Professor of Reproductive Endocrine Pharmacology and Head of the School of Health Sciences since August 2016.

Health Sciences encompasses the allied health professionals and their associated research which facilitates interprofessional education.

I am a registered pharmacist and Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Higher Education Academy. I also has an MBA.

• 2016 - present: Head of the School of Health Sciences
• 2012 - 2016: Head of Manchester Pharmacy School
• 2008 - July 2012: Head of Bradford School of Pharmacy
• 2006 - 2008: Professor of Reproductive Endocrine Pharmacology, Head of Division of Pharmacology
• 1997 - 2006: Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology, Bradford School of Pharmacy
• 1989 - 1997: Lecturer in Pharmacology-Pharmacy joint appointment with community pharmacy (part-time), University of Bradford
• 1987 - 1989: Post-doctoral research fellow supported by Bayer
• 1987: Visiting post-doctoral research fellow at the Michigan Cancer Foundation
• 1984 - 1987: Post-doctoral research fellow supported by Glaxo Group Research

I have two main strands to my bench research both focus on the role of hormones, systemic and local, in health and disease. Below the waistline my work centres upon investigation of the role of local hormones in diseases and conditions associated with the female reproductive tract such as dysmenorrhoea, endometriosis and the detection and prevention of preterm labour. In addition to looking for new and effective therapies to manage these conditions I am also involved with research into developing novel local drug delivery devices that will enable the safer use of medicines.

As a pharmacologist specialising in reproductive endocrinology I have frequently been involved in investigating the effects of new drugs on tissues of the human female reproductive tract. Frequently these new compounds have not been intended for use in managing women's health problems but they may carry 'reproductive risk'. The human uterus is unique in the way it reacts to many compounds as it could be described receptor rich and it can be difficult to predict how it will respond  overall to a stimulus. This makes it an interesting organ to study but it does mean that drugs that may be given to treat something medically unrelated may cause an unwanted reaction in the uterus. A good example can be taken from the work that my group did in the late 1990s when we evaluated a new drug designed to lower intraocular pressure in the treatment of glaucoma. We found that the human uterus behaved differently by not responding and so the compound would be safe to use in women. However, this lack of effect also provided evidence to support the theory that a new class of receptors may exist, the prostamide receptors.  

Whilst above the neck I am interested in the effect that the sex steroids have on cognition, for example during pregnancy or when an individual is suffering from a mental illness such as schizophrenia.

In the pharmacy practice context I am also involved in projects looking at medicines reconciliation, adherence and medicines management in chronic diseases in the UK and overseas.

I have a track record of academic leadership and innovation going from the level of individual modules and undergraduate programs through to postgraduate continuing professional development programs and learning packages. Recent teaching projects include work on the following:

•  Curriculum mapping  - assessing interactive computerized tools
•  Development of an adaptive spiral curriculum
•  Adoption of new technologies.

Previously I have or have been closely associated with:

• Quality assurance of modules and programmes (from descriptor to assessment)
• Development of teaching estate
• Implementing change that will facilitate the move for students from dependency towards being
  independent and life-long learners.

I deliver teaching associated with women's health; sexual health; & the role of hormones in health and disease.
 

• General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
• Member Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS)
• Member of Council of University Heads of Pharmacy Schools Executive   
• Member of Council of University Heads of Pharmacy Schools
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPSGB)
• Member Academic Pharmacy Group
• Member British Association of Psychopharmacologists
• Member of the British Pharmacological Society
• Member of  the Endocrine Society Member of the Society for the Study of Fertility

• MBA, University of Bradford
• Personal Chair in Reproductive Endocrine Pharmacology in 2007
• F.R.Pharm.S  (for services to pharmacy)
• PhD - Mediators and Mechanisms Involved In the Uterine Response to Oestrogen
• M.R.Pharm.S
• B.Pharm (Special Honours in Pharmacology) Class I