Dr. Debbie Kelly
Professor and Special Advisor, Practice Innovation
Director, Medication Therapy Services Clinic (MTS Clinic)
Cross-appointment, Faculty of Medicine
Joint-appointment, Eastern Health (Provincial HIV program)
Dr. Kelly received her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Memorial University in 1996, completed a hospital pharmacy residency in 1997 from the Queen Elizabeth II Health Science Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and earned her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Toronto in 1999. In 2012, Dr. Kelly was named a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP), and in 2025, she received the Canadian Pharmacist of the Year award from the Canadian Pharmacists Association.
Dr. Kelly is the Special Advisor on Practice Innovation and led the establishment of the province’s first pharmacist clinic, the Medication Therapy Services (MTS) Clinic in 2016, for which she currently serves as Director. She has led research looking at optimizing medication use and deprescribing, which are the areas of expertise through the MTS Clinic.
Dr. Kelly is also the Clinical Pharmacotherapy Specialist to the provincial HIV program. In addition to providing care to people with and at risk for HIV, she leads a research program looking at pharmacist-led models of care for sexual health and bloodborne infections, which is supported by research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Research Areas of Interest
- Pharmacist-led models of care for sexual health (STBBI testing, HIV PrEP and treatment)
- Point-of-care and dried bloodspot testing
- Appropriate medication use and deprescribing
- Community-based research and implementation science
Teaching Areas of Interest
- Viral infectious diseases including HIV and viral hepatitis
- Sexually transmitted infections
- EDI and inclusive healthcare practices
Current/Recent Projects
- ACCESS-Rx- Improving sexual health for Canadians through a pharmacy-based sexual-health-services model (funded by CIHR-THINC grant)
- APPROACH 2.0: Pharmacist testing for HIV, Hepatitis C and Syphilis (funded by CIHR): approachstudy.ca
- CTN+: CIHR Pan-Canadian Network for HIV and STBBI Clinical Trials Research (funded by CIHR): https://www.ctnplus.ca/our-people/
- Evaluating patient outcomes of comprehensive medication assessments by pharmacists (funded by Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy): https://cfpnet.ca/innovation-update-patients-want-this-service/
- SaferMedsNL (funded by Department of Health and Community Services, Government of NL): SaferMedsNL.ca
Selected Awards
- 2025 Canadian Pharmacist of the Year – Canadian Pharmacists Association
- 2025 Canadian Pharmacists Journal Best Paper of the Year: Role of the pharmacist caring for people at risk or living with HIV in Canada (co-author; led by Stacey Tkachuk and Erin Ready)
- 2024 James C. Quick Award – Pharmacists’ Association of Newfoundland and Labrador
- 2020 CNIE 2020 Award of Merit for the Award of Excellence in Instructional Design in Higher Education
- 2010 Top 10 Top 100 Notable Pharmacists (1910-2010) – Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board
- 2010 Alfred G. Dawe Distinguished Service Award – Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, NL Branch
- 3x recipient of the Bristol Myers Squibb Excellence in Pharmaceutical Teaching award (2000, 2002, 2010)
Selected Publications (last five years)
- Tan DHS, Hull MW, Onyegbule SO, Ajiboye W, Arkell C, Baril JG, Cox J, Harris M, Kelly DV, Kwag M, Lambert G, O’Byrne P, O’Donnell S, Shukalek CB, Singh A, Sotindjo T, Swidrovich J, Tremblay C, Yoong. Canadian Guidelines on HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis and Post Exposure Prophylaxis – 2025. CMAJ (under review).
- Bergin KM, Black EK, Murphy AL, Kelly DV, Wilby KJ. Pharmacists’ acceptability of provision of sexually transmitted infection services: a scoping review. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 2025 Jun 12:riaf039.
- Wilbur K, Kelly DV, Jorgenson D. Interprofessional collaboration in pharmacist-led primary care clinics. Canadian Pharmacists Journal. 2025 Mar 12;158(3):172–9.
- Holder KA, Ding E, Kao D, Shokoohi M, Trigg J, Hogg RS, Morkar J, Grant MD, Kelly DV. Progress towards World Health Organization HIV Infection 95-95-95 measures in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Plos one. 2024 Jun 27;19(6):e0305898.
- Tkachuk S, Ready E, Chan S, Hawkes J, Janzen Cheney T, Kapler J, Kreutzwiser D, Akagi L, Coombs, M, Giguere P, Hughes C, Kelly DV, Livingston S, Martel D, Naccarato M, Nhean S, Pozniak C, Ramsey T, Robinson L, Smith J, Swidrovich J, Symes J, Yoong D, Tseng A. Role of the pharmacist caring for people at risk of or living with HIV in Canada. Canadian Pharmacists Journal. 2024 Aug 2;157(5):218–39.
- Newport K, Langford AV, McEvoy AM, Kelly DV, Smith T, Tannenbaum C, Turner JP. How to change workflow to enhance implementation of professional services in community pharmacies: A deprescribing case study. Canadian Pharmacists Journal. 2024 May 6;157(4):164–70.
- Turner JP, Newport K, McEvoy AM, Smith T, Tannenbaum C, Kelly DV. Strategies to guide the successful implementation of deprescribing in community practice: Lessons learned from the front line. Canadian Pharmacists Journal. 2024 Apr 13;157(3):133–42.
- MacDonald CB, Murphy AL, Isenor JE, Ramsey TD, Furlotte K, Smith AJ, Bishop A, Kelly DV, Woodill L, Booker C, Wilby KJ. Target users’ acceptance of a pharmacist-led prescribing service for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Canadian Pharmacists Journal. 2023 Jul;156(4):194-203.
- Balsom CR, Farrell A, Kelly DV. Barriers and enablers to testing for hepatitis C virus infection in people who inject drugs – a scoping review of the qualitative evidence. BMC Public Health. 2023 Jun 1;23(1):1038. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16017-8.
- Kelly DV, Pittman N, Balsom C, Clarke A, Genge T, Jesso B, Kielly J, Phillips L. Establishing the Medication Therapy Services Clinic: goals, challenges and future directions. Canadian Pharmacists Journal. 2021 May;154(3):144-8.
- Balsom C, Pittman N, King R, Kelly D. Impact of a pharmacist-administered deprescribing intervention on nursing home residents: a randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy. 2020 Jun 3;42(4):1153–67.
- Kelly DV, Kielly J, Hughes C, Gahagan J, Asghari S, Hancock S, Burt K, Smyczek P, Charlton C, Nguyen H. Expanding access to HIV testing through Canadian community pharmacies: findings from the APPROACH study. BMC Public Health. 2020 May 7;20(1):639.
Book Chapters
- Kelly DV, Patel N. Sexually Transmitted Infections. In: Tseng A. HIV Pharmacotherapy: Clinical Approaches & Applications, 2e. American Society of Health-System Pharmacists: 2025 – in press.
- Kelly DV. Prevention of HIV Infection. In: Therapeutics (RxTx) [Internet]. Ottawa (ON): Canadian Pharmacists Association [updated October 2023]: 2020.
- Kelly DV, Antoniou T. Sexually Transmitted Infections. In: Schafer JJ, Cocohoba J, Sherman E, Tseng A. HIV Pharmacotherapy 2018: The Pharmacist’s Role in Care and Treatment. Maryland: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists: 2018.
Student/Postdoctoral Supervision
PhD
Catherine Balsom (in progress), Memorial University School of Pharmacy. Testing and Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus in Patients Receiving Opioid Agonist Therapy in Newfoundland and Labrador.
MSc(Pharm)
Luke Stuart (accepted, Sept. 2025), Memorial University School of Pharmacy.
Michael Coombs (in progress), Memorial University School of Pharmacy. The implementation of a pharmacist-led testing service for HIV and Hepatitis C in rural NL correctional facilities: a pilot study.
Catherine Balsom (graduated October 2023), Memorial University of Newfoundland. Testing for Hepatitis C virus and pharmacy-based testing: the perceptions of people who inject drugs living in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Medical Student Research Supervision
Jill Koebel (in progress), Memorial University Faculty of Medicine. Healing from trauma and violence in women living with HIV.
Steven Rowe (completed), Memorial University Faculty of Medicine. Perceptions of Elderly and Caregivers on Deprescribing in Long-Term Care: A Qualitative Interview Study.
Media
Syphilis cases in NL up by over 150% since 2023 amid ongoing outbreak in Labrador-Grenfell. Henrike Wilhelm. CBC News, July 28, 2025.
Secret to improving NL patient outcomes are pharmacists. Anasophie Vallee. PNI Atlantic News, March 28, 2025.
Trailblazer in HIV care and pharmacy practice innovator, Dr. Debbie Kelly named 2025 Canadian Pharmacist of the Year. Canadian Pharmacists Association. March 26, 2025.
Project gets $2M to put sexual health services into N.L. pharmacies. Arlette Lazarenko. CBC News, November 4, 2023.
On the spot HIV tests offered at St. John's, Corner Brook pharmacies. Geoff Bartlett. CBC News, February 14, 2017.
More meds, more problems: Pharmacy program aims to trim patient prescriptions. CBC News, March 8, 2017.
Contact
Dr. Debbie Kelly
709-864-7805