FIP Congress
Tracey Thornley, professor of health policy at the University of Nottingham’s School of Pharmacy and honorary academic at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), has been awarded an International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Fellowship alongside 15 other international pharmacy professionals.
Thornley was awarded the Fellowship at the opening of the 84th World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, held in Montreal, Canada, on 30 August 2026.
The Fellowship recognises FIP members who demonstrate “strong leadership internationally” and have “distinguished themselves in the practice of pharmacy, education and/or pharmaceutical sciences”.
Thornley is a pharmacist and health economist whose work focuses on outcomes evidence within community pharmacy, including support for pharmacy contract frameworks across the UK and evidencing the value community pharmacy delivers through medicines management and optimisation.
She served as an elected member of the then Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS) English Pharmacy Board from 2016 to 2022, where she focused on antimicrobial stewardship and represented the profession on several expert advisory groups on antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Thornley is a member of the FIP’s global executive committee for the community pharmacy section, a member of the global AMR commission and chair of the data and intelligence commission.
She told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “I am honoured to receive an FIP Fellowship. Pharmacy is a truly global profession, and many of the challenges we face, from AMR to improving access to care, require international collaboration.
“This award is a recognition of the opportunities I have had to work with outstanding colleagues in the UK and across the world to generate evidence, advance community pharmacy practice and support pharmacists to make the greatest possible difference to patients and populations.”
Her work has included collaborations with the UKHSA and NHS England on antimicrobial stewardship projects across primary and secondary care. She has also worked with colleagues internationally, which include regulatory changes to allow pharmacists to vaccinate in France, mole screening in Norway and pharmacogenomics in practice in the Netherlands.
In addition to Thornley, 15 other pharmacy professionals from 9 countries received FIP Fellowships.
Three members of RCPharm have also been elected or ratified to senior leadership positions on the board of FIP.
Claire Anderson has been elected as a FIP vice president for 2026–2027; Lars-Åke Söderlund has been elected FIP president-elect for 2026–2027; and Naoko Arakawa has been ratified as FIP vice president for operational education. All three will take up their positions on 3 September 2026, following elections and ratifications by the FIP Council.
Anderson is also a current elected member of the RCPharm English Pharmacy Advisory Council and served as president of the then RPS from 2021 to 2026.
FIP represents more than 5.5 million pharmacists, pharmacy educators and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide through its 160 member organisations, which include RCPharm in Great Britain.
