 and has a history of working with GP’s, holding hypertension and hyperlipidaemia clinics and reviewing and supporting patients with long-term conditions.

Raymond had a paper published in December 2015 on how community pharmacists can manage and support patients with non-communicable diseases in the community pharmacy setting.

Raymond has been appointed to many advisory committees and was a Member of the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2012, holding the post of Treasurer from 2001 to 2005, Vice President from 2005 to 2006 and President from 2006 to 2009. He has been a member of DHSS&PS Central Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee and is a past Chairman. He was a member of the Professional Development committee at the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland 2012 to 2015.

Raymond was appointed to the post of clinical lead Pharmacist at Craigavon & Banbridge (C&B) Primary Care Partnership in 2012 and subsequently to C&B Integrated Care Partnership in 2013. He was appointed chair of the C&B ICP in June 2014. He held this post until June 2016.

Ivan Kotzé

Ivan Kotzé became involved with the CPA Executive and at the CPA Council meeting held in Kuala Lumpur in 2007 he was elected President of the CPA. He served two terms as President after he was re-elected at the Council meeting held in Accra Ghana in 2009.

Ivan firmly believes that the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association plays an important role in assisting member associations to strengthen pharmaceutical services in their countries. Many of the CPA member associations are in developing countries and have limited resources. They also face similar challenges, particularly in rural areas. This was one of the areas that Ivan still supports, while acknowledging that the encouragement and support that CPA gives to all its members is invaluable. He is particularly proud of the development of CPA in the past four years, as it has embraced the changes that have occurred in its working environment.

Ivan Kotzé obtained his B Pharm degree at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in 1982. He completed his internship training in community pharmacy where after he was employed by the Department of Health at the Medicines Control Council.

During this period he represented South Africa at the meeting of the International Narcotics Control Board held annually in Vienna Austria. At the time that he left the Department of Health, he was the head of the inspectorate and law enforcement unit, responsible for ensuring compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices requirements and medicines control in South Africa.

South Africa re-joined the Commonwealth, after an absence of 33 years, in May 1994. Ivan Kotzé, who joined the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (PSSA) in the position of Executive Director in March the same year, initiated a process for the Society to become a member of the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association, which was the name of the CPA before it was changed to the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association.

Following his presidency of the CPA (2007 – 2011) Ivan continued to serve on the CPA Executive until 2017 and he was part of the founder Board of Trustees when the CPA was registered with the Charities Commission as a charity.

Under his leadership as President and Executive Director of the PSSA, a successful CPA conference and Council meeting was held in Durban, South Africa, in 2011.

In addition to his involvement on the CPA, Ivan Kotzé was also instrumental in the PSSA’s becoming a member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) where he serves on the FIP Council representing South Africa.

In South Africa he is the recipient of a number of awards for his contribution towards the pharmacy profession. He has served on a number of committees appointed by the Minister of Health due to his excellent knowledge and experience of the South African pharmacy and medicines law.He also serves on a number of Boards and Trusts where the profession of pharmacy needs to be represented.

Nkwenti Davidson Achu

Nkwenti Davidson Achu is a graduate from the Oregon State University college of Pharmacy in the USA. He is currently the proprietor of Professional Plaza pharmacy in the City of Bamenda the North West Region of Cameroon and the president of the Cameroon Diabetes Association. He has served the National Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Cameroon in different capacities (board member, treasurer and president). During his tenure of office as president, he was instrumental in the creation of pharmacy schools in Cameroon and was the pioneer president to register the first graduates of Cameroon pharmacy schools in to the practice. Besides, he was a member of the national drug commission that oversaw drug safety, efficacy and the marketing of drugs in the country. While serving with the Ministry of Public Health as a regional director of Pharmacy and pharmacy inspector he introduced a “unit dose” system for medications based on similar systems in the American hospital systems. This helped prevent drug pilfering and gave pharmacists a say in the hospital’s drug budget all over Cameroon.

At international level, he was instrumental in the registration of the Pharmaceutical Society of Cameroon as a member of the Commonwealth Pharmacist Association (CPA) where he also held posts of responsibilities such as council member, West African Regional representative and the vice president of the CPA. As a member of CPA, he attended many CPA conferences and was an advocate of the rule of the pharmacist as an integral member of the health care team sharing his experiences as a world leader in diabetes management.

As the President of the Cameroon Diabetes association and a member of the International Diabetes Association he has been a champion for the management of diabetes and other Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). He was one of the co-authors of a training manual for the management of diabetes in sub Saharan Africa.  As a result of his interest and commitment to diabetes care and his position as the national president of the Diabetes Association in Cameroon, he opened his home as a temporal residence for children coming from distant, rural, and enclaved areas where health care is limited to attend the children’s diabetes program at the regional hospital. When he was building his Pharmacy, he designed an area for diabetes education of both patients and health care professionals. Today it is known as the Pilot Diabetes Education Center in the North West region of Cameroon where patients are taught how to monitor their diabetes and diabetes educators are trained. It has also become one the main research centers for diabetes prevalence in the country.

Over his many years of practice, he has actively been a member, participated in many organizational activities and has received many awards for his instrumental leadership roles in pharmacy practice. Some of these awards include: An Oregon State University alumni achievement award the “Noel B Flynn award” for steadfast leadership and professionalism. President of the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association “The Allen Young award” for best regional representative. An International Diabetes Federation-African Region Award for best country presentation as diabetes educators that was selected to be presented at the World Diabetes Conference in Mexico city. This led to the creation of a program called “Changing Diabetes in Children” in Africa where children are now receiving free insulin and diabetes screening material from Novo Nordisk. He has also been nominated as member of the FIP working group for professional ethics and Pharmacy monopoly(2012).

Nkwenti’s nomination as a Commonwealth fellow is a motivation to innovative, support and implement CPA ideologies while bridging the missing link of Pharmacy as an integral part of the health care system.

Lorraine Osman

Lorraine Osman’s work has taken her into most sectors of pharmacy, including academia, community pharmacy, drug information, private hospital pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry. She spent 23 years working for the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa, where she was the head of public affairs. During that time, she served on the Pharmacy Council for 10 years, 5 of which were as Vice President. Lorraine is currently the editor of the SA Pharmaceutical Journal, the South African Pharmacist’s Assistant magazine and the Pharmacy Law Compendium. Lorraine also served on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee responsible for implementation of the SADC Pharmaceutical Business Plan for a number of years. Her involvement with the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association began in 2007 when she was the PSSA representative at the CPA, serving as the regional representative for Eastern and Southern Africa for 7 years, and as Vice President for 3 years.

John Chang