I have recently taken on the role of Head of Pharmacutical Sciences for Aston Pharmacy School, having been in my current role as lecturer in pharmaceutics since 2010; although, I have an even longer history with Aston University.

First of all, I studied here for a BSc in Combined Honours Chemistry and French, graduating in 2004, part of which involved a sandwich year in a university research laboratory in Montpellier, France; this experience whetted my appetite to pursue a career within academic research.

Subsequently, I then studied for a PhD on the subject of formulation and characterisation of particulate delivery systems for TB vaccines, again at Aston University, under the supervision of Prof. Yvonne Perrie within Aston Pharmacy School.

Before taking up my current role, I was an Aston based post-doc within Aston Pharmacy School, acting as Formulation Research Fellow for the UK Medicines for Children Research Network.

Based within the pharmaceutics laboratories of Aston Pharmacy School, my main area of research is the formulation of age-appropriate medicines for the extremes of life - paediatric and geriatric populations - with a focus on the identification of priorities for further research in older, established medicines, as well as the use of polymer based systems and alternative dosage forms to improve acceptability and practicality of medicines by, for example, extending stability and providing taste-masking.

A particular area of interest is that of extemporaneous formulation – that is the process of compounding ingredients to prepare a medicine for an individual patient when no commercial forms are available – which is extremely prevalent for the paediatric and geriatric population, due to a severe lack of age-appropriate dosage forms available on the market.

In an attempt to tackle the major issues, our research involves engagement with representative groups of patients, carers and prescribers, whilst robust pharmaceutical characterisation of problematic formulations requiring investigation is also performed, as well as development of novel dosage forms. This is being conducted in order to both inform current practice and strive towards improved, age-appropriate formulations.

Current projects include the development of orally dissolving films and orally disintegrating tablets for paedatric applications, patient-centric dosage form design and elucidation of preferences for the elderly population, 3D printing for pharmaceutical applications, polymer based taste-masking platform technologies and novel uses of liposomes and carbon based systems for improved drug delivery.

Theme lead for Enteral Drug Delivery

Pharmaceutical calculations: basic maths, graphical methods, formulation calculations and statistics
Pharmaceutical formulation: routes of delivery, suspensions, emulsions, creams and ointments, paediatric drug delivery and microspheres

• BSc in Chemistry and French, Aston University, 2003
• PhD in Pharmaceutics / Drug Delivery, Aston University, 2007
• Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Practice in Higher Education, Aston University, 2015

• 2023 – date: Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics / Drug Delivery, Head of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Aston Pharmacy School, College of Health and Life Sciences, Aston University.
• 2010 – 2023: Lecturer in Pharmaceutics / Drug Delivery, Aston Pharmacy School, College of Health and Life Sciences, Aston University.
• 2007 – 2010: Formulation Research Fellow, UK Medicines for Children Research Network, Aston University.

Self-funded PhD projects in Pharmaceutics / Drug Delivery will be available shortly for prospective students.  It is envisaged that fully funded studentships will also become available.

Member of the British Pharmacopoeia Expert Advisory Group on Unlicensed Medicines

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Member of the steering committee for the Age Related Medicines focus group of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences

IAT accredited course – Named Animal Care and Welfare Officer (NACWO)

Journals:

Scientific Advisor to the Editors of the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Reviewer for International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, Journal of Liposome Research, Pharmazie, and Biomedical Microdevices

Email: d.j.kirby1@aston.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)121 204 3006
Room: MB 434e