Helapet:net - Educational Initiatives

Tim Sizer
Director, Regional Quality Assurance, West Midlands
 

A pharmacist with 23 years experience in the NHS, Tim has had varied roles covering paediatrics, ITU and clinical nutrition, as well as the management of personnel and environments for the aseptic preparation of medicines, lecturer and researcher. He has at various times run classical sterile production units, non-sterile manufacturing and quality control laboratories for the NHS.

For 10 years Tim was the Course Director for the MSc in Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Assurance, at the University of Leeds; and was responsible for postgraduate and CPD programmes for healthcare professionals with links to pharmaceutical activities at the University of Leeds.

Tim thoroughly enjoyed his role as a lecturer and administrator in the academic world, but has recently returned to the NHS to lead the quality assurance agenda for medicines preparation and use in the central region of England. He is now based at QCWM, the regional pharmaceutical laboratory in Kings Norton, Birmingham.

Tim is also an occasional consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, and is still involved in the development of parenteral nutrition services and works hard to keep up to date in this field.

• A member of Kings Fund Working Party on Clinical Nutrition. (1990 92).
• Founder Member of the British Association for Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN). Former BAPEN Councillor and current member of BAPEN Education and Training Committee.
• Current Vice Chairman, Past Chairman & Honorary Life Member of British Pharmaceutical Nutrition Group (BPNG).
• Past Advisor to Joint Formulary Committee for the British National Formulary (BNF).
• Co-editor of 'The CIVAS Handbook' (1993, 1998, 2009/10), with Richard Needle; and contributing author.
• Past Secretary & Current member of NHS Pharmaceutical Technical Services Education & Training Group.

Mark Oldcorne
Principal Pharmacist, Quality Assurance, Wrexham Maelor Hospital
 

Mark studied at the De Montfort University of Leicester and obtained his degree in pharmacy in 1980. He trained in hospital pharmacy before returning to University to a teaching and research post, specialising in aseptic processing, sterilisation, Good Manufacturing Practice(GMP), Quality Assurance and Quality Control, and pharmaceutical dispensing.

Returning to the hospital service in a senior position in 1990, Mark’s current role means he is responsible for the development and direction of the pharmaceutical Quality Assurance service in the Wrexham Trust and North Wales area.

He has additional responsibilities for Health and Safety, Information Technology; and research & development. His research interests include environmental monitoring and the development of ‘risk-reduced’ products for patients An advisor on Quality Assurance and control to other NHS hospital groups.

• Qualified Person under the Provisions of the Medicine Act (1991 to date)
• Member of Society of Environmental Engineers. (1988 2006)
• Member of the PTQA Course Management Committee (University of Leeds) and Module Director for Module CONT 5010M Aspects of Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Assurance
• Member of Welsh QA/C and WASPP groups)
• Part-time Teaching Fellow, University of Leeds.

Ms Maria Connolly
Director of Quality Control & Compliance, Qualasept Ltd trading as BathASU
 

A pharmacist with 18 years pharmaceutical manufacturing experience in the NHS and industry. Maria has had varied clinical roles covering paediatrics, Neonatal ITU and clinical nutrition, as well as technical roles in Radiopharmacy, CIVA’s and non-sterile manufacturing.

Maria has been working for Bath ASU, providing the NHS with aseptically prepared ‘Specials’ for 10 years. The company has grown and changed considerably since its independence from the University of Bath in 2006. Maria is responsible for ensuring product quality and patient safety and as such her remit ranges from building and validating new cleanroom facilities to developing BTec qualifications in Aseptic Manufacturing.

• Qualified Person (Clinical trials) under the Provisions of the Medicine Act (2004 to date)
• Part-time Teaching Fellow at the University of Bath & University of Leeds
• Current member of the British Oncology Pharmaceutical Association
• Past Committee member of the National CIVAS Group.

Forever young as an honorary member of the British Pharmaceutical students Association!

Julie Simpson
Clinical Trials Pharmacist, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

Julie Simpson graduated as a pharmacist from Aston University, Birmingham in 1994. After a Pre-registration and subsequent year in community pharmacy, Julie returned to Aston University where she obtained a PhD with her thesis entitled ‘Synthesis and biological evaluation of anticancer agents’.

In 2000, Julie moved into hospital pharmacy and used her interest in oncology and research to obtain the position of Gene Therapy Pharmacist for the Institute for Cancer Studies, Clinical Trials Unit at University of Birmingham. For the seven years she spent in this role, Julie shared her time between the University clinical trials unit and the pharmacy oncology team at the University Hospital Birmingham (UHB) NHS Trust. As a Gene therapy pharmacist, Julie worked to set up and co-ordinate the pharmacy aspects of gene therapy and immunotherapy clinical trials often involving the handling of novel biological agents. During this time, Julie represented pharmacy as a member of the UHB Genetic Modification Safety Committee and was a panel member for the Chemotherapy Pharmacy Advisory Service for Oncology clinical trials.

During her career, Quality Assurance (QA) has always been an interest for Julie and she spent 2 years working within QA for both the pharmaceutical industry and the NHS before returning to a clinical trials role within the NHS.

Julie currently works as a clinical trials pharmacist for the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.