Dr Paul Tait FPS, PSA’s 2026 Pharmacist of the Year, is a champion of research, innovation and the evolving role of pharmacists in providing connected care.
Dr Tait’s diverse career spans community pharmacy, regional hospital practice, neonatal care, palliative care, and virtual health. Each unique role has built upon the last, allowing him to elevate patient care while empowering fellow clinicians to do the same.
Based in Adelaide, Dr Tait is a pharmacist with the South Australian Virtual Care Service, an innovative model delivering urgent care across the state. Since joining the service 2 years ago, his role has extended beyond clinical care as he seeks to embed critical research into everyday practice.
‘My role is to help establish a research culture, not just by leading projects myself, but by supporting doctors, nurses and paramedics to develop their own research,’ he says.
The role of virtual care continues to evolve rapidly. ‘Virtual care relies on people having access to technology and the confidence to use it,’ Dr Tait says. ‘Not everyone has that digital literacy, or even reliable internet access.’
With more than 6,000 community pharmacies spanning Australia, he believes pharmacists can bridge that digital gap.
Dr Tait’s transition into research began through his work in palliative care, where repeated complaints from both bereaved families and clinicians highlighted difficulties accessing essential medicines for patients nearing the end of life.
‘Initially it felt extremely confronting as pharmacists were being criticised from all different directions,’ he says. ‘I wanted to understand what community pharmacists were experiencing.’
His subsequent research analysed how pharmacies managed palliative care medicines. Rather than finding a lack of willingness to help, the research uncovered a system that was struggling with inconsistency.
‘We realised the solution was to create a core list of medicines that everyone could work from,’ he says.
On the horizon, Dr Tait hopes that pharmacists continue to embrace opportunities beyond traditional practice, combining clinical expertise with research and innovation to improve healthcare.
For Dr Tait, the future of the profession is collaboration – working alongside other health professionals to ensure every patient receives the right care, wherever they are.
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