Swansea University’s Dr Amira Guirguis is a pharmacist and internationally-renowned expert on drug detection.
She joined Swansea University Medical School in March 2019. Her dual role as a pharmacist and researcher have created a breakthrough in the understanding and awareness of the completely new area of “Novel Psychoactive Substances” or NPS. She has devoted her own time, over and beyond her research studies, to engage with local, national and international entities to explore NPS. Using real-life pharmacy scenarios and RPS (Royal Pharmacology Society) national targets, Dr Guirguis has taken the initiative to develop insight amongst pharmacists, other healthcare professionals and service providers into the area of NPS with the aim of improving the lives of those affected.
Together with a new team at the Medical School, Dr Guirguis is setting up a research unit to analyse the properties and effects of NPS and other substances of misuse, to increase understanding of them, and, crucially, to offer advice to the medical profession on how to treat people who have taken them.
Before coming to Swansea, Dr Guirguis led the creation of the first Home Office-approved Drug-Checking Service within a substance misuse service in collaboration with Addaction, one of the UK's leading drug, alcohol and mental health charities. Her research findings have been incorporated into renowned databases as well as essential textbooks for pharmacy undergraduates in the UK.
Dr Guirguis is Programme Director for an innovative new MPharm degree, to start at Swansea in September 2021, which will equip future pharmacists for the new challenges they see in A&E and emergency settings.
