The enthusiastic investigator

摘要

What is your current role and how did you get there? After graduating from Aston University in 1989, my principal career intention was to connect pharmacy practice with scientific research. Initially, I combined part-time postgraduate training with pharmacy roles in community and hospital pharmacy. When I took a position as research assistant at the Drug Safety Research Unit (DSRU), an independent academic charity, I became interested in pharmacoepidemiology, the study of the uses and effects of drugs in defined populations. My main responsibility as principal research fellow at the DSRU is to lead the development of observational post-authorisation safety studies (PASS) for new drugs or licence extensions of existing treatments. These studies are used to support risk management plans and may gather additional information on known risks, or new information on unknown hazards in particular groups of patients. Often, innovative approaches may be required-for example, recently we had to define hard-to-measure outcomes, such as misuse and suicidality. I also lead initiatives that explore new study methods.