SuppliedThough he may be two provinces away, the start of Neal Davies’ new position at the University of Alberta will be a homecoming.
Having served as the Dean of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg for five years, Davies has been named the new Dean of Pharmacy at the U of A, effective Sept 1, 2016. Davies received both his Bachelor’s and doctorate degrees at the U of A in 1991 and 1996 respectively, and has gone on to professorships at Washington State University and Manitoba.
Having an extensive research experience the areas of drug delivery and natural antioxidants, Davies also served as Director of Research in pharmacology and toxicology in his time at Washington State. Though his personal ties to campus run deep, Davies said the reputation of the U of A also drew him back. Calling the U of A “one of the elite universities in Canada,” Davies said the pharmacy program here is “excellent.”
Davies called the responsibility of overseeing the faculty that saw him through two degrees a “humbling” one, and said he would focus on maintaining the tradition of excellence in the Pharmacy program as emphasized by current Dean James Kehrer. That program is significantly larger than the one Davies currently heads at the U of M, as its undergraduate population (209 students) is less than half of that of the U of A (527 students).
Despite the step up in program size, Davies said he would begin by getting re-introduced to the faculty, students and culture of the Pharmacy program.
“A good leader listens first, you have to understand the important things that have to change,” Davies said. “You have to have a shared vision for people to buy in to those ideas.”
Davies said that his main vision for Pharmacy involved greater visibility for the program. With a comparatively small faculty population, Davies said he wanted to re-emphasize the importance of pharmacy and pharmaceutical science.
One significant change for the program going forward will be the implementation of the Doctor of Pharmacy program which will expand on the skills taught in the BSc currently offered by the faculty and develop advanced clinical expertise. For Davies, the PharmD program emphasizes the importance of the pharmacy field going forward.
“The scope of what pharmacists are doing in Alberta already has changed and what they are doing in the program will change,” Davies said. “So it is a time of opportunity and growth in the profession of pharmacy.”
With many new faces in university leadership at a variety of levels, Davies said that attracting people from elsewhere is a sign of “a very healthy and prosperous university.” Davies said that the new leadership team in place at the university, as well as new governments at the federal and provincial level, would serve to bring new perspectives to the university.
Davies said he relished the opportunity to come back to his hometown, and said he hoped another Edmonton institution would see similar improvements.
“This is a great opportunity for things to change over.” Davies said. “When I left (the U of A), the Oilers were an excellent team, hopefully that will be the same in years to come.”
