{"id":495185,"date":"2026-02-24T00:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495185\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T00:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:45:09","slug":"meet-the-toronto-pharmacy-owner-empowering-black-health-care-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/495185\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Toronto pharmacy owner empowering Black health-care leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nneka Ezurike didn\u2019t plan on having a career in pharmacy. She originally wanted to pursue medicine.<\/p>\n

But after receiving a serendipitous opportunity to take over the Shoppers Drug Mart where she was working as a staff pharmacist, she never looked back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over 15 years later, she\u2019s now the associate owner of four Shoppers Drug Mart locations in Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Ezurike, being a pharmacist is more than just filling prescriptions \u2014 it means equity, trust and influence. She wants to provide culturally appropriate care and help close the gap with healthcare access.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really uniquely positioned as pharmacists to influence or have a great impact when it comes to closing the gap with access and continuity of care, to help patient outcomes in the health-care system,\u201d she tells Now Toronto.<\/p>\n

Black Pharmacy Professionals of Canada<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the Black population continues to grow in Canada, the profession really needs to affect the communities it serves and also be equipped to address health disparities rooted in anti-Black racism by providing culturally appropriate care.\u201d<\/p>\n

To address the underrepresentation of Black pharmacy professionals in Canada, Ezurike co-founded the Black Pharmacy Professionals of Canada<\/a> (BPPC). She says her organization strives to support mentorship and leadership development and to help build a pharmacy profession that can provide culturally appropriate care to her community.<\/p>\n

The first few months were tough. Ezurike worked to make people more aware of her organization and gain the support of various stakeholders. But things have been on the up-and-up in the last two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore people are becoming more aware and we\u2019re getting more support. A true testament of that was our first conference we held last year at the University of Waterloo. Almost 135 attendees attended in person,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

This month, Ezurike held BPPC\u2019s second conference, bringing together pharmacy professionals, from students to international pharmacy graduates, community and health-care leaders, and industry stakeholders. Participants engaged in meaningful dialogue, professional development and community building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s conference was really focused on empowering Black pharmacy professionals, cultivating leadership and engaging in meaningful dialogue to help shape the pharmacy profession and health care as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future goals<\/p>\n

Over the next five years, Ezurike envisions equitable representation of Black pharmacy professionals in schools and in leadership positions and work with advocacy organizations and regulatory bodies \u201cto help minimize some of the barriers that Black pharmacy professionals face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also hope for a future where pharmacists and health-care professionals are better equipped to provide culturally appropriate care to our community,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

For young Black pharmacist hopefuls, Ezurike advises them to seek mentorship and surround themselves with supportive people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I had a mentor early on in my career. Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t until much later, and even when it was much later in my career, the amount of things that I learned was eye opening,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStep out of your comfort zone. Don\u2019t be afraid to make mistakes. They\u2019re going to happen, but learn from your mistakes and continue to grow and learn new skills.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nneka Ezurike didn\u2019t plan on having a career in pharmacy. She originally wanted to pursue medicine. But after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[198696,166061,49,48,26609,17763,3302],"class_list":["post-495185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-bhm","tag-black-history-month","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-pharmacy","tag-shoppers-drug-mart","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}