APS Announces New Board Members
4 February 2025
The APS is pleased to announce its new Board Members. We received a large number of applications and would like to thank all the applicants for their support. We are pleased to announce the successful applicants as follows and welcome them to the APS Board and APS Advisory Board:
Dr. Milan Antonijevic
Associate Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Programme Director for MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford
Dr Milan Antonijevic obtained a BSc Hons in chemistry from the School of Chemistry, University of Belgrade, Serbia in 1997. He then spent just over four years working in the quality control department (physicochemical characterisation) of Hemofarm, the leading pharmaceutical company in Serbia. His subsequent career step involved a move to the UK and the continuation of his education.
Milan studied pharmaceutical materials science under the supervision of Dr Susan A Barker and Professor Duncan Q M Craig. He was awarded a PhD at the School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast in 2005.
His first faculty post was at the School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, in 2004 as a senior demonstrator. His first permanent faculty post as a lecturer at the School of Science, University of Greenwich, started in 2006, progressing to senior lecturer and Programme Leader for BSc Hons Chemistry in 2008 and subsequently becoming a principal lecturer and programme leader for MSc Pharmaceutical Science in 2010. He then moved to the University of Surrey in 2023 with the aim to establish a new MSc Programme in Pharmaceutical Science with Industrial Practice.
Dr Elizabeth Collins
Executive Director, Pfizer
Liz first joined Pfizer as part of her undergraduate degree program, working in early product development. Upon completion of her Bachelors and Ph.D. degrees, she re-joined Pfizer as a formulation lead for the Biologics group and led a team developing mAb formulations for early studies. Since that time, Liz has held a number of scientific leadership positions across the pharmaceutical sciences as a drug product SME, project team leader and people manager. In early 2021, Liz progressed into an Executive Director role with matrix accountability for the pharmaceutical sciences business in the anti-infective category. This included leading the pharmaceutical development of Paxlovid™ (Covid anti-viral).
In addition to these portfolio responsibilities, until recently Liz led the global pharmaceutical sciences (PSSM) EDI Council, has led many site initiatives, specifically around skills and early careers and was the lead pharmaceutical sciences colleague on the Sandwich site. Upon the recent withdrawal of laboratory and clinical operations from the Sandwich site, Liz is currently on secondment to the Office for Life Sciences as a Life Sciences expert. During this time, she is continuing to represent Pfizer on Medicines Manufacturing LT and represents ABPI on the board Cogent Skills.
Liz has a BSc from Loughborough University in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and a Ph.D. from the Welsh School of Pharmacy in Non-viral Gene Delivery to the Lung.
Dr Terry Ernest
Director, Manufacturing Science and Technology, Almac Pharma Services
Dr Terry Ernest is Director of Manufacturing, Science and Technology at Almac Group. Terry has almost 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with over 29 years at GSK where he was Director of Product Development.
He has developed formulations and manufacturing processes for pre-clinical assets through to commercialisation, for a variety of dosage forms and routes of administration. He is a subject matter expert in age-appropriate drug product design having developed a number of drug products for paediatric application and has contributed to a number of collaborations such as EuPFI, IQ consortium, other academic research projects and has reviewed a number of regulatory guidelines on behalf of industry.
He is passionate about developing young scientists and advancing pharmaceutical sciences and continues to actively research in the field of pharmaceutics.
Dr Bhaven Patel
Reader in Organic Chemistry,
London Metropolitan University
Bhaven Patel is Reader in Organic Chemistry at London Metropolitan University. He achieved his MSci in Chemistry from King’s College London and his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Birmingham. He then gained a prestigious EPSRC PhD Plus Fellowship working at the University of Birmingham and Queensland University of Technology. He has also worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Nottingham and UCL School of Pharmacy.
He currently co-chairs the Applied Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology research theme and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research interests are diverse, encompassing reaction discovery, the development of innovative synthetic methods, and the application of these methods in natural product synthesis and bioactive molecules. His expertise extends to medicinal chemistry, the use of digital worksheets to enhance student learning and engagement, and the application of 3D printing in science.
Recently, his research has focused on the development of new chemosensors.
APS Board Observers
Dr Esther Jacobs
Associate Principal Scientist, AstraZeneca
Dr. Esther Jacobs is an Associate Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca, where she specializes in advancing pharmaceutical innovation through her expertise in amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs), lipid-based formulations (LBFs), and hot melt extrusion (HME). She holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Queen’s University Belfast, where her research focused on drug delivery of amorphous polymeric nanoparticles using hot-melt extrusion.
At AstraZeneca, Esther’s role focuses on the development and optimization of oral formulations of poorly soluble and complex synthetic molecules from early preclinical until early clinical development.
Dr Alejandro J Paredes
Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Queen’s University Belfast
Dr Alejandro J. Paredes is a Pharmacist by training (2011) and holds a PhD (2016), both degrees from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina. Dr Paredes is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Pharmacy ay Queen’s University Belfast, where he leads a research group focused on controlled and targeted drug delivery using nanocrystals. Alejandro is a named inventor in 2 patents, has authored >80 peer-reviewed articles, and is the Editor of two textbooks.
Dr Paredes has obtained prestigious grants (15 PI grants, >£3.7M) from the EPSRC, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society, NI Department for Economy, and Applied Microbiology International. Dr Paredes obtained the Emerging Scientist Award 2024 from the APS and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and CICOPS (Italy).
Alejandro is an active member of various scientific societies, and an editorial board member of Materials Today Bio, AAPS PharmSciTech and Drug Delivery and Translational Research.
Foday Samura
University of Greenwich
Foday, Edward Samura holds a bachelor’s degree with Honors in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Greenwich. He is currently studying for an MSc in Data Science and its Application to Medicine from the University of Greenwich.
Foday works with the Outreach and Educational Partnerships Team at the University of Greenwich as an Outreach Ambassador. He works closely with schools and further education colleges to support their students directly in taking the next step, wherever that may take them.
Foday is a student member of the APS and a member of the New Scientist Focus Group committee. He is very passionate about a career in drug research and data science in the pharmaceutical industry.
APS Advisory Board
Dr Hamid Merchant
Head of Department for Bioscience,
University of East London
Hamid is the Head of Department for Bioscience at the University of East London. He is a pharmaceutical scientist with over 20 years’ experience in drug delivery and product development in industry and academia. Before joining UEL, Hamid worked for the University of Huddersfield (2013-2023), University College London (2011-2013), and Abbott Laboratories Ltd (2002-2007).
Hamid’s research focuses on novel formulation design, biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, bioavailability, and bioequivalence. He has a particular interest in drug delivery research at the interface of gastroenterology and publishes in various aspects of drug delivery to the gastrointestinal tract. He is also part of a wider collaborative project investigating substandard and falsified pharmaceuticals and novel analytical tools to trace their provenance.