Full Name
Ron Pohar
Speaker Bio
Ron Pohar, BScPharm, APA completed a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree at the University of Alberta in 1995 and graduated with distinction. He has 25 years of experience as Clinical Pharmacist in Edmonton’s inner city. He specializes in the areas of addictions, smoking cessation, mental health, and geriatrics and provides onsite clinical pharmacy services, including specialized smoking cessation, addictions, and mental health services, to patients at a number of facilities.He has developed and delivered many print and live continuing education programs for pharmacists and other healthcare providers on a number of mental health topics, including depression, schizophrenia, and specific drug topics (e.g., atypical antipsychotics, clozapine). Ron has extensive training in the tobacco addiction and smoking cessation from the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) and is a TEACH (Training Enhancement in Applied Cessation Counselling and Health) Faculty Member with CAMH.Ron was the Lead of the Core Development Committee for the CATALYST (Call to Action on Tobacco Addiction: A Model for the Busy Pharmacist) Program, a tools-based program that teaches community pharmacists to implement a systematic approach to smoking cessation in their practice. This program has trained over 5000 community pharmacists nationally. Ron is a leading provider/developer of live, print and web-based educational programs that focus on smoking cessation for healthcare providers. He is also an educational consultant to Alberta Health Services in the area of tobacco addiction and is responsible for training staff on pharmacotherapy in patients with comorbid mental illness. Ron has authored numerous articles on smoking cessation, depression, schizophrenia, and atypical antipsychotics, and has presented educational sessions on these topics to a variety of audiences, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other mental health care providers.
Ron Pohar