Rate My Professor Clare Guilding

Professor Clare Guilding is Professor of Pharmacology & Medical Education and Deputy Dean of Education in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University. She holds a first-class BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience and Class Prize from the University of Edinburgh (2000), a PhD from the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh (2004), a Postgraduate Certificate of Advanced Studies in Academic Practice from Newcastle University (2014), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2014), ILM Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management from the University of Manchester (2011), and a Masters in Medical Education from Newcastle University (2024). Her early career featured postdoctoral research in neuroscience and neuropharmacology at the Universities of Glasgow and Manchester. Joining Newcastle University's School of Medicine in 2011 as a Lecturer focused on pharmacology education and student support, she co-led the Clinical Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Prescribing strand (2011–2016), served as Lead Student Support Tutor and MBBS Deputy Degree Programme Director (2014–2016). From 2017 to 2020, she was seconded to Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia as Dean of Academic Affairs, leading curriculum development, quality assurance, assessment, student support, staff development, and securing maximum five-year Malaysian Medical Council re-accreditation.

Returning to Newcastle, she held roles as Head of Recruitment and Admissions for MBBS (2020–2026), Director of Education (2021–2024), and Deputy Head of the School of Medicine (2022–2026), overseeing recruitment transitions during the pandemic, admissions policy redesign with widening participation emphasis, diversity improvements, quality assurance for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, governance, workforce planning, and community-building. Her research centres on medical and pharmacology education, including curriculum development, pedagogical innovation, inclusive education, student support, sense of belonging, admissions diversity, widening participation, and Learning Communities implementation. She chairs the IUPHAR Education Section, co-leads the Core Concepts of Pharmacology initiative for global concept-based curricula, and serves as Vice President Academic for the British Pharmacological Society, advancing pharmacology, therapeutics, and prescribing curricula nationally. Key publications include 'Defining and unpacking the core concepts of pharmacology: A global initiative' (British Journal of Pharmacology, 2024), 'Identifying the core concepts of pharmacology education: A global initiative' (British Journal of Pharmacology, 2023), 'Developing an international concept-based curriculum for pharmacology education' (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2025), and 'Threshold concepts and core concepts in pharmacology education: A commentary' (Pharmacology Research & Perspectives, 2024). Awards include National Teaching Fellow (Advance HE, 2020), Fellowship of the British Pharmacological Society (2022), Inaugural Elizabeth Davis Education Fellow (Monash University, 2022), Rang Prize (British Pharmacological Society, 2017), Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Teacher Award (Newcastle University, 2016), and Educator Innovator Award (ASME, 2016).