Claire Frewin

Claire Frewin is a Lecturer at the University of Newcastle's Department of Rural Health within the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, based at the Manning Education Centre in Taree since her 2009 appointment. Her work focuses on rural health service delivery, pharmacy workforce development, and inter-professional education initiatives across regional New South Wales.

Education:

• Master of Pharmacy, University of Newcastle
• Registered Pharmacist, Pharmacy Board of Australia

Her research centers on clinical pharmacy practice in rural settings, with 80% emphasis on clinical pharmacology/therapeutics and pharmacy practice, and 20% on rural clinical health. Key interests include patient-centered care models, inter-professional learning frameworks, and addressing workforce shortages through innovative preceptorship programs. Her work bridges community pharmacy practice with academic research to improve healthcare access in underserved regions.

Publication analysis reveals consistent focus on rural pharmacy workforce dynamics (40% of output), inter-professional education innovations (30%), and clinical pharmacy applications in primary care (30%). Recent work shows increasing emphasis on dementia risk reduction in rural primary care and virtual inter-professional training solutions developed during pandemic disruptions.

Professional Affiliations:

• Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy (Accredited Pharmacist since 2009)

Ms. Frewin actively mentors pharmacy interns through structured preceptorship programs, leveraging her decade of community pharmacy experience on NSW's Mid North Coast. Her consultancy work with the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy directly informs her academic approach to rural workforce development. Collaborative projects with colleagues like Sonja Littlejohns and Jane Ferns demonstrate strong interdisciplinary partnerships focused on practical solutions for rural healthcare challenges.

Within the Department of Rural Health, she contributes to teams addressing geographic health disparities through education-research-service integration, particularly in pharmacy workforce sustainability and inter-professional training models for rural practice settings.