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Lisa McCarthy has received ’s Exceptional Achievement in Research and Academia Award, for her work on deprescribing and medication management.

The award recognizes a pharmacist who has advanced the profession through academic research. McCarthy accepted the honour at the association’s virtual conference on June 5.

“It’s an honour to be acknowledged by my colleagues for trying to make a difference in our profession,” said McCarthy, an associate professor at the University of Toronto's Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and a clinician scientist and pharmacist at in Mississauga. “It’s a sign that the small steps I take every day – in partnership with talented students, colleagues and patients – are culminating in a collective impact toward my goal of helping people get the most benefit from their medications.”

McCarthy’s research is directly aimed at improving pharmacy practice and patient care by improving medication management and optimization, and she has become a recognized leader in deprescribing, when medications are stopped or doses are reduced because they are no longer providing benefit.

Her work as co-lead on many initiatives with the has changed medication management practices: organizations in Canada and abroad have incorporated the team’s research related to deprescribing guidelines into decision support tools and platforms for clinicians so that they have resources to help patients stop taking medications. Government agencies have also used the guidelines in standards and policies.