17 Jul 2025

Catherine Duggan

Hello. My name is Catherine Duggan.

I am the CEO of FIP, the International Pharmaceutical Federation.

My journey in pharmacy started in the late 1980s when I began my BPharm degree at the School of Pharmacy, University of London. I qualified in 1991 and started my pre-registration year in north London, undertaking an innovative role for the time where I was training in a hospital and in the community. This was very important for me because not only was my hospital training a fabulous experience, based at both a teaching hospital and a general hospital where I gained a wealth of experience with different types of patients and their health needs, but then I spent two weeks in a community pharmacy with a pharmacist who was amazingly innovative and patient facing. I was exposed to the best practices.

In addition, I saw that many patients who had been in hospital were returning home without the changes to their medicines being communicated adequately to the community pharmacist. At this time, the issue of seamless care was politically pertinent, and this was an example of seamless care not working. It inspired me to undertake a PhD while working at the same time (there were very few PhD funds available for this kind of research) to develop an understanding of the risks of this area and the impact of an intervention of providing community pharmacists with more information about patients following their discharge. The study was a success: for every 19 patients discharged from hospital with information about their medicines to take to the community pharmacy (which cost less than 3 euros at the time), one error which would have resulted in readmission or death was prevented. In addition, I undertook some training in health psychology, setup of health services, and the various sociological ideologies upon which health provision is based.

During and after, I worked between hospital and academia for many years, ensuring that professional development could become part of everyone's role from junior level to mid-grade, and up to senior consultant level practitioners in pharmacy. I supervised hundreds of research projects from undergraduate through to masters, MScs, PhD's and post doctorate programmes, and worked hard to make sure these developments accounted for someone's portfolio for professional advancement.

I was active in a clinical pharmacy association which felt like a home and provided me with a network full of colleagues, experts and friends. I successfully stood for election to the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 2008, and in 2010, I started a role there as Director of professional development and support (later that year the organisation became known as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) when it split from its regulatory functions). Under my remit were the support services, the science and research teams (including the charity that awarded me a grant in 1994), mentoring, and professional development. In 2013, I was responsible for setting up the RPS Foundation and Faculty programmes which sought to ensure that all professional development counted for a portfolio of practice across all sectors.

I was also responsible for the international strategy at the RPS which involved close working with FIP. I had attended my first FIP Congress in 1992, presenting work on the role of pharmacists in residential homes and had attended and presented several times since then, making many friends along the way.

When the job of CEO of FIP was advertised, I simply had to go for it. Alongside 40 plus applicants I made it to the final two and the rest, as they say, is history when I was appointed as the first female CEO of the federation. Since then, I have been honoured and blessed to have worked with so many super colleagues and amazing officers and volunteers.

We have faced many challenges since 2018, including the global pandemic which impacted all of us personally and professionally, but allowed FIP to shine in the reflected glory of our profession as we all served our communities to best effect. My role at FIP has enabled me to grow the team, to grow the offering, to grow our presence, to grow our footprint, and to grow FIP in success. I look forward to the next seven years and many beyond that in this fabulous role.

Chief Executive Officer, International Pharmaceutical Federation