Affiliation: Clinical Pharmacy Group, Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy Country: Finland

1. Current Status, Position

Prof Dr Raisa Laaksonen is an adjunct professor in clinical pharmacy and has been a senior lecturer in the Specialisation Programme in Community and Hospital Pharmacy at the University of Helsinki since 2010. The programme supports pharmacy practitioners working in community, primary care or hospital settings in developing and improving their competence in the areas of clinical pharmacy, medication safety, leadership and multi-professional collaboration of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. The main responsibilities of Dr Laaksonen at the university are research, teaching and developing the specialisation programme and its courses.

2. Education

Prof Dr Laaksonen studied pharmacy at the Uppsala Universitet, Sweden, and graduated in 2001. She worked as a hospital and community pharmacist in improving healthcare services in Eksjo, Sweden in 2001. In 2006, she completed her PhD titled "Evaluating competence, performance and perceptions: a multi-method longitudinal study in community pharmacy practice" at the School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK. In 2006, Prof Dr Laaksonen had a joint post at the Academic Department of Pharmacy at Barts and the London NHS Trust and at the School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK. Between 2007 and 2010, Prof Dr Laaksonen was a lecturer in pharmacy practice at the University of Bath, UK, where she also worked in community pharmacy. Since 2010, she has been working at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

3. Research Area

Prof Dr Laaksonen's main research interests lie in evaluating pharmacy service developments, developing ways to measure pharmacists’ and other healthcare professionals' performance, evaluating provision of medication reviews, and evaluating the influence of work role on pharmacists' work related satisfaction and perceptions of performance and competence and continuing professional development. In this area, she is also interested in evaluating developments within pharmacy education. Her other research interests lie in evaluating cultural perceptions of, and access to, healthcare and pharmacy services.