Poisoning is one of the most common causes of admission to hospital. Clinical pharmacologists, with specialty training in toxicology, oversee acute admissions and provide advice on acute poisoning cases via the National Poisons Information Service. They are also responsible for managing Toxbase®, an evidence-based toxicology database, and lead research and development in this field.
Dr Emma Morrison
/Emma-Morrison.png.aspx?width=200&height=200 "Emma-Morrison.png") Dr Emma Morrison is a Specialty Registrar in clinical pharmacology and a Medical Research Council-funded clinical research fellow at NHS Lothian, the University of Edinburgh. This means that she combines her work as a trainee consultant in Clinical Pharmacology with research.
Emma completed her clinical undergraduate degree at the University of Glasgow and practised medicine there during a two-year foundation programme. She subsequently moved to Edinburgh in 2010, completing her MRCP and core medical training. After successfully applying for a registrar post in Clinical Pharmacology she left her programme after ST3 to complete a PhD. She has recently returned to clinical practice and is halfway through her training.
No week is the same for Emma: one week she might be chairing the Formulary Committee in her region, providing telephone advice nationally through the National Poisons Information Centre, working as a researcher for a phase one clinical trial, teaching undergraduates or driving forward her own research. The next week, she might be leading the nightshift team as the on-call medical registrar in a busy teaching hospital.
“Clinical pharmacology is the best job in the NHS. It allows me to pursue diverse interests throughout the entire course of my career and affords me the freedom to develop my own interests in clinical practice and research. Essentially, I can answer my own questions while improving patient care! There is room for all interests in clinical pharmacology; from those at the hospital front door in toxicology, to medicine management, through to laboratory bench-top research. There is no reason why you can’t try it all!”
Read more about Emma’s career path
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