Victoria Rutter

Victoria Rutter is Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA) and Chair of the Commonwealth Health Professions and Partners Alliance. She is a clinical pharmacist and global health leader with more than 20 years of experience in antimicrobial stewardship, health system strengthening, and advocacy across low- and middle-income countries.

Victoria is the founder of the award-winning Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship programme, which has developed innovative, context-specific antimicrobial stewardship interventions across eight African countries. She also leads the Surveillance and Prescribing Advisory Resource and Capacity-building programme, which strengthens systems for prescribing surveillance and stewardship. Under her leadership, the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association has delivered more than 23,000 training and professional development opportunities in over 120 health facilities across Africa and Asia since 2019.

She has led and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on antimicrobial stewardship implementation, antimicrobial use data, and pharmacist leadership in stewardship, including in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, the World Health Organization Bulletin, and the Journal of Public Health in Africa. She also contributes to global technical groups such as the International Pharmaceutical Federation Antimicrobial Resistance Commission.

Through digital platforms, including accredited online learning and the Prescribing Companion mobile application, educational training and resources has reached over 70,000 health professionals in more than 100 countries under her leadership, equipping them with tools to combat antimicrobial resistance. She continues to champion the role of pharmacists and civil society in advancing sustainable, country-led responses to antimicrobial resistance.