I gained my PhD from the Department of Toxicology at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1996, but have always had a strong interest in public health and health behaviour. Those interests combined when I began work at the UK Department of Health as a Toxicologist looking at tobacco products. The issue of toxicity in cigarettes is self-evident, but I was extremely interested in why people continue to use tobacco products, despite the abundant evidence of their risks.

I continued my work in the field of tobacco control and public health after leaving the Department of Health, firstly at the British Medical Association and later, as a consultant, on projects with the Health Education Authority, Cancer Research Campaign, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and the Laboratory of the Government Chemist.

I joined the University of Westminster in 2002 as a Lecturer in Health Sciences in the Department of Integrated Health, became a Senior Lecturer in 2004 and a Principal Lecturer in 2007. I discovered a passion for teaching and it gives me great satisfaction in being able to communicate complex concepts in an accessible way. I gained a University of Westminster Teaching Fellowship in 2010 and, following a series of departmental restructures, I am now the Learning and Teaching coordinator in the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

Pedagogic research

Attitudes of Complementary Medicine students to Science Plagiarism approaches in Higher Education Developing Pedagogic Research and Practice within the University of Westminster: What do students see as ‘excellence in teaching’ and how congruent is this perception with the views of lecturers and University leaders?