021 Catherine Duggan
On today's episode I am absolutely thrilled to introduce the current Chief Executive Officer at the International Pharmaceutical Federation, also known as FIP, Catherine Duggan. Catherine has been working with FIP since 2018. She is responsible for visionary leadership, support, advocacy and delivery of the FIP vision and mission across 144 member organisations and 160 Academic Institutions representing 4 million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide.
Prior to her current role, Catherine was the Director of Professional Development at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB). She was responsible for the delivery of professional support and advice to all members across all sectors; the development of strategies to showcase good practice across the profession and development and implementation of professional standards for pharmacy. Catherine led the development, implementation and strategic embedding of RPS Faculty and Foundation programmes into continuing professional development.
Catherine is a highly valued and recognised leader across the profession, working with an expansive network and has experience in a variety of sectors since the start of her career. Between 2007 and 2009, Catherine was the Chair of the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA), an organisation she is very proud to have worked with.
Catherine provides several "top tips" during our conversation, some of which are highlighted below:
- the importance of understanding that life is a balancing act and that you need to accept that work goals may take longer than you want or think. Think of yourself as a slow cooker and not a fast cooking microwave.
- believing it is never too late to do something you are passionate about - do it for the moment you are living in and not for the title or chasing the next step in the professional ladder
- take on new opportunities, even when they scare you, but use the support and advice of people around you that you trust.
- don't put so much pressure on yourself...what is the worst that can happen?! You might not get a job you want but you will have tried!
- you can still look for new jobs when you are perfectly content in your current role. In fact, it is useful to do so as there is less pressure and it is usually for the right reasons that you want a change
You can find Catherine on the following social media:
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast on your favourite podcast platform so you can be notified when a new episode is released or leave a review on Apple Podcasts. If you have any suggestions for guests you want me to talk to or if you’d like to come on yourself, please feel free to contact me via social media, or email at info@pharmacistdiaries.com.
