Deirdre D Arcy

Biography

Deirdre D Arcy (M Pharm, PhD, MPSI); Deirdre is a qualified pharmacist (1999) and holds post graduate diplomas in both Clinical Pharmacy and Quality Improvement, and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology. She is a registered pharmacist with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and the General Pharmaceutical Council (UK). After spending 3 years training as a specialist clinical pharmacist, during which time she developed an interest in Clinical Pharmacokinetics, Deirdre spent some time in community pharmacy. Following this she undertook a PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology, exploring methods to mathematically simulate pharmaceutical processes. Concurrently, she undertook a diploma in quality improvement and also worked part-time as a community pharmacist. She embarked on her academic career in 2005, in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SOPPS) TCD. This unique combination and breadth of experiences, and her professional status as a qualified, registered pharmacist, has equipped Deirdre with a distinctly valuable perspective on the interplay between clinical aspects of pharmacy practice and the use of pharmaceutical technology in medicines development. This extensive background has facilitated a range of teaching roles, didactic and experiential, at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Furthermore, it has enabled her to develop and lead the novel role of Integration Co-ordinator for the new Pharmacy (Integrated) Programme, promoting integrative teaching and learning between core science, clinical, and experiential learning; and the embedding of graduate attributes and competences within the curriculum. Context for Integration Co-ordinator role: The new Pharmacy (Integrated) Programme (first intake 2015) results from a change in the national pharmacy education requirements of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. A minimum of 12 months experiential placement-based learning, which used to take place post-graduation and before pharmacist registration, is now integrated within the core 5-year academic programme. Thus the new Pharmacy (Integrated) programme represents a mammoth shift in educational delivery by the SOPPS, with significantly different, advanced programme learning outcomes. Formal, structured integration of campus-based and experiential placement-based learning was thus novel to SOPPS pharmacy education. Furthermore, modern pedagogical perspectives on education in all health care settings have a focus on the integration of core science learning with more applied therapeutics/clinical learning content. Deirdre has been involved in 3 International EU-funded educational projects (Institutional lead on one of these), prompting innovations in Technology Enhanced Learning and assessment methodologies. These roles and innovations are fully aligned with the recommendations of the Trinity Education Project. Deirdre is also an active researcher, again supported by her unique combined experience of Patient-Facing practice and Pharmaceutical Technology. Current research includes 2 main strands: 1: Application of computational modelling and simulation techniques in pharmacy and pharmaceutical technology to improve processes and practice, including pharmacokinetic and dissolution modelling 2: Clinically relevant drug development and delivery to special populations. She has been PI on 2 clinical trials, and is lead PI of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics research group (http://pharmacy.tcd.ie/research/clinical_pharm.php). She is involved in several international collaborations, with relevance to access to medicines and personalised medicines. Research outputs have resulted in peer reviewed publications, invited presentations at national and international level, partaking in national policy submission groups, and tangible outputs in the form of changes to medicines dosing policy and software development. Research funding sources include IRCSET, the Meath Foundation, Pharmaceutical Industry.

Research Interest

ANTIBIOTICS; CLINICAL PHARMACOKINETICS; COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD); COMPUTER MODELING AND SIMULATION; DISSOLUTION; DISSOLUTION MECHANISMS; DISSOLUTION RATES; DISSOLUTION TESTING; Dosage Forms; Drug Delivery Systems; FORMULATIONS; Methods of Drug Delivery; PHARMACODYNAMICS; Pharmacokinetics; Pharmacotherapy; PK/PD; STERILE