Research Interests
Open to PhD applications in the field of
- Primary care
- Prescribing
- Older people
- Medicines optimisation
- Most projects which students undertake are mixed methods in nature i.e. using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, including trials.
Current Research Opportunities
- A randomised pilot study of a theory-based intervention to improve appropriate polypharmacy in older people in primary care (PolyPrime)
- Optimising pharmacological treatment of non-cognitive symptoms in people with dementia
Public outreach & key achievements
Carmel was the first pharmacist to have been appointed to a Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy (1998-99) which she spent at Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Carmel is the only pharmacist to have been awarded a National Primary Care Career Scientist Award. She received the British Pharmaceutical Conference 2001 Practice Research medal. She is Associate Editor for BMC Pilot and Feasibility Studies and the EPOC Group in the Cochrane Collaboration. She is also a member of the Health Services and Delivery Commissioned Research Panel for the National Institute for Health Research, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) Unit of Assessment 3 Sub-panel for REF 2021 and the International Scientific Council (ISC) of the Louvain Drug Research Institute (LDRI).
Research students
| PhD Title | Inappropriate prescribing in older people |
| Name | Sarah Baxter |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Year of Study | 2016-2019 |
| PhD Title | Antimicrobial prescribing in care homes |
| Name | Quoc Hoa Nguyen |
| Country | Vietnam |
| Year of Study | 2016-2019 |
| PhD Title | Medication use challenges in visually impaired patients |
| Name | Basma Kentab |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Year of Study | 2017-2021 |
| PhD Title | Ameerah Hasan Ibrahim |
| Name | The role of primary care pharmacists |
| Year of Study | 2018-2021 |
| Country | Jordan |
Alumni: Where are they now
| PhD Title | Investigation of the role of pharmacological exposures in the aetiology and survival of pancreatic cancer |
| Name | Dr Marie Bradley |
| Year of Study | 2006-2009 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Current Position | Dr Bradley is a Pharmacoepidemiologist in the Division of Epidemiology, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, US Food and Drug Administration. |
| PhD Title | Improving medication adherence in older adults prescribed polypharmcy |
| Name | Dr. Deborah Patton |
| Year of Study | 2009-2012 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Current Position | Research Fellow, School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast |
| PhD Title | Drug abuse and misuse: A community pharmacy perspective |
| Name | Dr Glenda Fleming |
| Year of Study | 1997-2000 |
| Country | Northern Ireland |
| Current Position | Deputy Director for the Medicines Optimisation Innovation Centre (MOIC), Northern Health & Social Care Trust & the Training, Service Development and Research Pharmacist for the Trust. |