Every year, first-year pharmacy students, accompanied by their family members, fellow students, faculty and staff, members of the pharmacy community and government participate in the School of Pharmacy’s White Coat Ceremony. This year our White Coat Ceremony will be on January 19, 2023 at 5:00pm in the Health Sciences Centre Main Auditorium. A reception, sponsored by Sobeys, will follow.

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The purpose of the White Coat Ceremony is to formally welcome pharmacy students to the School and indoctrinate them into the pursuit of the pharmacy profession. During the ceremony, we will review the traditions and goals of the profession, and the significance of the pharmacy profession in providing for a healthy society.

2023 will be our 17th anniversary of the White Coat Ceremony!

The event culminates each year with the recitation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board (NLPB)'s Code of Ethics, and the School of Pharmacy's Pledge of Professionalism. 

Honorary White Coat

The presentation of donning an honorary white coat began in 2016 as part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the White Coat Ceremony.

The pharmacy profession has evolved exponentially in recent years. But pharmacy would not be where it is today without history—the foundation of the present and future. Recipients of the Honorary White Coat have been practicing for decades and exhibit the qualities and dedication to the profession that we hope our students will display. Each year, a pharmacist presents the honour to the new recipient.

Leaders. Mentors. Inspirations. 

Honorary White Coat recipients have significantly advanced the profession, the health-care system, and improved patients' and the population's quality of life.

They are the trailblazers.

This year, our Honorary White Coat recipient, to be recognized at our 2023 ceremony, is Margot Priddle. We will be celebrating Ms. Priddle in a tradition that celebrates trailblazers who have helped advance the pharmacy profession in Newfoundland and Labrador.

A little bit about Ms. Priddle:

During Margot Priddle’s nearly 40-year career as a pharmacist, she engaged in the many facets of the pharmacy profession. After graduating from the pharmacy program at the College of Trades and Technology in St. John’s, Margot became a registered pharmacist in 1984. She worked in community pharmacy with Lawtons Drugs until 1986, when she moved into hospital pharmacy practice with St. Clare's Mercy Hospital.

Returning to Lawtons in 1989, Margot was the Consultant Pharmacist and Pharmacist Manager of Nursing Home Services. It was during this time that Margot pursued an education in Business Administration and Commerce, graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Memorial University in 1996.

After a period after nearly 11 years working in geriatric care, Margot transitioned into eHealth as a Pharmacy Consultant with the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information. It was in this position she first began her work on the NL Pharmacy Network, a project that she would go on to lead and fully implement, connecting the first pharmacy to the network in 2010.

In leading the development of the NL Pharmacy Network, Margot gained a passion for supporting and improving patient safety and providing enhanced care to patients. It was this passion that would serve her greatly in the role of Registrar of the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board.

Prior to stepping into the role of Registrar, Margot served as President of Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board (NLPB)’s predecessor organization, the Newfoundland Pharmaceutical Association and as a member of NLPB’s Board of Directors. This was one of the many boards and committees on which Margot served, which also included the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, the Canadian Pharmacists Association, and the National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities.

As Registrar of the NLPB, Margot was responsible for the oversight and leadership of the practice of pharmacy in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was in Margot’s first year as Registrar that the Pharmacy Act 2012 was enacted, ushering in a period of change and advancement to the profession and its regulation. Under Margot's leadership pharmacists expanded their scope of practice to include prescribing and administration of drug therapy by inhalation or injection, pharmacy technicians became regulated health professionals, a quality assurance program was established to promote high standards of practice within the profession, and the provincial framework for medical assistance in dying was developed in collaboration with other provincial health regulators.

For her work in the profession, Margot has received various professional accolades and awards such as the Centennial Pharmacists Award for both the NLPB and the Canadian Pharmacists Association, the Ernest C. McDonald's Memorial Medal from the Pharmacists Association of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Past President Award from the Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy.

Past Honorary White Coat recipients:

2016 recipient: Dwight Ball
2017 recipient: Don Rowe
2018 recipient: David Collins
2019 recipient: Arlene Crane
2020 recipient: Dr. Linda Hensman
2022 recipient: Christina Tulk