Two UCL School of Pharmacy students have completed this year’s Planetary Health Report Card for schools of pharmacy. This revealed UCL School of Pharmacy to be the second highest scoring school of pharmacy worldwide, as well as in the UK. Our overall score of B+ suggests a significant improvement over our score of C+ achieved two years ago.

The two students who led the process were Andrea Lam and Gift Boateng, both MPharm students at UCL. They worked with Professor Bryony Dean Franklin, Sustainability Lead for the MPharm degree at UCL School of Pharmacy, to collect the information required. Andrea said “It was a very insightful experience, and I hope this report can be used to help continue shaping the pharmacy curriculum and encourage everyone to think about how climate and healthcare are increasingly intertwined”. Gift added, “it was very rewarding to contribute to and asses current sustainability efforts at UCL, through completing the PHRC. I am glad to see such an improvement in sustainability since the 2024 report card”. 

Professor Franklin said, “I am really proud of our MPharm students Andrea and Gift for working to complete the Planetary Health Report Card, and delighted that our score has improved from two years ago. I am now looking forward to exploring how we can maintain those areas in which we scored well, and addressing some of the areas for improvement identified”.

 

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The Planetary Health Report Card is a metric-based tool for evaluating and improving sustainability in universities that provide courses for future healthcare professionals. There are five sections: curriculum content, research into sustainability, community outreach, support for student-led sustainability initiatives, and campus sustainability. Completion of these sections is student-led, with mentoring from a member of staff, with the aim of evaluating current practice and identifying areas for improvement. Originally developed by medical students to evaluate medical schools, the Planetary Health Report Card has since been adapted for many other healthcare education programs.  This year, Planetary Health Report Cards were completed for thirteen schools of pharmacy from six countries around the world, with six of these being from the UK.