Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
What is your career pathway to date?
I trained as a doctor and then chose Clinical Pharmacology as a speciality.
What do you do, and what is a typical week for you?
A typical week is variable, which is a good thing! I can be engaged in a number of activities which can range from clinical work, either attending on hospital wards or doing an outpatient clinic; doing my own research with my team, which focuses on a data science approach to using and making medicines better, working in national data sets as well as establishing new studies to embed research into routine clinical care; working on medicines policy, both locally and regionally, and informing national policies through other NHS and RCP linked committees; teaching students, and working with university colleagues to organise a department of pharmacology and therapeutics - the last being the latest addition.
What do you enjoy about your job?
The variability is what I like. Pharmacology is cross cutting which has enabled me to engage with a number of programmes that link and inform each other and help join the dots for me in many ways, and I hope for others too.
How do you see your career progressing in the future?
I enjoy the things I currently do and would want to keep doing them, so I can interface with patients, which informs my research as well as implementing evidence into care, not only through policy but also through research.
What three pieces of advice would you give someone keen on developing a career in your area of work?
- Do what you enjoy, and within what you enjoy find a focus
- Work with others and adopt a team science approach, it is much more fun and the results are better
- Seek support from around you, more people are willing to help than you might think
What do you do outside of work?
I enjoy traveling, although that has been challenging over the last 2 years. I’ve been getting a little off the beaten track walking and cycling (gentle that is, not a hardcore cyclist although perhaps I am a wannabe!); I also enjoy spending time with loved ones.
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