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The Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom AO Distinguished Lecture Series serves as a premiere platform for renown and respected leaders in pharmacy to share their deep expertise, insights, and experiences with members and stakeholders.
The annual Sansom Lecture is named after Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom AO, whose profound impact on pharmacy education in Australia spans over four decades.
Registrations open Tuesday 1 September 2026
Professor Lisa Nissen
Across every stage of our profession’s evolution we’ve seen one truth emerge again and again: progress doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when we choose to work together, to lean into collaboration, and to trust the capability and professionalism of our colleagues.
Because the future of healthcare isn’t about protecting silos - it’s about expanding systems. It’s about recognising the depth of skill across our workforce and having the confidence to unlock it. When we trust each other - across disciplines, across settings - we don’t just improve access, we redefine what’s possible for patient care.
But collaboration isn’t just structural - it’s personal.
Every breakthrough, every moment of courage to step into something new, is often underpinned by relationships. The mentor who challenged you. The colleague who backed you. The quiet network that reminds you, especially when things are hard, that you’re not doing this alone. When we combine connected systems with connected people, we create something powerful: a profession ready not just to respond to change - but to lead it.
Professor Lisa Nissen is Director and Taylor Family Chair, Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland. A pharmacist by background, she is a nationally and internationally recognised leader in health workforce policy, workforce optimisation and scope of practice reform. Her work focuses on improving access to healthcare through workforce and service redesign, multidisciplinary care models and evidence-informed policy change. Her research has driven major health system reforms, including leading the introduction of pharmacist-led immunisation services across Australia and the Urinary Tract Infection Pharmacy Pilot in Queensland, both Australian firsts.
Professor Nissen was Research Lead for the Australian Government’s Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review (2023–2024). She brings to her work a strong applied systems perspective, with a proven record of convening governments, professions, regulators and industry to challenge traditional boundaries and implement sustainable, consumer-centred workforce and care models.
She is a Fellow of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the International Pharmacy Federation.
The event is also a special home to the Dr Erica Sainsbury awards, where we announce the winners of each year. The awards have been established to recognise and reward leaders in pharmacy education and practice.
Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom AO, an academic, policy advisor and researcher is a founding member of the Australian Pharmacy Examining Council (APEC), since its inception in 1982 - now known as APC! He has served as both a Board member and Chair of the APC Examining Committee, as well as chairing the Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Council and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee.
"Only the future can be moulded to one which is the preferred future. If you want to do that, then you'll have to commit to excellence, to boldness of leadership, preparedness to change, and reinforcement of the fundamental principles of human rights and dignity. APC has shown itself and continues to show itself to be ready for that challenge for the future." - Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom AO
In 2025, Associate Professor Sue Kirsa discussed how workplace‑based assessments (WBAs) can strengthen workforce capability and resilience, sharing insights from Monash Health’s clinical educator program. She highlighted how structured workplace support and training have dramatically accelerated transitions into hospital pharmacy - reducing time to independent practice from months to days. Emphasising the theme “being in the room where it happens,” Sue underscored the need for deliberate capability building and at‑elbow mentoring to address workforce shortages and lift skills across the profession.
Listen to our podcast: Building pharmacy workforce capability with Sue Kirsa.
In 2024, Professor Tina Brock explored how health professionals can work across disciplines to address the challenges of planetary health. Drawing attention to the scale at which healthcare is contributing to climate issues, Prof Brock emphasised the importance of working together to tackle this issue - particularly by listening to the next generation. Professor Brock showcased initiatives like Rx for Climate and the Planetary Health Report Card to inspire sustainable change led by future health professionals.
Read Collaboration is key to planetary health - 2024 Sansom Lecture
Listen to our podcast: APC CEO Bronwyn Clark in conversation with Prof. Tina Brock.
In 2023, Paul Sinclair AM, President of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) spoke on navigating the evolving landscape of regulation and education within pharmacy practice.
Drawing on his international experience within community practice, Mr Sinclair focussed on what his vision for the future of pharmacy education and regulation looks like.
APC also announced the winners of the 2023 Dr Erica Sainsbury Awards.
Read Pharmacy practice: Navigating the evolving landscape of regulation and education
The 2022 Sansom Lecture celebrated 40 years of the APC. The room heard from Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom AO, Professor Debra Rowett, Professor Kirstie Galbraith, and Alex Burke, Wiradjuri man and PhD candidate, and was facilitated by our leader and Chair Associate Professor Sue Kirsa.
The panellists, each having influenced APC's evolution, spoke about the many innovations and projects that have impacted the pharmacy profession and public health at large.
To this day, Emeritus Professor Sansom still contributes to the development of APC's exams.
Read From knitting needles to outcome-based standards - 40 years of APC | Australian Pharmacy Council
In 2021, the event focussed on the conclusion of our 4-part series on embedding cultural safety into pharmacy education. Panellists explored our journey so far, the importance of creating safe spaces, the value of respectful listening, and humanising the pharmacy profession.
APC also launched their Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan.
In 2019, Professor Faye McMillan AM, Wiradjuri yinaa, spoke at the event about creating a health profession where First Nations peoples feel valued. "Yindyamarra (respect) your Narrative" provided a message of understanding who you are determines the relationships you build.
Faye was appointed as APC's first Indigenous Board Director in 2019, and currently leads our Indigenous Health Strategy Group and the Leaders in Indigenous Pharmacy Professions Education (LIPPE) Network. Faye has been awarded the Medal (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for “significant service to Indigenous mental health, and to tertiary education”.
The event welcomed Professor Debra Rowett PSM as its speaker in 2018. Former APC President and Accreditation Committee Chair, Debra was instrumental APC's strategic direction as it stands today. In 2018, Debra spoke on the significance of interprofessional communication and practice.
Read Influencing Interprofessional Communication and Practice lecture series
2017 marked the beginning of the lecture series with Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom as the speaker, reflecting on his journey and the pharmacy sector's evolution over time.
Read Professor Lloyd Sansom leaves legacy at Australian Pharmacy Council
