Mon 26 October 2026
Limitless to the last: MM2026 closes milestone 50th conference celebrating pharmacy’s brightest
Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) wrapped up Medicines Management 2026 (MM2026) on Saturday, celebrating members’ achievements, conference awards and the winners of the AdPha Resident of the Year and KC Leong Memorial Registrar of the Year, before delegates let their hair down at a sparkling Studio 50 Gala Dinner to commemorate the milestone 50th conference.
Earlier in the day, AdPha Chief Executive Kristin Michaels FAICD used her Chief Executive’s address to acknowledge the ‘village’ that enables advanced pharmacy to thrive, reflected in conference workshops covering topics from the future of pharmacy education and crucial communication in care teams, to embedding research fundamentals into pharmacy practice and expanding technician scope.
‘This is the domain of advanced pharmacy: translating hospital-derived knowledge into adjacent care settings, united by focus on the needs of patients and both leading and following the latest practice developments.
‘This extends to ensuring the most accurate, timely and relevant information is available to whoever needs it.’
Ms Michaels reiterated the importance of the rigorous governance and safety standards applied to AdPha’s clinical publications – from Don’t Rush to Crush, the Australian Injectable Drugs Handbook and ObesiD, to the newly announced Australian Perioperative Medicines Guide, due for release in February 2027.
‘These projects – alongside our leading practice standards, Specialty Practice initiatives and other unique opportunities for members – distil knowledge and information that can never be automated or replicated.
‘They require patience, diligence and human context to uphold the highest governance and safety standards, and exemplify what can be achieved when the power of our profession is focused through AdPha as your representative body.’
Ms Michaels also marked three years of the Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy (ANZCAP), with more than 2,600 practitioners now recognised across 46 specialty areas of practice, as the college moves into its next phase, responsive to evolving practice and the emergence of pharmacist prescribing.
Celebrating excellence
At the closing plenary, Laura Triggs ANZCAP-Reg. (InfDis, Steward.) received the 2026 KC Leong Memorial Registrar of the Year Award. The first pharmacist in the ACT to complete the Registrar Training Program in Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship, Laura helped establish the Penicillin De-labelling Service at The Canberra Hospital – work recognised by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care – while practising as the hospital’s Senior Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist.
Jordan Scully, Sydney Children’s Hospital (NSW) was named 2026 AdPha Resident of the Year in the award’s 10th year, for developing an app listing the carbohydrate content of more than 700 medications to support children on the ketogenic diet for epilepsy.
Georgia Lloyd FAdPha and Jillian Campbell FAdPha were on stage to be inducted as AdPha Fellows, with the remaining Fellows in the ‘Class of 2026’ to be celebrated next year.
2026 AdPha Members’ Awards
- Early Career Pharmacist of the Year: Kingston Yeung (NSW) – A clinical pharmacist at Wollongong Hospital and PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, Kingston manages Australia’s largest hospital pharmacy clinical trial, a $1.5 million study aimed at reducing readmissions through timely post-discharge home medicines reviews.
- Technician of the Year: Akiyo Keehne (SA/NT) – The sole pharmacy technician at Gove District Hospital in remote East Arnhem, Akiyo has led purchasing and medicines redistribution projects that have identified hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for NT Health.
- Hospital Team Innovation of the Year: Pharmacy Crisis Response and Innovation Team, Sydney Local Health District Mental Health Service (NSW) – Led by Seniha Kasif, the team responded to a critical psychiatrist shortage with new pharmacist-led models of care, increasing pharmacist-led clinical activity nearly fivefold to more than 7,000 documented interventions a year.
MM2026 Conference Awards
- Best overall oral presentation: Erin Dunn ANZCAP-Reg. (GenMed, Lead&Mgmt)
- Best first-time oral presentation: Lynette Ear
- Best original research oral presentation: Grace Lau ANZCAP-Reg. (Cardiol., CritCare)
- Best case report oral presentation: Annamika Aswani
- Best pharmacy practice oral presentation: Martin Canning FANZCAP (MedSafety)
- Best technician oral presentation: Vanessa Onah
- Best student or intern oral presentation: Joanna Benedict
- Best overall poster: Annie Zheng ANZCAP-Res.
- Best first-time poster presenter: Sneha-kavya Babji ANZCAP-Res.
- Best original research poster: Niki Ferreira FANZCAP (VAD)
- Best case report poster: Allie Yang
- Best pharmacy practice poster: Tien (Angel) Nguyen
- Best technician poster: Brooke Jeffries
- Best student or intern poster: Alyssa Gottardo
- People’s choice poster: Nashrah Khan (Drug-Related Presentations in a Paediatric Emergency Department: A Prospective Study)
Next stop: Canberra
Closing the conference on Saturday, MM2026 Scientific Program Committee Chair Stephen Louey FANZCAP (EmergMed) announced Medicines Management 2027 will be held in Canberra from 21 – 23 October 2027, the first time in 15 years the conference will return to the national capital.