Jennifer Ludwig was born and raised in Brandon. One could say that she was destined to be in the business of health and helping people. Jennifer is continuing a family tradition of pharmacists serving the community, with two great-uncles and her uncle Joss March all in pharmacy practice. She graduated from the University of Manitoba in 2005. In 2011 she became the owner/manager of Super Thrifty Pharmacy. Jennifer loves the challenges of being a pharmacist and local business owner. She has volunteered on committees that have community-focused benefits such as the YMCA Strong Kids Program and the Westman Dream for Kids.

Jennifer takes her role as pharmacist very seriously. When she saw how some people struggled to take commonly-prescribed medications, she knew that there was a way to help. In 2006, only one year after graduating with her pharmacy degree, Jennifer took highly specialized training in the art of compounding at the Professional Compounding Centres of America in Houston, Texas.  At that time, no Brandon pharmacies had the on-site facility to make complex medications, so she set about developing such a lab. What started as an idea became a reality and in a very short time, that space was deemed too small to meet the demand. Jennifer then planned a new compounding area to better serve the community’s needs. To date, Super Thrifty Pharmacy is the only location in Brandon that has a purpose-built state-of-the-art compounding lab with a sterile room suite. This is one of only a handful throughout the province. There are now two other compounding pharmacists, both women, working at this location. Jennifer had a vision and made it a reality, all in less than ten years.

Jennifer focused on another very under-served area of pharmacy practice, namely women’s health. She knew of the challenges of aging that face women and how individualized help would be beneficial with the effects of menopause, before, during and after. She branched out into specialized training once again, learning how she and her staff could better assist issues associated with menopause. Tailoring a compounded bio-identical hormone specifically to each woman’s individual needs can make a huge difference in that woman’s health and well-being. There are many facets to these complex hormone issues and if one avenue doesn’t help, she has many options to achieve the best possible result. 

Jennifer has served on the executive board of the College Of Pharmacists of Manitoba since 2012. She has served as Executive Treasurer, President and currently is Past President. During this time she has been presented with two awards. She’s the recipient of the Past President Award for her work dedicated to pharmacy and her commitment to protecting the health and well-being of the public. The Patient Safety Award was presented to the council members that served on the board from 2014 to 2016 in recognition of their efforts to implement a program to help reduce the use, misuse and abuse of low-dose codeine products. Another area that Jennifer has been instrumental in developing is the expanded scope of practice. With this new legislation, pharmacists who have additional training can now provide services previously associated with physicians and other health care professionals, such as administering flu injections and vaccines. 

Jennifer started her career as a pharmacist but in a very short period of time has become a manager, owner and partner at Super Thrifty Drugs Canada Ltd. These goals have been achieved by her vision, hard work, travel time commitment, all the while doing so quietly, with grace and good humour. She has accomplished a great deal, with the full support of her husband Jordan, family, friends and work colleagues every step of the way.