Suzanne Solven

Suzanne Solven, RPh is a Canadian regulatory official based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is notable during the COVID-19 pandemic due to her role at the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia.

Solven is a past member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia Prescription Review Panel, past Co-Chair of the National Pharmaceuticals Strategy, and past chair of the Advisory Committee on Pharmaceuticals at the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH). She is also associated with the British Columbia Pharmacy Association (BCPhA).^{1) 2)}

Solven spent 13 years working with the Government of British Columbia as both Executive Director and Senior Pharmacist of the BC PharmaCare program. In these roles, she led inter-professional drug policy initiatives such as evidence-based drug review processes, limited-use drug coverage, special authorization expert committees and standardized product listing agreements. She was also a provincial partner in the development of the Common Drug Review.

Solven served as the Deputy Registrar for the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia for over 9 years, from January 2007 to July 2016. As Deputy Registrar, Suzanne led the development of the DrugSafeBC initiative; changes to the ownership provisions in BC’s pharmacy legislation; undercover pharmacy investigations; and a collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One of Solven's first major actions at the College was contributing to the transition to the Health Professions Act in 2009. She also played a key role in the government submission to expand the pharmacist’s scope of practice to include prescription adaptations.

Solven has also been integral in the College’s work on methadone maintenance treatment. She invested her time in building stakeholder relationships with many groups, including patient advocacy groups to ensure their perspectives were incorporated into the initiative. She led the development of the Methadone Maintenance Treatment Action Plan and oversaw more than 20 focused inspections and 2 pharmacy suspensions related to methadone.

Further to her work on methadone, Suzanne was very involved in the College’s discipline cases. As the staff resource on the Inquiry and Discipline Committees, she supported the committees to take action in the interest of public safety.³⁾

She also took on the task of making changes to the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act that allow the College to know the identities of current and potential pharmacy owners.

She led the College’s preparedness on medical assistance in dying. She took a leadership role provincially along with Health Authorities, the BC Ministry of Health and other regulatory Colleges to ensure that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians clearly understood the College’s expectations throughout the quickly changing legal landscape.

Starting in July 2016, Solven worked in various positions at Pacific Blue Cross.⁴⁾ From December 2018 until January 2022, she was the Associate Vice President of Audit, Investigations and Quality Assurance, where she led both the Fraud Investigation Branch and the Internal Audit Branch.⁵⁾

On December 20, 2021, Solven was announced as the new Registrar and CEO for the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia.^{6) 7)} She began the new position on January 31, 2022, replacing the outgoing Bob Nakagawa.

Solven is a current member of the Alumni UBC Advisory Council and UBC Therapeutics Initiative Oversight committee.⁸⁾