Qualifications: BSc (Hons), PhD, PGCHET, SFHEA
After graduating from University College Dublin with a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology (minor in Biochemistry) I gained a PhD in Veterinary Immunology from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). Since then I have gained extensive biomedical research experience at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas (USA) and as a Marie Curie Research Fellow at QUB.
I welcome contact from prospective postgraduate students.
My teaching responsibilities lie in the Biomedical Science programme. I have designed and delivered modules across all levels of undergrad/postgrad study. I supervise RESEARCH students at undergraduate, MSc (by Research and Taught) and PhD levels and I am module leader on the Science and Health MRES.
I serve as an External Examiner for the Biomedical Science BSc Programme at the University of Roehampton and their affiliated programme at MDIS (Singapore).
As a member of the British Society of Immunology, I serve as Secretary to the Immunology Teaching Affinity Group.
I also Chair YSJ Validation Events as well as serve as the School Representive on the University Academic Board.
Prior to starting at York St John University in 2015, I completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching (PGCHET) and became a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (SFHEA).
My research interests are diverse but mainly focus on identifying and quantifying human biological markers (biomarkers) including:
- Mitigation of Animal Methods Bias in scientific publishing and funding as a founding member of the Coalition to Illuminate and Address Animal Methods Bias (The COLAAB).
- Natural product-derived discovery of new compounds.
- Salivary and epigenetic biomarkers of stress-related conditions such as burnout (with Professor Daniel Madigan at York St John University).
- Physiological biomarkers of inflammation (e.g. CK, CRP, cytokines) in humans (with the InSPIRe research group and The i2i Soccer Academy).
Recent publications
I serve on the Editorial Board for the British Journal of Biomedical Science and am currently a handling editor on our Special Issue on "Long Covid in Biomedical Sciences".
Previously I was Guest Editor on a Special Issue "Novel Approaches for Natural Product-Derived Immunomodulators" which includes seven articles to date.
I currently serve as an External Examiner for the Biomedical Science BSc Programme at the University of Roehampton and their affiliated programme at MDIS (Singapore).
I am a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel for the charity Replacing Animal Research and am a member of an international consortium (COLAAB) with the aim of reducing animal experimentation in research and testing.
As a member of the British Society of Immunology, I serve as Secretary to the Immunology Teaching Affinity Group.
During the pandemic, I was the Resident COVID virology expert on Greatest Hits Radio (Northern Yorkshire).
