About Dr. Sherilyn Houle

Sherilyn was born and raised in a small town in Saskatchewan where her parents owned the local grocery store. While owning a business was never in her future, she recognized the important role the local pharmacists played in helping to address the healthcare needs of the community. With strengths in math and science in high school, she enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree with great distinction in 2006.

 

Her career as a pharmacist began in Alberta at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre with clinical assignments to the psychiatry and palliative care units. This was followed by a move to Edmonton where she practiced within the Alberta Health Services’ home care program. In this role, she visited people in their homes to identify and address medication-related issues in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team, where she also obtained and applied Additional Prescribing Authorization to initiate and modify patients’ drug therapy as required. She also practiced in community pharmacy part-time, which she maintained after enrolling in full-time graduate studies at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Ross Tsuyuki in 2009. Her doctoral research examined the effectiveness of pharmacist prescribing for the management of uncontrolled hypertension through a randomized controlled trial, as well as the outcomes of different models of health professional remuneration for clinical services. In 2014 she received her PhD as well as a post-baccalaureate certificate in teaching and learning in higher education.

 

Sherilyn began her academic career as an Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy at the University of Waterloo in 2014. Here, she developed interests in researching pharmacy practice related to vaccinations and travel medicine and obtained her Certificate in Travel Health from the International Society of Travel Medicine in 2018. Shortly after, she also joined the team providing patient care at the International Travel and Immunizations Clinic within the Centre for Family Medicine Family Health Team in Kitchener, until the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted international travel and required a redistribution of efforts towards mass vaccination, which she supported by working in COVID-19 vaccination clinics, including the one hosted at the School of Pharmacy.

 

​Currently, she is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo with teaching and research interests in pharmacy practice to full scope, with particular interest in vaccinations and travel medicine. In 2024, she also co-founded VaxCare Innovations along with Dr. Molly Yang and Dr. Nancy Waite, which is a non-profit organization that aims to support vaccination efforts through research, clinical decision support, and educational initiatives. She is also a highly active developer of continuing professional development programs and contributor to provincial, national, and international efforts to support clinical practice in vaccinations and travel medicine.

 

When she isn’t working, Sherilyn and her husband are busy trying to keep up with their two very active daughters and their dog, Chester.