Alumna pharmacist returns 'virtually' for Learning Lunch

St Mary’s first international ‘Learning Lunch’ saw Chanel Tsui, now a clinical pharmacist at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, bridging a gap of 8 hours and almost 6,000 miles to address our students. Chanel was at Addenbrooke’s Hospital for four years before returning to her home town, reregistering, and taking up her present post. Prior to that, after five years at St Mary’s, she did her Masters degree in Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham.

Asked why she chose the profession, Chanel explained that since she came from a family of medics, one of the caring professions was an obvious choice, but ‘I don’t get along with blood’. Asked about career possibilities, she referred to community pharmacy and research work as well as her own field, to which she had gravitated because she enjoys relating to patients, protecting them (and doctors) by checking that they are given the correct dosage of the right medicines, and ensuring that they understand their medication so that they will follow instructions. Hospital pharmacy involves doing night shifts, and Chanel is regularly the only pharmacist on duty in oncology (her chosen specialism) at night, so the work is both demanding and highly responsible, but despite that, she prefers it to being a community pharmacist, with its more regular hours and slightly higher remuneration. She also likes the way her work is constantly changing as new drugs (for which she now has to write protocols) are introduced.

Since then, a prospective pharmacist among our current students has already followed up Chanel’s kind invitation to those attending this session to email her with any further questions they might have.