At just 38 Anna Barwick is excelling in her career and spends equally as much effort and energy serving the health community. And she says she still has so much more to give. So it’s no wonder the announcement that she’s receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia has come as a big surprise. Anna is one of 320 people to be named on the 2025 Australia Day Honours List to receive an OAM, for her service to the pharmacy profession. Anna lives in Walcha but she grew up in Peak Hill, with the Parkes Shire setting the foundation upon which she would go on to build an exceptional and community-driven career and turn vision into reality. It's a career that has seen her named NSW Pharmacist of the Year and Innovative Pharmacist of the Year in the same year, NSW Premier's Woman of the Year and the founder and director of PharmOnline, among her many accolades and achievements. Anna is the daughter of Judy and Ray Unger, she completed her schooling at Peak Hill Central before graduating to study pharmacy at Charles Sturt University in Orange, where she met her future husband Mathew Barwick, during O-week to be precise. Between 2005 and 2010 she interned at the Parkes Pharmacy in the Parkes Plaza before moving on to work at the Tamworth Base Hospital. When the opportunity presented itself, Anna and Mathew took hold and purchased their own pharmacy in Walcha, where Anna also worked at Armidale Hospital and became Pharmacy Practice Lecturer at the University of New England from 2012 to 2022, then Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy in 2022. She's also been the consultant pharmacist at Walcha Multipurpose Service since 2018. Anna finished lecturing just this year in January and took an exciting step into a new role as an aged care onsite pharmacist in Walcha that's part of a new Australian Government initiative that kicked off last July. And if she hasn't been busy enough juggling her career, motherhood (with a nine-year-old daughter Evie and seven-year-old son William) and the family farm, she's also studying her PHD via distance through the University of Queensland. She's focusing her work on telepharmacy, a service that allows patients, particularly in rural and remote areas so they don't have to travel, to receive pharmaceutical care from a pharmacist remotely. "Fifteen years, it seems too soon," Anna said about receiving the OAM. "I've got so much more to do, I want to give a fair bit more back. "I've always been interested in health care. I think coming from a rural town you see gaps present. "My family also runs an organic/biodynamic farm that focuses on preventative health." Anna said it's all contributed to her interest in balancing what people can treat or prevent without medication. In her short 15 years Anna has been heavily involved in the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia as vice president of the NSW Branch from 2014-2018, NSW committee member 2014-2020 and chair of the Practice Support and Education Committee from 2018-2020. During the same time (2014-2017) she was a Rural Observer for the NSW Branch of The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia. Anna founded PharmOnline in 2020, a service that aims to provide Australians with 24/7 remote access to registered, experienced pharmacists, which is particularly valuable to people who are isolated and unable to easily access their community pharmacy or other health services. She said starting her own business with PharmOnline has been a big highlight. "I started PharmOnline during Covid when people really needed the service but couldn't access it, it's online advice when you need it," Anna said. She's thrilled she's been able to grow the service to offer advice from eight other expert pharmacists. "There's also lots of medical writings and medication reviews, all helping to evolve what pharmacists do," she said. In 2021 Anna was named NSW Pharmacist of the Year, received the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Pharmacy Shark Tank Award for her innovative idea of helping women with advice on gestational diabetes through a pharmacy newsletter, and the University of Technology Sydney's Innovative Pharmacist of the Year. 2022 was another big year for Anna where she was named NSW Regional Woman of the Year and went on to win the NSW Premier's Woman of the Year. From 2023-2024 she was recognised as a Superstar of STEM through Science and Technology Australia, and she's currently an inaugural member of the NSW Regional Health Ministerial Advisory Panel. Meanwhile in the community Anna was a member and fundraiser for the Walcha Town and Country Club (2010-2015), treasurer for the NSW Rural Women's Gathering (2018-2020) and has been a mentor since 2020 for the prestigious annual competition Country to Canberra that awards winners a 'Power Trip' to Canberra to meet inspiring leaders, politicians and CEOs. Among Anna's other highlights has been teaching. "I've taught hundreds of students, while most are pharmacy students I've taught nurses as well," she said. "Then watching them go out and advocate for their communities, that's what inspires me, that's what I enjoy." Reflecting on her OAM and all her accomplishments thus far, Anna said "it shows you don't have to come from the city to be successful".
