Elsy Gomez Campos, the president of the UK Black Pharmacist Association, has been elected the first president of the Pharmacists' Defence Association's Black and Minority Ethnic Pharmacists' Network.

Gomez Campos (pictured above), who has worked in various pharmacy settings including hospital, home care and general practice during a career spanning 20 years, will oversee the network as it tries to meet the needs of the PDA's diverse membership and take forward its work on equality.

The PDA said she will chair network meetings, be a key spokesperson for the PDA BAME Network and serve on the PDA Equalities Council alongside the chairs of the other PDA equality networks. These include the National Association of Women Pharmacists; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network; and the Disabled Pharmacists' Network (Ability).

“I am overwhelmed by the confidence BAME members have in me. I am really pleased and I appreciate the opportunity to work towards making meaningful changes and advancing the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda,” Gomez Campos said.

“Furthermore, I am looking forward to working with other PDA pharmacist groups such as the NAWP, LGBT+ and Ability Networks to ensure we address the challenges intersectional discrimination poses to many PDA members.”

Locum pharmacist Sherifat Muhammad Kamal was elected vice-president of the BAME Network and Dorothy Egede, a foundation pharmacist in Middlesbrough, was elected as PDA BAME honorary secretary.