Skip to main content
Caroline  Copeland

Dr Caroline Copeland

Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology

Research interests

  • Pharmacology

Biography

Dr Caroline Copeland is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology at King’s College London, and the Director of the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM; previously known as the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths [NPSAD]). Following her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at University College London and Imperial College, respectively, she completed a PhD with Prof Tom Salt and Prof Adam Sillito in the neuropharmacology and neurophysiology of thalamocortical circuits. Following her PhD she completed post-doctoral work with Prof Simon Schultz at Imperial College where she aided in the development of novel bioengineering systems to better understand neuronal physiology network dynamics. She then moved to St George’s, University of London, where she applied her neuropharmacology and mathematical modelling skills to the pharmacoepidemiology of drug-related deaths, later becoming the Director of the National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths. She joined King’s in September 2019.

Dr Copeland heads a research group at King’s whose projects have the broad collective aim of improving healthcare strategies for people who use drugs. Current projects derived from the NPSUM range from the development of a wearable skin sensor to protect against opioid overdose, to the identification of drug-drug interactions between licensed medicines and illicit substances to prevent adverse effects. She has published over 30 research articles and successfully supervised 3 PhD students and over 40 MSc, MPharm and BSc student research projects.

Dr Copeland also sits on the Home Office’s Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs Novel Psychoactive Substances (ACMD NPS) Sub-Committee, and the Welsh National Implementation Board for Drug Poisoning Prevention (NIBDPP). In these roles Dr Copeland examines how national and international drug policy influences drug-related death trends.

    Research

    Medicines
    Medicines Development

    The Medicines Development Research Group develops novel materials, formulations, drug delivery devices, manufacturing, analytical, and digital technologies.

    _NPSAD drugs pic
    The National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM)

    The NPSUM enables analysis of trends in deaths due to illicit substances or licensed medications to inform harm reduction strategy and increase patient safety.

    Project status: Ongoing

    News

    Xylazine has infiltrated the UK's illicit drug market

    Xylazine, a powerful animal tranquiliser linked to horrific side effects, is now widespread in the UK illicit drug market.

    drug-clear-bottle

    Drones delivering opioid overdose reversal kits could reach people more quickly than ambulances

    Delivering opioid overdose reversal kits by drone could help stem the drug-related death crisis faced by the UK.

    HeroTech8

    First death in the UK associated with Xylazine

    The death of a 43-year-old male is the first in the UK to be associated with Xylazine and marks the entry of the drug into the UK drug supply.

    drug dose

    Researchers investigate drug related deaths of hospital patients in the UK

    Deaths due to drug overdoses reached the highest level on record in the UK in 2020, with most deaths involving an opiate such as heroin. There have been...

    hospital patients drug related deaths

    Investigating antihistamine-related misuse and mortality in England

    New research has found that the proportion of drug-related deaths where first-generation antihistamines were detected ‘significantly increased’ between 1999...

    antihistamine

    Features

    Humanising Healthcare podcast - "‘Synthetic opioids claiming lives"

    Manasi is joined by Dr Caroline Copeland, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology and Dr Nicola Kalk, Visiting Clinical Lecturer.

    Humanising healthcare banner - ai bias and women

    5 minutes with...Caroline Copeland

    Caroline Copeland is a Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Medicine in the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences. We took 5 minutes with Caroline to learn more...

    antihistamines

      Research

      Medicines
      Medicines Development

      The Medicines Development Research Group develops novel materials, formulations, drug delivery devices, manufacturing, analytical, and digital technologies.

      _NPSAD drugs pic
      The National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM)

      The NPSUM enables analysis of trends in deaths due to illicit substances or licensed medications to inform harm reduction strategy and increase patient safety.

      Project status: Ongoing

      News

      Xylazine has infiltrated the UK's illicit drug market

      Xylazine, a powerful animal tranquiliser linked to horrific side effects, is now widespread in the UK illicit drug market.

      drug-clear-bottle

      Drones delivering opioid overdose reversal kits could reach people more quickly than ambulances

      Delivering opioid overdose reversal kits by drone could help stem the drug-related death crisis faced by the UK.

      HeroTech8

      First death in the UK associated with Xylazine

      The death of a 43-year-old male is the first in the UK to be associated with Xylazine and marks the entry of the drug into the UK drug supply.

      drug dose

      Researchers investigate drug related deaths of hospital patients in the UK

      Deaths due to drug overdoses reached the highest level on record in the UK in 2020, with most deaths involving an opiate such as heroin. There have been...

      hospital patients drug related deaths

      Investigating antihistamine-related misuse and mortality in England

      New research has found that the proportion of drug-related deaths where first-generation antihistamines were detected ‘significantly increased’ between 1999...

      antihistamine

      Features

      Humanising Healthcare podcast - "‘Synthetic opioids claiming lives"

      Manasi is joined by Dr Caroline Copeland, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology and Dr Nicola Kalk, Visiting Clinical Lecturer.

      Humanising healthcare banner - ai bias and women

      5 minutes with...Caroline Copeland

      Caroline Copeland is a Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Medicine in the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences. We took 5 minutes with Caroline to learn more...

      antihistamines