Personal statement

I am currently a Professor in Pharmaceutics within the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.

My broad research interests focus on the development of age-appropriate medicines for children. Specific research topics of interest include paediatric biopharmaceutics and development of appropriate in vitro testing strategies to predict in vivo performance; paediatric in silico modelling to optimise pharmacokinetic study design and the impact of drug-food interactions within paediatric populations. This links in silico software predictive models to better understand the mechanics of drug absorption. I am specifically interested in specialist populations (not only paediatrics) and how we can minimise the burden associated with clinical trials. This topic has generated extensive interest from large pharmaceutical companies as well as regulatory agencies and I have funding from the FDA, Janssen and Certara for ongoing projects in this space.

I am actively involved in involvement of children and young people in research, particularly clinical research that impacts upon the treatment of this population. This has led to engagement and outreach opportunities and cross-institute collaborations. I am an active member of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) clinical research network that involves children and young people and ensures that they are collaborators in research where possible.

I am an internationally recognised expert in the paediatric drug delivery research ranging from biopharmaceutics to acceptability assessment.

I am currently the Chair of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (www.apsgb.co.uk)