Briefly, tell us about your background and career/studies up to this point?
I’ve been back at King’s since January and have come full circle. I started at King’s undertaking my Pharmacy degree, then PhD and then my first lectureship.
A millennia ago, after not getting the A level grades to study pharmacy, I went back to college to improve them. Despite me having to retake a year, the admissions tutor for pharmacy at the time gave me a chance. I’ve always been grateful for that and haven’t looked back.
My degree years were great. As I was finishing my degree, I was asked if I was interested in doing a PhD and I said yes. My PhD was in drug delivery to the lungs. It was challenging, but very interesting and allowed me to meet people from all over the world. The PhD increased my confidence and introduced me to teaching.
I then got a two-year Maplethorpe fellowship (teaching and research), with the research looking at drug delivery of DNA. After this, I was successful in getting a lectureship teaching clinical pharmacy for a few years, whilst also supervising PhD students. Both of these were at King’s.
After a few years I left to join another university, not making my life any easier by switching my teaching to professional law and practice. Through a chance encounter with someone I knew from my PhD days at a conference, I was asked if I was interested in joining another university, and so the last 10 years I’ve been there honing my academic skills and experiencing several challenges and success. For example, I changed my research from lab-based to become health services focussed, I became the programme director and had to see the course through the Covid years and various professional regulator accreditations, co-chaired a research conference, and then took on a more significant leadership position. As a result, I’ve become a more-rounded academic. Now, I’m at King’s as the Director of Clinical Practice. Back where I started. I look forward to what the future brings at King’s.
What is a typical day like for you?
I don’t really have a typical day. Academia is like that. At the moment, I’m getting to know King’s again, meeting new people, trying to support my team both in teaching and research, looking at what teaching we do, supervising PhD students, supporting assessments etc... The job keeps things interesting.
What do you think people in the School would find most surprising about you?
That I enjoy social dancing.
What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?
Don’t fear failure. Mistakes and setbacks will happen and should be used to learn from and grow. Also, ensure you maintain a good work and life balance.
What is something positive that happened to you in 2024?
I got offered a job at King’s and did some travelling (Lisbon and Prague are lovely).
QUICK-FIRE:
Favourite season: Summer
Favourite book: Anything from Terry Pratchett.
Coffee order: Latte
Describe yourself in three words: …Diligent, loyal, idiosyncratic