BETHESDA, Md. —The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has named Myrella T. Roy, Pharm.D., an honorary member of the Society for her sustained contributions to health-system pharmacy practice. Roy received the honor today during ASHP’s Summer Meeting in Baltimore.
Dr. Roy is executive director of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP). Under her leadership, CSHP has facilitated significant advances in pharmacy practice in Canadian hospitals and health systems. The Society successfully advocated for prescribing roles for pharmacists and is working to raise the visibility of pharmacists as members of the patient care team. In 2008, CSHP launched CSHP 2015, an initiative aimed at improving patients’ medication-related outcomes by advancing pharmacy practice excellence.
Dr. Roy has testified on behalf of CSHP at hearings held by the Canadian House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Health and is a member of the Health Products and Food Branch advisory committee of Health Canada. She is a member of the National Patient Safety Roundtable, the Canadian Pharmacist Affairs Group, and is an advisory committee member of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute.
Dr. Roy is also actively engaged in international efforts to advance hospital and health-system pharmacy practice. She was instrumental in the development of the North American Compact on the Advancement of Hospital Pharmacy, a historic agreement that has opened opportunities for increased collaboration among ASHP, CSHP, and the Mexican Association of Hospital Pharmacists on initiatives to improve the health and quality of life of the people of North America. Dr. Roy was a participant in the Global Conference on the Future of Hospital Pharmacy sponsored by the Hospital Pharmacy Section of the International Pharmaceutical Federation. She also served as an observer during the ASHP and ASHP Research and Education Foundation’s Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative Summit.
Dr. Roy received her Pharm.D. from the University of Cincinnati. She also received a Collegiate Studies Diploma from Edouard-Montpetit College, Longueuil, Quebec and a B.Sc. Pharm and Ph.D. from the University of Montreal. She completed a residency at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal and practiced as a pharmacy manager, chief clinical pharmacist, and consulting pharmacist for 20 years before joining CSHP.
ASHP is the national professional organization whose nearly 40,000 members include pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who provide patient care services in acute and ambulatory settings, including hospitals, health systems, and clinics, as well as pharmacy students. For 70 years, the Society has been on the forefront of efforts to improve medication use and enhance patient safety. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists help people make the best use of medicines, visit ASHP's website, www.ashp.org, or its consumer website, www.safemedication.com.