Hello and Welcome to Pharmacist Diaries…
The podcast that reveals the secret lives of pharmacists, from where their journeys began, where they are now and everything in between.
I am your host, Anisha Patel, and this is my story
I am a Specialist Paediatric Pharmacist at Evelina London Childrens' Hospital with special interest in Paediatric Palliative Care and a Senior Lecturer with the Clinically Enhanced Pharmacist Independent Prescriber Team at King's College London (KCL). I am also a mother of two children, Lilyanna and Kai, and wife to an incredibly supportive and loving husband, Sunjay Vyas.
I started my pharmacy career by completing a 3-year residency at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Being a resident pharmacist provided an excellent foundation for the start of my new life as a clinical pharmacist. It encouraged me to work autonomously and make decisions quickly and under pressure. It also helped me develop strong working relationships with medical and nursing staff. Good communication skills, time management skills, and problem solving skills were essential for this role.
During my residency, my love story with Sunjay unfolded. After three years of late night Skype calls, hundreds of emails, and using all my annual leave and part time locum income for short trips to Dubai, I decided to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to gain international experience in Pharmacy.
I was fortunate enough to experience two very unique roles in pharmacy whilst living there. At National Ambulance, my role involved supporting and developing the medication requirements for ambulances spread across the country, working at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, supporting mass casualty incidents, and designing & building my own pharmacy. This role allowed me to develop a lot of unexpected new skills, especially those in innovation, project management, and education & training. In contrast, I then transitioned back to a hospital role in the Outpatient Pharmacy Department at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. This role guided me back to a patient facing role, an element of pharmacy that I missed considerably.
After returning to the UK in 2018 and starting my split role between ELCH and KCL, I was surprised by the number of pharmacy students who were unaware of the variety of roles on offer within the pharmacy profession and I was eager to close that gap in knowledge.
It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that I thought deeply about how I could raise awareness of the pharmacy profession. I wanted the information to be easily accessible to a global audience, be affordable for listeners, and in the format of telling a story. Creating a podcast came to mind immediately as I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to them for years, and all for FREE! You can listen to them whilst sitting on a train, when you’re stuck in traffic, whilst exercising in the gym, or even when doing your household chores. I was also really excited about the idea of connecting with pharmacists internationally during a time in our lives when face-to-face networking had come to a standstill.
What People Are Saying
“Have you listened to any episodes of the Pharmacist Diaries yet? If not, you’re missing out - these fantastic podcasts should become part of the pharmacy curriculum! Anisha invited me along for a chat not so long ago and I loved it! Thank you Anisha, it was wonderful to meet you & since becoming friends.”
"Thank you SO much for taking the time to create this podcast. As a pharmacy student, I have learnt so much about the profession and it is helping me understand what career choices are available and what areas of pharmacy practice I can visualise myself working in. Keep the episodes coming!"
“What an amazing haven of information Pharmacist Diaries provides. Thank you for creating a world where pharmacists can experience all the fascinating opportunities the profession has to offer. Incredibly interesting people, brilliant careers not just in the UK but in the rest of the world too. Makes me proud to be a pharmacist!”
Watch full length episodes of the podcast PLUS bonus content relating to my personal life, family life, and health & well-being
