Professor Reecha Sofat has been appointed inaugural Breckenridge Chair of Clinical Pharmacology and Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Liverpool.
Professor Sofat is a clinical pharmacologist who joins the University from UCL and UCLH Foundation Trust. Her research involves embedding research into routine clinical care with a focus on making and using medicines better. A current focus is leveraging data to understand disease and consequently, drug development and use of medicines – including genomic, multi-omic and real world data. As well as using publicly available resources, Reecha develops methods to create custom disease cohorts as well as investigating individualised treatment strategies. Reecha also chairs local and regional medicines committees, teaches pharmacology and therapeutics and delivers evidence-based medicines practice.
Professor Reecha Sofat said: “I am honoured and delighted to have been appointed to the inaugural Alasdair Breckenridge Chair in Pharmacology and Therapeutics. I am very much looking forward to taking up the post at the University of Liverpool and contributing to the already excellent research in the department, the university and region.”
The University’s Chair of Clinical Pharmacology position has been renamed in memory of physician, academic, medicines regulator and clinical pharmacologist Professor Sir Alasdair Muir Breckenridge.
Alasdair Breckenridge made a great personal contribution to UK academic medicine over 50 years, and was one of a small group of individuals who established the medical specialty of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. In 1974, Alasdair joined the University of Liverpool to become Head of Department of Pharmacology, where a new Chair in Clinical Pharmacology had been created. He stayed in Liverpool until his retirement in 2003. In a recent interview for the British Pharmacological Society, he stated that his greatest achievement was the establishment and development of the modern Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool. The Department was honoured with a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education and Innovation in 2018.
Dr Ross Breckenridge, son of Professor Sir Alasdair Breckenridge said: “The Breckenridge Family is deeply honoured by the establishment of this prestigious chair, and delighted that someone of Professor Sofat’s calibre has agreed to be the inaugural Chair. We’re looking forward to seeing what she and the University of Liverpool will achieve over the next few years”.
Professor Dame Janet Beer, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Liverpool said: “I would like to offer a very warm welcome to Professor Reecha Sofat, who joins the University of Liverpool as the inaugural Breckenridge Chair of Clinical Pharmacology. Reecha brings with her wide-ranging expertise in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics and a passion for embedding research into clinical practice to make and use medicines better. She is eminently well qualified to lead our world-class Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, which was established and developed by Professor Sir Alasdair Breckenridge and awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education and Innovation in 2018.”
Professor Sofat will commence her new role on 1 February 2022.