Mark Brennan

Mark is the Deputy Head of Aston Pharmacy School, rejoining Aston in September 2018. He shares responsibility for strategic leadership within the Pharmacy School, both in internally and externally to the University. Academic leadership in the School includes the development and enhancement of the School’s professional teaching portfolio.

In 2014, Mark joined Lincoln School of Pharmacy as Deputy Head of School and Director of Pharmacy Education, from a background in primary care and academic pharmacy practice. Mark provided strategic leadership for education in the School of Pharmacy and was responsible for quality management and enhancement, staff development, and the overarching student experience in the School. 

In 2006 Mark joined the Keele University School of Pharmacy as a member of the senior management team and Director of Undergraduate Studies, responsible for the design, delivery and QA of the new Keele MPharm programme and the detailed content of the Pharmacy Practice strands in the programme. From 2010 he also served as the Director of Learning and Teaching for the Faculty of Heath at Keele University, responsible for all matters relating to teaching, assessment and the student experience in the Faculty, including quality enhancement and inter-professional education. 

Mark started his career as a community pharmacist manager and pre-registration training manager at Dean and Smedley Ltd. He was the managing director, superintendent pharmacist and part owner of Mercia (Repton) Ltd, an independent community pharmacy, and has provided prescribing advice at GP practice and Primary Care Trust level.

Mark’s academic career began in 1996 when he became a teaching fellow in Pharmacy Practice at Aston University. 

Mark is a Fellow of AdvanceHE (formerly the Higher Education Academy), and a member of the Centre for Advancement of Inter-professional Education. In addition to pharmacy qualifications, Mark has a Masters degree in Law.

From the mid-1980s onwards Mark has served on advisory groups and statutory committees of professional regulatory bodies. Initially with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain where, from the mid 1990s, he was co-opted as a member of the Pre-reg advisory Board and later as a member of the Society’s Education Committee. At that time he was also appointed to the Boards of Examiners for the RPSGB, which developed and administered the Society’s national registration examination.

Similarly, Mark was co-opted as a member of the degree accreditation panel for the RPS for the accreditation of existing and new pharmacy programmes in the UK and overseas. These activities continued with the General Pharmaceutical Council taking over pharmacy regulation in 2010 and (having completed the maximum term as an examiner, serving from 1997 to 2009) he is engaged as an expert advisor for the GPhC’s national Registration Examination Board.

Since 2014 Mark has worked with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, advising on the development of pharmacy education prior to registration and as a member of their accreditation panels for pharmacy degrees and the internship programme.