Nichole Lanham - Pharmacist Policy Advisor at Pharmacy Guild of Australia National Secretariat | Former Chief Pharmacist and Business Development Manager - Dispensary with Chempro Chemists and Chemist Outlet Groups

Nichole Lanham is a University of Queensland graduate with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Honours). Her passion for Pharmacy in general is evident in her work, however she has a particular interest in the clinical areas of skin, asthma, and generic / biosimilar medications. Nichole is a Pharmacist Policy Advisor with The Pharmacy Guild of Australia National Secretariat and works within the Practice, Policy and Regulations team.

Nichole has previously worked as a Chief Pharmacist and Business Development Manager - Dispensary with Chempro Chemists and Chemist Outlet Groups, providing ongoing training, mentoring, and regulatory advice to pharmacists and pharmacy owners, along with assisting in the development of pilot patient support programs with various companies.

Nichole enjoys providing and facilitating training to Pharmacists and Pharmacy Assistants on a variety of topics and applications within the Pharmacy industry.

Nichole enjoys presenting on her passions within pharmacy and educating those around her.

You can find Nichole Lanham on LinkedIn.

Do you have questions about your pharmacy career? Then contact us or meet our team.

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to Your Pharmacy Career podcast

0:03

proudly brought to you by Raven's

0:05

Recruitment Australia's leading

0:07

specialist Pharmacy recruitment agency

0:09

the podcast Series has being created to

0:11

shine a light on the diverse and

0:13

inspiring careers of Australia's

0:14

pharmacists each episode will focus on

0:17

the varied career opportunities within

0:18

the pharmacy industry by exploring the

0:21

career paths taken by leaders in the

0:22

fields of Community Pharmacy Hospital

0:25

industry government and professional

0:28

organizations careers never follow a

0:30

defined path everyone's story is

0:32

different and unique in their own way

0:34

the podcast series will help you

0:36

discover the world of opportunities that

0:37

exist and reveal Pathways to achieve

0:40

your dreams and aspirations whether you

0:43

are a pharmacy student early career

0:45

pharmacist or simply looking for a

0:47

change at any stage of your career the

0:49

podcast series is designed to help you

0:51

navigate ways into a career and a life

0:53

that you love your host of the podcast

0:55

series is Allie Xu Allie herself a

0:58

pharmacist is now the founder of of

1:00

global Pharmacy entrepreneurs and a

1:02

passionate advocate for pharmacist to

1:03

grow innovate Excel and make a lasting

1:06

impact in the world it's now over to our

1:09

host Allie Xu welcome to your Pharmacy

1:12

career podcast it's Allie Xu today we're

1:15

excited to have Nichole Lanham from the

1:17

pharmacy gu of Australia joining us

1:20

Nichole is a pharmacist policy adviser

1:23

with the pharmacy gu of Australia

1:25

National Secretariat Works within the

1:28

practice policy and regulations team she

1:31

has previously worked as a chief

1:34

pharmacist and business development

1:36

manager providing ongoing training

1:39

mentoring and Regulatory advice to

1:42

Pharmacists and Pharmacy owners along

1:45

with development of pilot patient

1:47

support programs with various

1:50

companies in this episode Nichole shares

1:53

with us how she became the chief

1:54

pharmacist and moved from the dispensary

1:57

to becoming the business development

1:59

manager manager of the pharmacy group

2:01

and policy advisor at the pharmacy Guild

2:05

without further Ado let's welcome

2:08

Nichole Welcome Nichole to your Pharmacy

2:11

career podcast I'm very excited to have

2:13

you on the show thank you I'm very

2:16

excited to be here you have worked in

2:18

numerous different Pharmacy groups in

2:20

community pharmacies both as pharmacist

2:23

Pharmacy manager but also you've now

2:26

worked for the guild Pharmacy Guild of

2:28

Australia as a pharmacist policy advisor

2:32

I'm sure for all our listeners we're

2:33

looking for different opportunities we

2:35

are really interested in what you doing

2:38

now and also of course your Pharmacy

2:40

Journey sounds good okay so I was one of

2:44

those socializers at high school I

2:46

didn't actually finish High School um it

2:49

just wasn't for me at the time so I went

2:51

on to have uh my son and uh work at

2:55

various jobs until I hit about 28 when I

2:59

decided that I really needed something

3:01

more worthwhile to to work towards in

3:04

that career uh I actually went and saw

3:07

an adult career CL counselor and to find

3:10

out what would be best suited to me

3:13

thinking that I was going to go into

3:14

Dentistry because I had a a fixation on

3:17

tee um but they decided that through all

3:21

the questions it took about two and a

3:23

half hours uh that Pharmacy was probably

3:25

one of the best options for me to look

3:27

into I'd never considered phy before um

3:31

so really didn't think like most people

3:34

what a pharmacist actually does to me at

3:36

the time I think it was just a handout

3:38

medication and that's it I went to UNI

3:41

as a mature age student uh got into

3:43

Pharmacy the year that I turned 30 and

3:47

decided that it was what I should have

3:49

been doing all along uh and I don't know

3:52

why it hadn't occurred to me prior to

3:54

that so from there I went through my

3:57

years at Uni not really participating in

4:00

a lot of onsite uni activities because I

4:04

was a lot older than most of the

4:05

students there but started more focusing

4:09

in store and at the time I was working

4:11

with star Pharmacy Group um who are

4:14

based in South Australia but I was in

4:15

Queensland uh and I had some amazing

4:18

mentors within that group that really

4:20

showed me that Professional Services and

4:24

compliance regulatory was kind of where

4:27

my gam was at uh and what I should be

4:30

focusing on once I finished my degree I

4:34

started my internship with star Pharmacy

4:36

Group and from there went straight into

4:40

store management with one of their

4:42

stores in

4:43

Brisbane decided that I probably wasn't

4:47

the best thing for me I wasn't really

4:49

coping with the day-to-day of running a

4:52

pharmacy although I liked all the daily

4:55

tasks it's uh it just wasn't that I

4:57

thought this is great this is what I

4:59

wanted

5:00

I took a little breakout from Star

5:02

Pharmacy Group and went and worked for a

5:03

little Independent Pharmacy in ipswitch

5:07

uh who I thought would teach me some

5:09

different things that would help me

5:11

decide what part of Pharmacy I preferred

5:14

and that made me realized that I wanted

5:16

to go back to a bigger group I didn't

5:18

really like the independent because

5:19

sometimes they make decisions that I

5:21

wasn't quite happy with or that didn't

5:25

quite fit in with the regulations that I

5:27

thought that it should and insane that

5:29

I'm I've probably always have been a rle

5:31

follower so that's probably why I knew

5:33

that it wasn't for me so once I went

5:36

back to Star Pharmacy Group I actually

5:38

went on as their Pharmacy services

5:40

manager so um helping stores to

5:44

understand their requirements for some

5:47

types of compliance but then also

5:50

helping them to increase their revenue

5:52

in store um through Pharmacy

5:55

programs um and patient support programs

5:59

and then from from there I moved on to

6:02

cro chemist um who then later on

6:06

acquired chemist Outlet group in New

6:08

South Wales uh and commenced as their

6:12

business development manager for

6:14

dispensary uh which then evolved into

6:16

the chief pharmacist for the group which

6:19

has about 150 stores now um so

6:22

overseeing all of those and uh making

6:25

sure that they were all on the right

6:26

path with compliance and building

6:28

relationships with companies to increase

6:31

that revenue for them after that I'd

6:34

been there about a year a year and a

6:36

half and I decided that there was a

6:38

position at the guild that I thought

6:40

looked really interesting for a

6:41

director's position I've always been a

6:43

high achiever so even though I've

6:45

probably only six years out of uni now

6:48

um decided that that was something that

6:50

I was interested in someone else was

6:53

given that job which is amazing she is

6:55

wonderful um and I don't think they

6:57

could have picked any better um and

6:59

looking at it now it probably wasn't the

7:02

right choice for me but thankfully The

7:05

Guild saw something in me that they um

7:08

all enjoyed uh and they liked the type

7:10

of person that I was and my passions uh

7:13

and they actually came up with a

7:15

position of a pharmacist policy advisor

7:17

for me um at National

7:20

Secretariat uh so I've just recently

7:23

commenced with them in that role and

7:26

loving it it's everything that I could

7:28

have hoped for uh in my dream uh career

7:32

progression when you go in as a mature

7:35

student you already know your identity

7:37

what you like how did you find out

7:39

what's the process what process did you

7:41

take for you to find out what you're

7:43

really interested in um look honestly my

7:47

heart goes off to um anyone that goes

7:49

straight from high school into

7:51

University knowing that oh I'm going to

7:53

go in and be a pharmacist or a doctor or

7:56

anything that they've decided is their

7:58

chosen career part because at 17 uh all

8:02

I could think about was either partying

8:05

or going out and socializing it never

8:08

was anything that oh look I've got a

8:09

career path that I want to work towards

8:12

um and it really wasn't like I said

8:13

until I hit about 27 28 that I started

8:16

to think I'm missing out on where um I

8:21

can be contributing more I think one of

8:24

the mentors that I had at Star Pharmacy

8:26

Group really the mentor Touring that I

8:30

got from her was very Professional

8:33

Services based it was teaching me um

8:36

everything to do with your every service

8:39

that was available whether it be through

8:41

Pharma programs because that had

8:42

recently started to ramp up um your

8:45

guild care um programs the patient

8:48

support ones um later on met advisor

8:52

started to bring in their support

8:54

programs and I think when I started to

8:56

read more at Uni around the legislation

9:01

itself uh that was where I started to

9:03

decide I actually really like the the

9:06

set out of the rules um and why that was

9:11

in place obviously to protect everyone

9:13

and protect patients but um that's where

9:17

I really started to look into I think

9:19

legislation um and Regulatory is where I

9:23

should be focusing on because I was a

9:25

rule follower as much as you know we all

9:29

work sometimes within a gray area um for

9:33

the most part um I definitely have

9:36

followed the rules which is what led me

9:38

to deciding that that was where I should

9:40

have been focusing the whole time in

9:43

terms of positions in Pharmacy majority

9:45

of our early career pharmacists only

9:47

know you know position called dispensing

9:50

pharmacist or Pharmacy manager um we

9:53

don't really know what's beyond that and

9:55

I think you're the perfect person to

9:58

share with us what's outside of this

10:01

dispensary so first of all how did you

10:03

get into something like the chief

10:06

pharmacist or in the business

10:08

development manager role that you do

10:12

more than just

10:13

dispensing um I kind of got the pathway

10:16

into the chief pharmacist BDM role I was

10:21

traveling a lot for work with star

10:23

Pharmacy Group and I had decided that um

10:26

I needed to spend some time at home my

10:29

my son who is about to turn 19 was 17 at

10:32

the time and trying to finish year 12

10:35

and it you know during covid it was

10:37

extremely difficult uh and as a

10:40

pharmacist if you've got to travel you

10:41

still travel so the covid restrictions

10:43

didn't apply to us um when we had to

10:46

work so I made that decision that I was

10:50

ready to um stop traveling for the

10:53

company uh and I reached out to the

10:56

director uh one of the directors who has

10:59

quite friendly with still am to this day

11:02

um let him know that this was my

11:04

decision um and did he know anyone

11:07

around the Gold Coast Area where um they

11:09

would be looking for someone with my

11:11

skills um and he actually reached out to

11:15

the um CEO and COO of cro uh and they

11:19

got me in for a meet and greet and then

11:21

I went through the interview proess so

11:24

they had never actually had a

11:26

Professional Services pharmacist or

11:29

anything along those lines that would

11:31

help them to increase their um their

11:34

revenue or to increase their business

11:37

with other

11:38

suppliers I sat through quite a lengthy

11:42

um interview process with them and told

11:44

them exactly what I could bring to the

11:46

business for them um and you know at the

11:50

end of my 18 months with them I had

11:52

overd delivered on that so um I'm quite

11:54

proud of what I was able to do with the

11:56

company in 18 months um

12:00

so I think that if I hadn't have been

12:03

given that opportunity from the

12:05

directors of um the previous company um

12:09

I probably still would have been working

12:11

as a dispensing pharmacist so um I was

12:14

very lucky in that yeah um they were

12:17

quite happy to recommend me what other

12:19

some skill sets how could they develop

12:22

themselves towards that pathway yeah

12:25

that's a really good question um I think

12:28

when I first got the the position so we

12:31

kind of co-labeled it as a business

12:33

development manager um Professional

12:36

Services pharmacist so we had the Dual

12:38

title there until it um evolved into

12:41

Chief

12:42

pharmacist but even for myself I was

12:44

like well what is it a BDM do I had no

12:47

idea um and had to do a quick Google

12:50

search on you know what what is a BDM

12:53

and what do they do in the day-to-day

12:55

and how is that going to help a pharmacy

12:57

in their dispensary

12:59

um to to grow uh and then I started to

13:03

Once I'd readed through that I looked at

13:05

and thought okay so really I would be

13:08

looking at how can I help them improve

13:11

their business so having the background

13:15

I've I've been a manager in multiple

13:17

points throughout my life um and quite

13:20

quickly I've got good leadership skills

13:23

so I think that that's definitely

13:24

something that um they'd need to have or

13:27

be able to put the time into loan

13:30

I was constantly reading different um

13:34

regulations the the legislations for at

13:38

that time I was doing three different

13:39

states so I had Queensland New South

13:41

Wales and South Australia that I was

13:43

keeping on top of I had written

13:46

procedures for um the company that I was

13:49

with so I knew exactly down to like what

13:53

do you do with an s in this state um how

13:57

is it destroyed uh um how do I

14:01

get different um Pharmacies with

14:04

different um communities to do something

14:07

similar but still um meet their

14:10

community's

14:12

requirements um so I think having good

14:15

interpersonal skills is definitely a

14:17

must leadership um reading a lot of

14:21

research and reading uh and making sure

14:24

that you take the time out to speak to

14:27

different companies and different Banner

14:29

groups see what they do that makes them

14:32

stand out from everyone else yeah I

14:34

think that that's probably the biggest

14:36

um skills the development of skills that

14:39

I could put into that that networking is

14:42

is something that you just can't push to

14:44

the side uh I do tend to be like most

14:49

pharmacists introverted um except for

14:52

when I'm at work I can be extroverted um

14:55

but then I tend to kind of go back into

14:57

my shell and I still need to myself that

14:59

networking is the key to everything so

15:03

um when I was attending events I would

15:05

make sure that I would um ask someone if

15:07

I wasn't sure who they were um who is

15:10

that person what do they do um so then I

15:13

could work out okay where could they

15:15

help me um to grow either myself um

15:20

personally or professionally um and then

15:23

how can I use that in my day-to-day work

15:26

so now you've already worked with with

15:29

the pharmacy Guild of Australia as the

15:32

pharmacist policy advisor what do you do

15:35

in that position yeah I actually you

15:37

know you get a position description and

15:39

you read it and you think oh wow okay

15:41

yeah that that sounds really great um

15:45

when I started last month I was just oh

15:49

I have no idea what a pharmacist policy

15:51

advisor actually does um the team that I

15:55

work within is um our practice policy

15:59

and regulation team so what we do is

16:04

look at um anything that has to do with

16:07

policy regulation and practice in

16:10

Pharmacy uh if there's any policies that

16:13

need to be revised um if there's any

16:16

submissions from another say ARA the

16:20

medical board those sort of things um we

16:23

would sit down and research that and

16:25

then write the submission to them um

16:28

most of of them are public consultation

16:30

some of them are pre-public

16:33

consultations so a lot of research um a

16:37

lot of talking to people uh and a lot of

16:40

writing uh and working out how you can

16:43

best come across for what's in the best

16:46

interests of pharmacies Pharmacy owners

16:49

um and in overall just pharmacists in

16:54

general do you have any advice you want

16:56

to share with our early career

16:58

pharmacist you know from your own

17:00

Pharmacy Journey anything that to help

17:03

them to inspire them uh to create a

17:05

successful Pharmacy career yeah find a

17:09

mentor that aligns with your core values

17:15

and your morals um we all hear about the

17:19

pharmacists that you know um aren't the

17:22

nicest to work for or the owners that

17:25

aren't nice to work for find someone who

17:29

you see them practicing you like the way

17:32

that they practice um and it's something

17:34

similar to what you would like to do um

17:38

and ask them for to be your Mentor I

17:42

have worked with

17:44

interns programs with both star and then

17:47

helping with developing the intern uh

17:50

training program with cro so their own

17:52

internal one um and our goal was to

17:56

always set them up with someone that

17:58

they could could go to to ask questions

18:01

or um or to give advice to so as long as

18:05

you've got someone that you're able to

18:07

touch Bass with whether it's just a text

18:09

a quick phone call an email um hey look

18:13

I think this is something that I might

18:15

be interested in what are your thoughts

18:16

on that um really yeah um H in on those

18:22

where you think you want to go and

18:24

finding someone that can help you with

18:26

that I'm always the first person to put

18:28

my hands up for anyone and say if you

18:30

have any questions or you're not sure of

18:32

anything um get in contact with me uh I

18:35

don't have any issues with that I'm more

18:37

than happy to have a chat my career path

18:40

took a very zigzaggy path um compared to

18:45

what some people do um so I've

18:48

experienced probably a little bit of the

18:52

outling paths towards being where I am

18:55

right now uh so and that comes down to

18:58

me or always asking questions uh always

19:01

finding someone that I could um touch

19:03

base with the networking that's a a huge

19:07

one even if you don't feel like

19:09

attending those events like AP um if

19:11

you're going along to those sort of

19:13

things um make sure that you do go up

19:15

and have a talk with the presenters or

19:18

with um any of the guild Representatives

19:20

because you're always going to be able

19:21

to find someone who knows something that

19:24

you're going to be interested in or can

19:26

point you in the direction of someone

19:28

that um would be best for you to speak

19:30

to well thank you so much Nichole for

19:32

sharing your advice and wisdom oh thank

19:35

you for having me thank you for

19:36

listening to this episode of the your

19:38

Pharmacy career podcast proudly brought

19:41

to you by Raven's Recruitment Australia's

19:43

leading specialist Pharmacy recruitment

19:45

agency if you enjoyed this episode and

19:47

know anyone else who you think would

19:49

benefit from it we would be grateful if

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you could share it with them together we

19:53

help even more pharmacists develop a

19:55

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any questions or suggestions about

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