QUT alumni and leading lights of Australian pharmacy - Terry and Rhonda White of the Terry White Group have been recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA).
The announcement was made at the recent PSA22, the flagship national conference for Australian pharmacists and caps a remarkable career for the couple who began their careers in the 1950s.
Terry White AO and Rhonda White AO are entrepreneurial pharmacists who have had far reaching impact as a leaders and innovators in business, community service, politics, and health care delivery.
Together, they created the Terry White Group, which now operates more than 500 community pharmacies around Australia under the banner Terry White Chemmart.
PSA National President, Dr Fei Sim said Mr White was also well known for his advocacy on recognition of pharmacists practising to full scope. He has spoken publicly about lessening the burden on Australia’s healthcare system by better utilising Australia’s highly skilled pharmacists.
“This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Queensland powerhouses Terry White AO and Rhonda White AO. Their contributions to pharmacy are too great to list, with thousands of Australian pharmacists knowing them as mentors, confidants, friends, and leaders of our profession,” Dr Fei Sim said.
“Not only have Terry and Rhonda made a significant impact on the profession, but also on the lives of the thousands of patients they have served over their careers.
“We are proud to award Terry and Rhonda a joint Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising their lifetime together as advocates for Queensland pharmacy and leaders to pharmacists around Australia.”
In accepting the award, Terry White spoke of the passion he and Rhonda continued to feel for the profession.
“What I loved about pharmacy was the relationship that we built with so many pharmacists over our career, and the great pleasure we’ve gotten in life from young pharmacists coming to us…many of them are like members of our extended family,” he said.
“From pharmacy practice in the early 60s to what pharmacy is today has been an enormously significant change in the profession.
“It was and is a very successful partnership in life and business. Rhonda’s role has been the creation of systems and the professional development of pharmacists. She truly has been the heart and soul of the brand and is to this day.
“To be recognised by your own profession is something special, and I feel very honoured to be recognised with Rhonda.”
Rhonda joined Terry in accepting the award and lauded her husband’s work as an advocate for the industry.
“Terry has had the more public role, he has elevated community pharmacy in the eyes of the universities and the community, very much so, but also his very successful career in government – he’s also been that voice for pharmacy at a government level,” Mrs White said.
“The thing that matters most when looking back on life, is have you been able to make a difference? As a profession [pharmacists] can make a profound difference to probably more lives than any other profession.”
Rhonda and Terry White both graduated as pharmacists from the Central Technical College, a predecessor institution to QUT. In 2016, they were awarded honorary doctorates by QUT and were previously inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame and appointed Officers of the Order of Australia.
Main image: PSA National President, Dr Fei Sim, with Terry and Rhonda White
Media contact:
Amanda Weaver, QUT Media, 07 3138 3151, amanda.weaver@qut.edu.au
After hours: 0407 585 901, media@qut.edu.au
PSA – Georgia Clarke M: 0410 505 315 E: georgia.clarke@psa.org.au
For comments from the winners – Bridget Totterman M: 0412 009 591 E: btotterman@whiteretail.com