Pharmacy Achievements
In 1968 Con graduated in Pharmacy and continued his BSc studies at the University of Western Australia.
Between 1970 and 1974 Berbatis worked at the School of Pharmacy, Curtin University of Technology as a supervisor and lecturer in the undergraduate course of pharmaceutics and biochemistry. In 1972 Con’s first few published papers appeared in the national Australian Journal of Pharmacy. From 1975 through to 1977, he conducted research in adverse drug reactions at Sydney Hospital under Doctor G.M. Eckert Clinical Pharmacologist under a national Roche Postgraduate Research Fellow in Clinical Pharmacology. Many research papers in the area of clinical pharmacy case reports were published.
In 1977, Berbatis worked as Australia’s first official clinical pharmacist at Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia until 1984.
In 1980, he was elected as a Board Member of the Pharmaceutical Council of Western Australia and served until 1983.
From November 1984 to 1985, Berbatis worked in the Clinical Pharmacology Department at the Alfred Hospital in Prahan, Victoria as a visiting research fellow.
He co-authored a submission from the Alfred Hospital to the Ministerial Committee to Review Cancer Services in Victoria.
In 1985, Berbatis joined the Queen Victoria Medical Centre in Melbourne as an Assistant Administrator and was transferred as part of the Establishment Team of the Monash Medical Centre in Clayton, Victoria.
State and national pharmacy awards
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1975-76: Roche Postgraduate Fellow of Australia – Methods for the prevention of adverse reactions in hospitals (Sydney Hospital, University of Sydney)
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1977: Winston Churchill Fellow of Australia (NSW) - International study of methods used for the prevention of adverse reactions to drugs (Sydney Hospital, University of Sydney)
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1978: Kodak Fellow of Australia – Australian population data used for optimising drug utilisation and preventing drug-associated morbidity (Pharmaceutical Society of Australia)
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1992: Sandoz Fellow - Pharmaceutical agents used for the primary and secondary prevention of disease Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia)
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1998-2000: National Research Fellow of Australia – National Methadone Project
(Pharmaceutical Society of Australia) -
2002-03: National Research Fellow of Australia – National Pharmacy Database Project (Pharmaceutical Society of Australia)
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2003: Inaugural Winner of the Eric Kirk Memorial Award
In 1988, he returned to Perth and to Curtin University of Technology as Lecturer in the School of Pharmacy. During these years, he was engaged as a quality review co-ordinator in the School of Pharmacy.
In 1995, he became a Member of the Working Party on ‘Blood Testing Guidelines’ (glucose and cholesterol) of the Pharmaceutical Council of Western Australia. Berbatis commenced research studies into the management of opioid dependents. In 1998 he visited research centres in the UK, Europe and USA under a National Fellowship of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. The research culminated in Berbatis becoming Chief Investigator in the national evaluation of pharmacy services in Australia’s methadone programs in 2000. This study was based on a stratified, randomised sample of community pharmacies in Australia. Reports of this important work are held by the Pharmacy Guild of Australian and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.
From 1 January 2002, through to 2003 Berbatis was Chief Investigator of the National Pharmacy Database Project which encompassed the collation and analysis of pharmacy data in each jurisdiction into a sophisticated computer program based in the School of Pharmacy, Curtin University. The research was reported in a report entitled National Pharmacy Database Project (2003).
From 1999 to 2008, he continued as lecturer in the School of Pharmacy. During these years, he was a reviewer of research papers for the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice and of the Drug and Alcohol Review.