The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7434 p57
13 January 2007

Society summary

Science and practice chairmen announced for BPC 2008

The names of the science and practice chairmen for the British Pharmaceutical Conference 2008 have been announced by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

The science chairman will be Andrew Lloyd, professor of biomedical materials at the University of Brighton, and the practice chairman is to be Carmel Hughes, professor of primary care pharmacy at Queen’s University Belfast.

Professor Lloyd, who is also dean of the faculty of science and engineering at Brighton, serves on several UK biomedical material committees. He is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, the Journal of Applied Biomaterials and Biomechanics and Expert Review of Medical Devices. He is also an adviser for a number of pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

His multidisciplinary interests in pharmaceutical, chemical, materials and biological sciences are reflected in the 300 articles he has published. The many awards he has received in recognition of his work include the Society’s BPC science award in 2000 and the Lilly Prize for pharmaceutical excellence in 1999.

Commenting on his appointment, Professor Lloyd says: “I am delighted and honoured to accept the appointment as the Science Chairman for the British Pharmaceutical Conference 2008. In seeking to develop novel biomedical materials for drug delivery and other medical applications I have, over the past 20 years, had the privilege of working closely with pharmaceutical scientists in both academia and industry. With my experience of working with industrialists, clinicians and scientists in this transdisciplinary field, I look forward to the challenge of providing an exciting and stimulating scientific programme to consider both the advances in fundamental pharmaceutical research and the translation of the outcomes of this research to the clinic in order to maximise their direct benefits to patients.”

Professor Hughes is a member of the clinical and professional practice research group within the Queen’s University school of pharmacy. Her research focuses on long-term care for the elderly, rational prescribing, the interface between GPs and pharmacists, and evidence-based health care.

Through controlled trials in nursing homes, she is currently undertaking studies to evaluate the impact of an infection control intervention. She will soon begin supervision of a PhD study into the potential impact of organisational culture on prescribing in nursing homes, which is being funded by the Society through its academic excellence awards.

Professor Hughes was the first pharmacist to be awarded a Harkness fellowship in health care policy and is currently the only pharmacist to have been awarded a national primary care career scientist award from the NHS Executive.

She was awarded the British Pharmaceutical Conference practice research medal at the BPC in 2001.

Commenting on her appointment as the BPC 2008 practice chairman, Professor Hughes says: “It is an honour to have been elected as the practice chairman for 2008. Pharmacy practice research has developed over the years in terms of quality and importance in health care research generally, and the British Pharmaceutical Conference is an excellent vehicle to promote and celebrate this research.”