From Lab to Life: 60 Years of Health Breakthroughs

Dr Kirsten Riches-Suman

Dr Kirsten Riches-Suman studied undergraduate BSc (Hons) Biology (Molecular and Cellular) at the University of Huddersfield and graduated with first class honours in 2003. She then worked at the University of Bradford as a research technician until 2005, until she started her PhD in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Leeds under the supervision of Dr Karen Porter and Prof Chris Peers.

Her work during this time resulted in 3 publications and multiple awards at national and international conferences. After completing her PhD in early 2009, she worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Porter lab. In 2018 she graduated with a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Practice (distinction) and was awarded fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. In 2018 her specialism changed to Lecturer in Biomedical Science to better reflect the teaching she undertakes.

Professor Beth Fylan

Professor Beth Fylan is Professor of Healthcare Systems and Safety in the School of Pharmacy, Optometry and Medical Sciences at the University of Bradford and Deputy Director of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC), hosted at the Bradford Institute for Health Research.

Her research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of safer healthcare systems, with expertise spanning patient safety, medicines optimisation, care transitions, deprescribing practices, hospital at home care, and the clinical implementation of pharmacogenomic testing. She has a strong track record of applied health and social research, working at the interface of national health policy, clinical practice, and patient experience.

Professor Klaus Pors

Professor Klaus Pors earned a BEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Southern Denmark in 1998 and completed studies in biophysics and medicinal chemistry at the UCL School of Pharmacy in 2002. His PhD and postdoctoral work focused on anticancer agents for drug-resistant cancers and prodrugs targeting hypoxic tumours. In 2005, he joined the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics in Bradford as a lecturer and team leader, specialising in tumour-selective therapies, and is now Professor of Chemical Biology.

Whilst working at the ICT, he has gained experience in cancer pharmacology and chemical biology to enable opportunities for the development of innovative therapies for cancer treatment. He has experience of working with start-up and biotech companies, out-licencing technologies, and holds numerous patents. He has invented a suite of chemical dyes with fluorescent properties to paint cells. 

Professor Rachel Pilling

Professor Rachel Pilling has been a consultant paediatric ophthalmologist at BTHFT since 2010 and was appointed as Professor of Special Needs and Learning Disability Eye Care by the University of Bradford in 2020.  

She has been involved with learning disability eye care for over ten years. She has published widely on aspects of eye care for learning disability in particular, the Bradford Visual Function Box (a novel tool for functional visual assessment), special school visual assessment, cataract surgery and diabetic retinal screening in adults with learning disability.

Her current areas of research interest are in cerebral visual impairment and brain related visual problems, including visual behaviours associated with autistic spectrum disorder.

Dr Thomas Swift

Dr. Thomas Swift's research focuses on functional polymer materials; primarily stimuli responsive macromolecules which respond to their surroundings. These have application in various biotechnologies (both disease sensing and controlled delivery of treatments), in formulation science and broader engineering applications. 

He has an interest in developing new characterisation techniques to better understand these complex material systems. He received a degree as a master of Chemistry (MChem Industry) from the University of York, having spent his fourth year at an industrial placement at AkzoNobel’s Decorative Paints division researching novel film functionality. He remained there for a brief period developing novel paint formulations, later began a PhD at the University of Sheffield specialising in stimuli responsive polymers.