The third annual Pharmacy Research Day was action-packed on March 16.

The purpose of the event is to promote the diverse research happening in the School of Pharmacy, recruit new graduate students and provide current students (both undergraduate and graduate) the opportunity to present their work.

Passionate presentations

The day involved a poster competition, two guest speakers, and the Snappy Synopsis: Pharmacy Research in a Nutshell event.

Recipients of the poster competition included the following:

• Mohsen Daneshtalab Graduate Research Poster Award: Kathryn Dalton and Michelle Debnath-Canning
• Undergraduate Research Poster Award: Jillian McInnis (Class of 2018)
• Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC) Research Poster Award: Scott Unruh (Class of 2018)
• Glaxo-Smith Kline Undergraduate Pharmacy Research Poster Fellowship: Catherine Grandy (Class of 2019)
• Snappy Synopsis: Killol Chokshi and Matthew Lamont

Dr. Jeremy Desai, president and CEO of Apotex, was a guest presenter and judge for the Snappy Synopsis competition.

“The passion shown by the presenters kept the interest level throughout, and the delivery of key messages was excellent,” Dr. Desai said of the winners.

“And for the poster competition, the winners had excellent layout and formatting, demonstrated a high level of understanding of their respective research topic and had the ability to provide great answers to my questions.”

Overall development

Graduate student Killol Chokshi received a Snappy Synopsis award for his presentation, The Name is Stroke, Hemorrhagic Stroke: Unravelling What Lies Beneath.

He says overall development is an important aspect of student life in a competitive world, where great grades just aren’t enough.

“This is where events like Snappy Synopsis come into play,” he said.

“They make students think out of the box and explain their research in a better and more simplified way. From my point of view, these events help increase confidence, give us excellent exposure to real-world scenarios and force us to channel the thought process when we’re asked questions from viewers and judges, which helps inform our future research.”

Effective communication

Michelle Debnath-Canning received the Dr. Mohsen Daneshtalab Graduate Poster Award.

She says presenting her poster improved her public speaking ability, challenged her to think quickly when answering inquiries about her project and increased her self-confidence in her ability to understand and display her research effectively.

“As a student without an undergraduate pharmacy degree, I would encourage students from all academic backgrounds to challenge themselves, and expand their field of knowledge, and join our program!”