Blood Cancer Day 2025 at University of Toronto's Faculty of Pharmacy
The LLSC was delighted to be invited to present at Blood Cancer Day on Saturday, May 3 at the University of Toronto Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. Daniela Sinisi, Ontario community service lead, and Naone Garcia, community partnership lead, represented LLSC at the day of learning.
The room was full of 60+ hospital pharmacists, retail pharmacists, pharmaceutical industry professionals, students, and pharmacy technicians. Not only was the room at capacity, 50+ professionals joined virtually as well!
Key topics that were discussed included acute leukemias (AML/ALL), multiple myeloma, T-cell engaging therapies, and supportive care.
LLSC was invited to kick off the day presenting our programs and services and discussing how we partner with our healthcare professionals in the community. Resounding themes throughout the day:
- The skill and value that pharmacists bring to the healthcare team
- How the role of pharmacists is only going to keep expanding, especially with the introduction of oral chemotherapy medication and more patients being able to access treatment in their own home.
We had so many insightful conversations with folks, and also immediately noticed that there was a big interest in pharmacy students wanting to volunteer with us! Multiple presenters throughout the day referred to and showed LLSC blood cancer resources!
The course instructors who organized this amazing day were Melissa Lo and Chris Tsu, who are supporters of the LLSC. Both Melissa and Chris are pharmacists currently working at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, where Melissa is part of the ambulatory pharmacy team where she has been practicing for the past 13 years, and Chris in the lymphoma, myeloma, auto transplant, and immune effector cell therapy ward.
We were pleased to talk with Tina Crosbie, a clinical pharmacist working in hematology at The Ottawa Hospital and past conference chair of the CAPhO (Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology) conference. (LLSC presented at CAPhO 2024.) Turns out Tina is an LLSC supporter and attended Light The Night in Ottawa last year!
We look forward to the day when every pharmacist in a clinical and community setting across Canada always has a LLSC tear pad at hand to easily refer blood cancer patients to LLSC for support, services, resources, and help with advocacy!