First-year Doctor of Pharmacy students at Northeastern University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences get their white coats, a traditional emblem of health professionals, each fall. This event showcases the professionalism, responsibility, and dedication required of pharmacy professionals.
The White Coat Ceremony represents three things:
Students’ commitment to mastering the pharmacy education they are about to undertake
Students’ realization that caring for patients is a significant privilege
Commitment to the pharmacist’s oath
Azita Razzaghi, PharmD, RPh
Vice President, Safety and Pharmacovigilance
Verastem, Cambridge, MA
At this time, I promise to devote myself to my pharmacy education and a lifetime of service to others through the profession of pharmacy.
In fulfilling this vow:
I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering my primary concerns at work and experiential sites.
I will treat all patients with dignity and respect and will not discriminate against any patient.
I will apply my knowledge, experience, and skills to the best of my ability to assure optimal outcomes for all patients.
I will respect and protect all personal and health information entrusted to me.
I will accept the responsibility to improve my professional knowledge, expertise, and self-awareness.
I will hold myself and my colleagues to the highest principles of our profession’s moral, ethical, and legal conduct.
I will suggest, embrace, and advocate changes that improve patient care.
I will apply my knowledge, skills, experiences, and values to prepare myself as part of the next generation of pharmacists.
I take these vows voluntarily with the full realization of my current and future responsibilities.
Azita Razzaghi, PharmD, RPh, has more than 30 years of experience in drug safety and pharmacovigilance, including clinical development, post-marketing safety, regulatory submissions, risk management, and safety operations. Most recently, she serves as Vice President, Pharmacovigilance Compliance and Operations.
She has held roles at Verastem, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Genzyme, Astra Pharmaceuticals, Serono Laboratories, and Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals. Her work has included regulatory submissions and approvals for products such as Copiktra, Alunbrig, Lemtrada, and Thyrogen across oncology, neurology, endocrinology, rare diseases, and osteoporosis. She has also represented drug safety organizations in interactions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Dr. Razzaghi has held academic and clinical affiliations with Northeastern University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. She earned her BS and PharmD degrees from Northeastern University, completed a Clinical Research Fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and authored chapters on Parkinson’s disease and seizure disorders in multiple editions of Comprehensive Pharmacy Review.
