Over a decade has passed since Narthaanan Srimurugathasan was awarded a Future Aces scholarship. While the specifics of the awards ceremony may have faded with time, his “feeling of gratitude” remains vivid. To this day, he keeps the Future Aces Creed close — a tangible reminder of the scholarship’s enduring significance.
Narthaanan was drawn to geography as a high school student at Victoria Park Collegiate Institute, envisioning a career in geological engineering. However, when his initial university program emphasized mining over his interest in tectonic activity, he made the courageous decision to pivot.
With courage and curiosity, he changed direction, first exploring general science, and eventually finding his passion in pharmacy at the University of Toronto. Although today, he works in healthcare, he maintains that “nothing is a closed door. I think other opportunities still exist if I choose to still pursue them.”
While pharmacy may not have been his initial high school aspiration, Narthaanan finds deep satisfaction in his work.
“Thinking about the interventions I’ve made in managing a patient’s medications and its impact creates a lot of job satisfaction, which doesn’t always happen in other roles.”
This sense of making a difference extends to his non-direct patient care work, where he witnesses the broader impact of his interventions.
A key aspect of Narthaanan’s previous role — one he greatly valued — was the opportunity to mentor pharmacy students in their hospital rotations. He prioritized skills-based learning, believing that “by focusing on skill development, it will allow one to grow as an individual.” He also emphasized that critical thinking skills are particularly important, given their versatility in different roles and work environments.
Similar to his involvement in high school extracurriculars, Narthaanan actively participated in leadership roles throughout pharmacy school, engaging with organizations at the university, provincial, and national levels. This inherent drive to lead, along with his experience navigating a pharmacy residency during the pandemic, ignited his current ambition: an MBA.
Why should a clinical pharmacist pursue an MBA? For Narthaanan, it’s about expanding his horizons and amplifying his impact. Recognizing that many leadership positions favour a master’s degree, he strategically chose an MBA for its versatility in the realm of healthcare leadership. His vision extends beyond a clinical pharmacist; he aims to become a healthcare leader and advocate, leveraging his pharmacy background as a valuable foundation.
Narthaanan’s journey offers important advice for young people navigating their own paths—embrace lifelong learning.
“It’s hard in grade 12 to choose a career path and stick to it. There’s so little that you know about the world and there’s so little that you know about yourself.”
He encourages everyone to “embrace whatever opportunity you get because you never know if you’ll get that opportunity again.”