Appointment takes new School of Pharmacy forward – University of Reading
12 November 2004
The newly-established School of Pharmacy at the University of Reading is firmly on the path to becoming a centre for research and teaching excellence with the appointment of Professor Adrian Williams as Director of Pharmaceutics. Professor Williams, who has broad interests within the discipline of pharmaceutics, is joining Reading from the University of Bradford where he completed his PhD and went on to hold a Personal Chair as Professor of Biophysical Pharmaceutics. With an international reputation for his work within transdermal and topical drug delivery, Professor Williams collaborates widely with academic, clinical and industrial partners. His work has examined the modes of action of penetration enhancers and developed novel formulations for drug delivery including patches, supersaturated systems, liposomes and other vesicles in addition to eutectic systems. He also has interests in the clinical use of topical formulations, such as therapies for psoriasis and "natural" medicaments such as the efficacy of Arnica preparations. His interests are reflected in his book Transdermal and topical drug delivery: from theory to clinical practice published by the Pharmaceutical Press. His research has also probed novel formulations for delivering poorly water-soluble drugs and the use of nano-particulate systems for macromolecule (peptides, proteins and genes) delivery. He has published over 60 research articles in the scientific press and has presented lectures at numerous international and national scientific meetings. Professor Gavin Brooks, Head of the School of Pharmacy, said: "We are delighted to welcome Adrian to the School and we are confident that he will contribute to the success of pharmacy at the University. He is a great asset to our expanding team of high calibre academics. "The new School will provide a focus for pharmacy in this region and it will help meet the national need for newly trained pharmacists by providing pharmacy education, training, research and service development. It will also constitute a vital part of the University's strategy to expand its current health and related teaching and research programmes." Having obtained Stage 3 Accreditation from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to enrol students on to the Master of Pharmacy programme from 2005, the new School of Pharmacy will be launched in January 2005. Leading figures from academia, community, hospital and industrial pharmacy sectors will be invited to view the new School and look at the innovative teaching and research facilities. The School will be subdivided into five disciplines: Pharmacology; Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Pharmaceutics; Pharmacy Practice; and Postgraduate Education. As student numbers grow over the coming years, so will the number of academic staff. "The recruitment of high quality core pharmacy academic staff is paramount to the success of the School," said Professor Brooks. "We intend to recruit both externally and internally to create a leading School of Pharmacy which will benefit from its proximity to the University of Reading's internationally-renowned research groupings in the biomedical sciences, medicinal chemistry, nutraceuticals, food biosciences and plant sciences." End For media enquiries, please contact Craig Hillsley, the University of Reading's press officer. Tel: 0118 378 7388 Email: c.hillsley@rdg.ac.uk