Geoff Coxon - Chair
Geoff joined SIPBS as a PDRA in 2003 before being appointed lecturer in 2004 in Medicinal Chemistry. Research has been in the field of small molecule drug design and lipid chemistry for new mRNA type vaccine technology development. He has been an active member of the teaching team on MPharm and MSc courses as well as being class and year coordinators within these programmes. With a passion for science outreach both within SIPBS and externally, he has developed several outreach programs for SIPBS most recently with the Royal Society for Chemistry called “Pharmacy Elementals” which aims to increase the intake of male undergraduates onto the MPharm course. Geoff Joined the SIPBS WIDE team in 2020 and became chair of the group in 2021 shortly after gaining the Institute's silver award. He was joined by Linda Horan as co-chair in 2023.
Linda Horan – Co-Chair
Started in SIPBS in 1999 as a professional services member of staff, having previously held a technician position. They manage the Biological Procedures Unit, five staff members, class coordinator for an MSC module and an NC3Rs Board member. With departmental support worked a shortened week when the family was younger but is now full time. A member of the last Athena Swan assessment team, stayed on the committee to maintain continuity, and a desire to improve. They have key input into the Organisation, Culture and Communication (OCC) group and the social team. Last year stepped into a joint leadership role on the Athena Swan self-assessment team.
Lina Akil
Lina joined the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS) in 2012 as an MSc student, later completing her PhD in Pharmaceutics. In 2019, she joined the teaching staff as a Teaching Assistant. Since then, Lina has advanced in her academic career to become the Course Coordinator for three postgraduate Pharmaceutics programs: MSc Advanced Drug Delivery, MSc Advanced Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, and MSc Pharmaceutical Analysis. She also manages the Chromatography Laboratory, which houses advanced analytical instruments including HPLC, LC-MS, and GC-MS systems. In addition to her teaching and management roles, Lina supervises undergraduate, MSc, and PhD students across a range of research projects.
Margaret Cunningham
Margaret is currently the Director of the Biomolecular Science degree programmes and Science Faculty Associate Dean for Learning Enhancement. In her Associate Dean Role, Margaret leads the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) & NSS Faculty working groups, Enable Breaking Barriers (Science Faculty) programme and co-leads on a Faculty CUTURE-GAPs in STEM project to support practical ways to close education attainment gaps. Margaret originally joined Strathclyde in 2004 as a direct entry Year 3 student on the BSc (Hons) Biochemistry & Pharmacology degree programme (2004-2006) following the completion of a 5-year modern apprenticeship as a laboratory technician at University of Glasgow (1999-2004). Upon completion of her undergraduate studies, she was the recipient of a competitively awarded British Pharmacological Society AJ Clark PhD studentship and remained at Strathclyde to complete her postgraduate research degree in Molecular Pharmacology (2006-2010). Following a 4-year Postdoctoral research position at University of Bristol in the Bristol Platelet Laboratory (2010-2014), Margaret re-joined Strathclyde as a Chancellor Fellow (2014-2019) and has since been promoted to Senior Lecturer (2019) and Reader in Pharmacology (2025) and continues to lead her research team in SIPBS. During this time, she was involved in the successful SIPBS WIDE Bronze (Awarded 2017) and Silver (Awarded 2021) Athena Swan submissions as a Self-Assessment Team (SAT) lead for the Career Progression Working Group. She has previously co-led on SIPBS Outreach and Open Day events (2017-2023) and served as co-lead with Dr Currie on the Cardiovascular and Metabolic (CMVD) research group until Jan 2023 when she took over the BMS Director role. In her BMS Director role, Margaret led the successful re-accreditations for the BMS Degrees (IBMS in Oct 2023 and RSB in Oct 2024) and contributed significantly to the SIPBS quinquennial review (March 2025). Margaret has supported student social mobility in her previous roles as a mentor with the Social Mobility Foundation (Glasgow) and MRC pathways mentoring (West Dunbartonshire), in addition to supporting Strathclyde Cares mentoring for care experienced students as part of Strathclyde Widening access. She is currently a sponsor for an early career researcher in Pure and Applied Chemistry at Strathclyde as part of the Advance HE Diversifying Leadership Programme, which is aimed at tackling the under-representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic leaders in UK higher education institutions. Margaret is full time member of academic staff and a carer for 3 children and has received departmental support for emergency dependent care during her time in SIPBS (2014, 2018 and 2025).
Susan Currie – Equality Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair
Susan joined the University in 2005 as a Lecturer in Physiology & Pharmacology with a research group in cardiovascular physiology. Previous departmental roles have included Director of the MPharm articulation programme with the International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur (2012-2017) and Deputy Director of MPharm programme (2012-2018). Susan is currently a Reader and Director of EDI for SIPBS (since 2021), chairing the SIPBS EDI teaching team and representing SIPBS on the Science Faculty EDI committee. As well as leading her group in cardiovascular research, she is also heavily involved in EDI initiatives within the department and at Faculty level.
Emma Dunlop
Emma joined the University in 2010 as a Research Assistant in the Pharmacoepidemiology & Healthcare Research Group (PEHCR). Emma came from a background in Psychology and worked briefly as a Mental Health Support Worker. Emma became a Research Associate in 2016 and then a Research Fellow in 2024, and completed her MPhil as a staff member in 2024. Emma is part of the SIPBS WIDE committee, and is on the Culture and Community Subgroup. She also sits on the Departmental Research & Knowledge Exchange Committee and was heavily involved in the department’s Altogether Better Scheme in response to COVID-19 restrictions and impacts on the department. She has also led on the development, distribution and analyses of the Athena Swan culture surveys.
Steven Ford
Steven Ford is a Teaching Fellow at the Strathclyde Institute for Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences. Most of his career was in the development, manufacture and testing of pharmaceutical products for clinical trials, but he moved to his part-time teaching role in 2016 after a stint as a full time ‘house-dad’. His teaching topics are mainly related to quality assurance, lab analysis, statistics, and coding.
Eleanor Jones
Eleanor joined SIPBS in 2017 as a Master’s student and remained to complete a PhD in pharmaceutical crystallisation and crystallography before moving into the pharmaceutical industry. In 2023, she returned to the Institute as a Research Technician and GI Bio Facility Manager, where she oversees two in-vitro systems that model gastrointestinal drug absorption, helping to reduce reliance on animal testing. Eleanor contributes actively to the SIPBS-Wide Committee as part of the Culture and Community and Widening Access and Outreach subgroups, supporting an inclusive and collaborative research environment.
Lynne Kernweiss
Lynne joined the University in 1995 as a research technician for Strathclyde Formulation Research, a spin out company. In 1997 she became a member of the technical team responsible for Pharmacy Practice and Sterile Products undergraduate teaching in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. During her time at Strathclyde the Department has merged to become SIPBS with Lynne becoming one of the Senior Technicians in the department. She is now the Institutes’ Deputy Head of Technical Services, Deputy DSC and Institute Biological Safety Advisor. Out with SIPBS, Lynne has played an active part in Technical Development within the University and was one of the technicians who helped develop the Technical Development Programmes for technicians. She has also been part of the Technical Commitment since it was first introduced in Strathclyde.
Tanja Mueller
Tanja joined the University of Strathclyde in 2014 to pursue a PhD in pharmacoepidemiology. Following completion, she has stayed at the University as a post-doctoral researcher aligned with the Cancer Medicines Outcomes Programme. In 2022 she moved onto the academic track as a lecturer in Pharmacoepidemiology & Health Services Research and has since worked on projects in various topic areas including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and medicines use in pregnancy. She works closely with Public Health Scotland, initially on COVID-19 related projects and more recently on projects focusing on medicines safety; she is also involved in inter-disciplinary projects with colleagues from several other university departments and has a wide international network supporting collaborative projects. Tanja is involved in department-wide efforts to promote the inclusion of sustainability in teaching and is part of the University’s dignity & respect adviser network.
Fiona Murphy
Fiona joined the University of Strathclyde as a Lecturer in Immunology and Pharmacology in 2022 and to establish her independent research group. Her research focuses on identifying the hazards to human health posed by inhalation exposure to aerosolised particles and nanomaterials, with a specific interest in the development of physiologically-relevant in vitro models to reduce the reliance on rodent models for hazard assessment of novel materials and to improve our understanding of the underlying mechanism of particle-related lung disease. Her research has been supported by a variety of funding bodies including the Royal Society, Royal Society of Edinburgh, Tenovus and NC3Rs. Fiona contributes extensively to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in Immunology, Toxicology and Pharmacology and coordinates the Public Engagement and Outreach for SIPBS, promoting science communication and community engagement through school visits, open days, and science festivals. Fiona joined the Athena Swan committee in 2023 and participates as a member of the Widening Access and Outreach subcommittees.
Karla Neves
Karla joined the University of Strathclyde in 2022 as a Lecturer in Pharmacology and a research group leader. Her research focuses on vascular biology and cardiovascular-oncology, investigating mechanisms of vascular dysfunction and hypertension, with an emphasis on redox signalling and endothelial-smooth muscle interactions. She leads international collaborations linking Scotland, Brazil, and China, supported by national and international funding bodies. She is also the Strathclyde representative in the Scottish Cardiovascular Forum organizing committee. Karla contributes extensively to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in Pharmacology and cardiovascular science, and supervises undergraduate, MSc and PhD students across interdisciplinary projects. As well as leading her group in vascular biology and signalling, she coordinates the Public Engagement and Outreach for SIPBS (since 2023), promoting science communication and community engagement through school visits, open days, and science festivals. Within the Athena Swan team, she contributes to the Widening access and outreach group.
Ben Pickard
Ben joined the University in 2009 as a Senior Lecturer and his research covers the neuroscience of mental health as well as a new form of regulation affecting mRNA and protein expression. He teaches on the Biomolecular Sciences undergraduate degree programmes within the Biochemistry team and has travelled to Nanjing, China several times to teach on the parallel joint degree programme with China Pharmaceutical University. He was Director of Postgraduate Taught programmes for 6 years (2013-2019) and still coordinates the large PGT skills module which includes the topics of Ethics and Career Development. He is a member of the SIPBS EDI Committee and deputises for Dr Currie, when required, at Faculty EDI meetings. He has contributed to EDI data collection and analysis for (re-)accreditations and quinquennial review. He assisted in the implementation and trailing of the department's new workload model. As part of the Athena Swan team, he contributes to the Postgraduate and Organisation, Culture and Community groups.
Calum Wilson
Calum completed his PhD at the University of Strathclyde in 2015 and continued as a Postdoctoral Researcher before transitioning to the academic track in 2021, progressing from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Physiology. His research focuses on endothelial cell signalling and vascular dysfunction.