FBHS Edinburgh 2014

FBPS London 2012

FRCP London 2007

FRCPI Dublin 1998

PhD University of Edinburgh 1992 (Drug disposition in Chronic Renal Failure)

MRCPI Dublin 1986

BSc Pharmacology (First Class Honours)

University College Dublin 1985

MB BCh BAO University College Dublin 1983 (Honours Medicine & Surgery)

Una joined the University in 1996 as a part-time Senior Lecturer in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences (MDS) and was promoted to Professor of Clinical Pharmacology in 2015. Key leadership roles within the University have been Programme Director of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)/Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility (WTCRF) (2011-2015), Athena SWAN lead College of Medical and Dental Sciences (2009-2017), Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (DPVC) for Equalities 2015-2020.

Una has had an honorary contract with University Hospital Birmingham Foundation Trust as a consultant in General Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology. She has led and delivered the Hypertension Service at the Trust since 1998, combining clinical care with research into assessment, diagnosis and management of patients with high blood pressure. She is President of the British and Irish Hypertension Society since September 2019.

Una took on the role of Head and Dean of the newly formed Birmingham Medical School in September 2019.

Current projects

Una’s area of expertise is in hypertension and her contribution to the field has been recognised by a Fellowship of the British Hypertension Society. Her research has had a major impact on how hypertensive patients are diagnosed and treated both in the UK and Internationally.  Highlights include:

She has investigated ethnic differences in blood pressure measured by ambulatory, clinic and home monitoring.

Her clinical experience in ambulatory monitoring (ABPM) informed the design and interpretation of a systematic review published in the BMJ and subsequent cost effective analysis published in the Lancet which led to a major change in NICE guidelines in 2011 (NICE clinical guideline 127).

Her delivery of an ABPM service was used as a template in a subsequent NICE implementation guideline (NICE clinical guideline 127) and her team developed an instruction video on ABPM on behalf of the British Hypertension Society.

She has published several papers relevant to the day to day management of hypertension for example on the relationship between inter-arm blood pressure measurements to ambulatory readings, the problem of adverse drug reactions in antihypertensive treatment in patients aged >80 years, the worrying trend of prescription of inappropriate (and potentially teratogenic) antihypertensive agents to women of child bearing age and the challenges of non-adherence to prescribed medication in patients on long term antihypertensive medication.