Adam Todd

Adam Todd is a lecturer in Pharmacy Practice for the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) programme and is part of the MPharm management team within the Division of Pharmacy. The programme, based at Queen’s Campus, is due to start in September 2013. One of Adam’s main responsibilities is developing the work-based learning strategy for the MPharm.

Adam registered as a pharmacist in 2005 after completing his pre-registration training in community pharmacy. After this time, he started a PhD in medicinal chemistry, under the supervision of Prof. Roz Anderson and Prof. Paul Groundwater, using novel molecular modeling techniques to rationally design agents for the treatment of various inflammatory disorders, which were then prepared and characterized using a wide range of synthetic methodologies.

Once Adam obtained his PhD, he joined the teaching staff at the University of Sunderland as a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Therapeutics. During his time at Sunderland, Adam was module lead for the pharmacy law and practice element of the MPharm. He also formed part of the MPharm management team and, working alongside the programme director, helped design an integrated pharmacy programme, which was the first in the UK to be accredited to the General Pharmaceutical Council’s new standards of education.

Adam has two broad research interests. The first is in relation to pharmaceutical public interventions and how these can have an impact on health inequalities. In particular, as community pharmacies are uniquely placed in primary care, he is interested in establishing the role of community pharmacy in early disease detection.

His second area of interest focuses around the use of medicines in cancer and palliative care. Patients who have cancer or another life limiting illness tend to have complex disease pathologies and, as such, also tend to take multiple medications. Adam’s research has shown that, in many cases, when these medications are used in combination, it increases the probability of a drug-related toxicity occurring – possibly causing harm to patients. In view of this, Adam is exploring ways to rationalise medicines use in palliative care.