Our Scientific Advisory Panel

Professor Adam Todd (Chair)

Reader in Pharmaceutical Public Health

Adam Todd is a Reader in Pharmaceutical Public Health, and Deputy Head of the School of Pharmacy at Newcastle University. He is a qualified pharmacist registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council, and a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.  He was previously a Senior Lecturer at Durham University where he held the roles of MPharm Programme Director, Director of Education, and Deputy Director of the Centre of Health and Inequalities Research (CHIR).

Adam is actively involved in delivering the MPharm Programme at Newcastle; he approaches pharmacy education in an integrated way, and combines both science and practice elements in his teaching. Using this integrated approach, Adam has published two international books focusing on antibacterial and anticancer therapeutics.

Rebecca Harmston

PPI member

I am a parent of two school aged children and a frequent user of local pharmacy services for both advice about my families help and medicines. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease 13 years ago and arthritis a few years later. I used to be a scientist and have worked at both Cancer Research UK and Cambridge University.

Due to long term illness I decided to become a stay at home parent but wanted to keep my mind active and maintain my interest in science so I became involved in health research. I have over seven years of patient involvement in research experience and am currently involved in over thirty medical projects or committees all over England and Wales. I have been involved in pharmacy research studies including one looking at the role of pharmacists in an urgent care setting.

I am a lay member on a number of grant funding panels including Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB), The NIHR Health Technology Assessment Panel, the All Wales Research Panel (AWRP) and also the RfPBB in Wales. My main interests are making sure that patients understand study information sheets, reviewing grant applications and helping academic researchers write clear grant applications or study proposals.

I see my role on the committee as providing PRUK with a patient perspective on pharmacy research and grant applications and am happy to advise any researchers on patient involvement in their studies.

Professor Kristian Pollock

Professor of Medical Sociology

Kristian is Professor of Medical Sociology at the Nottingham Centre for the Advancement of Research into Supportive, Palliative and End of Life Care (NCARE). She studied social anthropology at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, and completed a PGCHE at Keele University in 2007. She has carried qualitative research in a wide range of health service settings, often involving sensitive topics and vulnerable populations and has experience of undertaking observation, interviews, focus groups, and case studies as well as mixed methods research.

Kristian’s research interests centre on the study of death in society, including public attitudes towards, and patient experience of, death and dying, place of death, Advance Care Planning, medicines management and dementia. She is also interested in communication between patients and health professionals in medical consultations.

Dr Heather Barry

Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice

Heather is a Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice at Queen’s University Belfast. She is a qualified pharmacist registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland and is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Heather is a health services researcher whose research focuses on rational prescribing and medicines management for older people, particularly those with dementia and frailty, in primary care settings. She has significant experience of utilising both quantitative and qualitative methods in her research and is an Editorial Board member of the journal BMC Health Services Research.

Dr Amanj Kurdi

Senior Lecturer in Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacy Practice

Amanj is a clinical pharmacist by training. His research interest is pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Utilisation Research in cardiovascular, diabetes and antibiotics areas as well as adherence/persistence to medications using secondary database analysis and patient level data through applying various statistical and analytical techniques. He is also interested in Health service research and evaluating the impacts of health policies and clinical guidelines.

Professor Katherine Payne

Professor of Health Economics

Katherine’s current research focus involves using and developing quantitative and qualitative research methods to understand the economic value of health care interventions with a specific interest in precision medicine and genomic technologies. She has had a key role in multi-disciplinary research programmes and projects with funding from MRC, NIHR, Department of Health and Charities (Versus Arthritis and Cancer Research UK). She was the lead economist on a number of large MRC-funded consortia looking at using targeted approaches (developing prescribing algorithms) for biologics and other medicines (for lupus, psoriasis, Rheumatoid Arthritis). Other work includes applied ‘NIHR’ funded projects involving generating ‘early’ economic evidence (NIHR i4i) and translating research into patient benefit (NIHR: HTA; PGfAR; RfPB; HS-DR). She has worked on several EU-funded grants as the UK-workpackage economics lead. Katherine is one of the three Manchester co-applicants on the Research Design Service (tender 3) proposal and line manage frontline advisors.

Dr Jignesh Patel

Reader and Honorary Consultant Pharmacist in Anticoagulation

Jignesh Patel is a clinical academic, specialising in anticoagulant drug therapy and is based between the department of haematological medicine, King’s College Hospital and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London.

Jignesh’s research is concerned with the optimal use of anticoagulant therapy in clinical practice and primarily focuses on addressing anticoagulant drug dosing issues where uncertainties exist. This work involves pharmacokinetic modelling of the anticoagulants, including the direct oral anticoagulants. A particular focus for Jignesh’s research is anticoagulation therapy in the context of women’s health.

Theresa Moneymentor

PPI member

I am a disabled person & co-carer and have used pharmacy services for several years. I have worked in the public and third sectors for a number of years, including being involved with a variety of panels & groups (including the local ICS; Integrated Care System), supporting the co-production of essential local services.

I value the benefits that disabled people and the wider public can bring, as experts by lived-experience. I am interested in health-care research and how this can lead to improved services and wider health benefits for the public, helping to meet the changing & ever-increasing demands upon the NHS.

I am keen to utilise my long-term knowledge & experience of pharmacy services to assist the panel in its work, helping to ensure that the interests of the public remain at the forefront of pharmacy research.