When I was an MPharm student, I was told there were three career paths: community, hospital or industry. Today, pharmacists work in digital health, policy, academia, research, consulting and entrepreneurship and system redesign, yet many students and early-career pharmacists still do not see these pathways as a possibility.

My own journey has been very different from what I was told was possible. I trained as a community pharmacist before moving into clinical trials, completed a PhD in pharmaceutics, taught at the University College London (UCL) School of Pharmacy, launched an entrepreneurial venture, qualified as an independent prescriber and, now, serve as an assistant professor at UCL’s world-first Business School for Health. I never imagined a pharmacist would be needed in a business school, yet healthcare transformation demands exactly that intersection. In truth, many of these roles were discovered through serendipity.

Healthcare is undergoing structural change. AI, digital health platforms, neighbourhood centres and software as medical devices are the realities of today, yet our training and professional development have not kept pace. 

The NHS ten-year vision emphasises prevention, neighbourhood-based care and digital transformation. Pharmacists are central to community care and prevention, but digital capability is where our largest gap now lies. We must strengthen this urgently.

If elected, I will prioritise building digital and strategic capability across the profession.

First, a structured national upskilling programme in AI literacy, digital skills and healthcare systems leadership, enabling pharmacists not just to adopt innovation but to co-design, evaluate and regulate it.

Second, embedding entrepreneurship and business literacy into professional development. Pharmacists must understand service design, commercial sustainability, venture capital, funding models and healthcare economics. Even running a community pharmacy requires financial literacy, yet we are rarely formally taught it. In an era of digital health start-ups and app-based services, we cannot afford to be commercially unaware. Business capability should be woven into the MPharm and reinforced through post-registration executive education. 

Third, digitising the royal college’s educational ecosystem. Static knowledge is insufficient in a rapidly evolving regulatory and technological environment. We must also harness digital content creation. Online platforms increasingly shape public health behaviour, while the UK lags in childhood immunisation rates. Pharmacists are not only well placed to deliver vaccines, we are trusted voices who can educate communities digitally and lead responsible health campaigns.

I am standing to build a royal college that drives capability and innovation, ensuring pharmacists shape the future of healthcare.

Hend Abdelhakim

Candidate for the inaugural elections to the English Pharmacy Advisory Council 

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