Supporter Spotlight: GSK

As Canada’s only national charity for pharmacy, the Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy is dedicated to funding practice-based research and innovative models of care. This work depends on the generosity of our corporate supporters, including Gold Sponsor GSK.

We recently spoke with Ramon Goober, Head of Pharmacy, Clinical Practice Innovation and Trade at GSK about the value of pharmacy research, opportunities to improve patient care and how collaboration can turn promising ideas into everyday practice.

Why is CFP’s work important to the future of pharmacy practice in Canada?

Pharmacy practice in Canada is evolving rapidly. Pharmacists are increasingly providing clinical services, supporting public health and helping patients access care closer to home. However, expanding the profession’s role requires more than new scope or changes in regulation. It requires credible evidence showing which models work, how they can be integrated sustainably into pharmacy practice, and how they improve patient and health-system outcomes.

That is why the work of CFP is so important. As Canada’s national pharmacy charity, the Foundation provides a platform for researchers and practitioners to test new ideas, generate evidence and translate promising innovations into practical models of care.

I am particularly encouraged by the Foundation’s focus on supporting both rigorous research and shorter-term, practice-led innovation. Its Innovation Fund has transformed more than $2.5 million in donations into awards, bursaries and scholarships since 2007. In 2026, it allocated $150,000 across longer-term research grants and shorter “Move the Needle” initiatives. That combination is valuable because pharmacy needs both long-term evidence generation and the ability to test practical solutions to immediate challenges.

Ultimately, the Foundation helps create a bridge between good ideas and real-world change. Its work can provide pharmacy leaders, associations and governments with the evidence they need to make informed decisions about scope of practice, implementation and sustainable models of care.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities for research and innovation to strengthen pharmacy practice and patient care?

One of the greatest opportunities is in implementation research. Stakeholders across the pharmacy ecosystem increasingly understand what pharmacists can contribute. The challenge is determining how expanded clinical services can be incorporated consistently and sustainably into everyday practice. This involves studying workflow, training, technology, interprofessional collaboration, patient experience, appropriate remuneration and the outcomes that matter most to patients and health systems.

There is also an important opportunity to examine how pharmacy can improve access for populations that are not well served by traditional models of care. Community pharmacies are highly accessible, but accessibility alone does not guarantee equitable care. Research can help us develop models that respond to the needs of rural, northern, Indigenous, culturally diverse and otherwise underserved communities.

Immunization is a strong example of what this could look like. Pharmacists have become essential vaccine educators and providers, but there is still considerable opportunity to expand vaccine education, support informed vaccination decisions, identify gaps in coverage and make access more equitable. Publicly announced partnerships illustrate how industry can help build the research infrastructure required to address these questions. For example, a $3 million joint investment by GSK and the University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy included support for the establishment of the GSK Chair in Vaccine Education and Practice-Oriented Tools. Its mandate includes closing education gaps and developing evidence-based models of vaccine care for pharmacists and other health professionals.

Similarly, GSK provided a $300,000 grant to help launch the Pharmacy Innovation in Immunization Research Collaborative at the University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy. The collaborative focuses on real-world evidence, vaccine access, delivery, education and scalable pharmacy-based solutions.

Are there particular CFP initiatives that stand out to you?

Within CFP, the Innovation Fund and “Move the Needle” initiatives stand out. The 2026 projects address highly practical areas such as AI-assisted minor-ailment assessments, HPV screening and immunization, respiratory physical-assessment skills, women’s cardiovascular health and pharmacy-based primary-care models.  These initiatives are grounded in challenges facing patients and pharmacy teams today, while also creating knowledge that can inform wider change

How can different stakeholders across the pharmacy ecosystem collaborate to advance research, innovation and pharmacy practice in Canada?

No single organization can advance pharmacy practice on its own. Meaningful change requires collaboration among pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, patients, researchers, schools of pharmacy, professional associations, regulators, governments, pharmacy organizations, technology providers and the pharmaceutical industry.

Working together to establish a shared understanding of the problem we are trying to solve is a key step. Patients and frontline pharmacy teams can identify unmet needs and practical barriers. Academic researchers can help develop sound methodologies and evaluate outcomes. Pharmacy organizations can provide the settings and operational expertise needed to test new models at scale. Associations and regulators can help translate evidence into standards, policy and practice. Governments can create sustainable funding and system-level conditions that allow successful models to continue.

Industry also has a meaningful role to play. It can provide funding, scientific expertise, data capabilities and connections across health systems. It can support independent research, academic chairs, training programs and collaborative research networks. Most importantly, industry support can enable credible, transparent work that addresses clearly identified patient and practice needs, rather than predetermining the outcomes.

GSK’s partnerships with the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo are examples of this kind of long-term capacity-building. They support academic leadership, evidence generation, education and the development of tools that can ultimately be used beyond any single institution or sponsor. CFP plays an important convening role because it can bring different stakeholders together around research priorities that matter to the profession and to patients.

The greatest impact will come when stakeholders align around a common pathway: identify an unmet need, co-design a solution with patients and practitioners, test it rigorously, share the findings transparently, and then work with policymakers and pharmacy leaders to scale what works. That is how research becomes practice change, and how practice change ultimately leads to better care for Canadians.