Mr Donovan, the chief pharmaceutical officer for Wales Andrew Evans, and the chief pharmacist at the Ministry of Defence Sumeet Kaur Matharu were among the 1,134 people who were recognised in the list, which was published on June 1.
All three received an Order of the British Empire (OBE), with Mr Donovan recognised for “services to pharmacy”; Mr Evans for “services to the COVID-19 response”; and Mr Matharu for “services to armed forces healthcare”.
Patricia Donnelly, head of the vaccination programme in Northern Ireland, was also awarded an OBE for her “services to the COVID-19 response”.
Boots chief “honoured” to accept award
Mr Donovan has been working at Boots for more than 25 years, having first started as a pre-registration pharmacist in 1996.
As Boots chief pharmacist – a role he began in 2015 – Mr Donovan has most recently lead on the multiple’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including rolling out COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, Boots wrote in a statement.
“He was instrumental in introducing the Ask for ANI service across Boots stores and for many years has championed our partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, to the point we can now offer access to a Boots Macmillan information pharmacist in every store,” Boots added.
Read more: Boots to retrain staff after ‘disappointing’ Ask for ANI failure in Oxford
Mr Donovan said he was “honoured to accept this recognition on behalf of the many dedicated and hard-working pharmacists and pharmacy teams that I have had the privilege to work alongside over the years”.
“The positive difference that community pharmacy has made, and continues to make, is extraordinary and I feel privileged to have had such a rewarding career in the profession so far,” he added.
This is the second accolade of this kind for a Boots employee in the space of just six months, as director of healthcare services at Boots Asif Aziz was awarded an OBE for his “services to pharmacy, especially testing for COVID-19” in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for 2022.
