Our Team

Professor Mike Scott is the Director of the Regional Medicines Optimisation Innovation Centre (MOIC). In 1994 he established the first academic practice unit in the province in conjunction with the Queens University of Belfast. In 2004 he was made a fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland. In June 2009 he was made an honorary Professor of Pharmacy Practice at QUB.
He was awarded the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists gold medal for outstanding contribution to the health service at national level in 2010. In 2014 he received the special achievement award from the Ulster Chemists Association for outstanding contribution to the development of pharmacy in Northern Ireland. In 2016 he was awarded the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Most recently in 2019 he received the David Samways Award from the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists in recognition of outstanding National Contribution to the practice of pharmacy procurement.

Anita Hogg has undertaken research in medicines management and delivered a number of quality and medicines optimisation programmes since joining the hospital sector in 2001. She was pharmacist co-ordinator of the award winning Integrated Medicines Management programme within the Northern Health and Social Care Trust and supported the implementation and development of this work across Northern Ireland and in Europe. In 2002 she won the Northern Ireland Hospital Pharmacist of the Year Award and has published research papers and presented work on medicines management both nationally and internationally. She qualified as an Independent Prescriber in 2009 and has delivered postgraduate education and training throughout her career. Prior to joining the hospital sector, Anita Hogg worked with the Northern Health and Social Services Board on a sessional basis undertaking medicine reviews within the surgery setting and providing prescribing advice to General Practitioners. She was one of the first pharmacists to deliver the community pharmacy based ‘Managing Your Medicines’ service. During an attachment as Principal Pharmaceutical Officer, DHSSPS, Anita Hogg supported the implementation and delivery of the Pharmaceutical Clinical Effectiveness Programme in Northern Ireland. She is currently the Pharmaceutical Clinical Effectiveness lead for the Medicines Optimisation Innovation Centre (MOIC) and continues to undertake research and deliver a medicines management service to outpatients.

Rachel Huey is a senior research and innovation programme manager.

Rachel is a registered pharmacist and has worked in both community and hospital settings.  Rachel’s PhD focused on pharmaceutics and targeted formulation development to treat neurodegenerative disease.

Rachel also has a black belt in martial arts.

Dr Nicola Goodfellow studied pharmacy at the University of Nottingham and after completing her pre-registration training and registering with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI), joined Queen’s University Belfast to undertake a PhD. Following the award of her PhD Dr Goodfellow worked as a post-doctoral research assistant in Queen’s University Belfast before joining the Northern Ireland Clinical Trials Unit where she monitored and managed a portfolio of large multi-centre clinical trials. During her career Nicola has gained experience in community pharmacy, undergraduate education and research methodology.

Maureen joined the team at the MOIC as a senior research and innovation programme manager in November 2020. Prior to her role at the MOIC, Maureen worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Primary Care Research Group at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). She is a skilled healthcare services researcher with over 10 years’ experience coordinating and delivering health improvement initiatives across the academic, publishing and healthcare industries. She is a registered pharmacist with experience working in both hospital and community pharmacy settings. Maureen was awarded a PhD in 2017 from the School of Pharmacy at QUB for her thesis entitled ‘Optimising adherence and outcomes in patients with bronchiectasis’. Research interests include medication adherence, behaviour change and digital solutions for health. She is currently a member of the Expert Advisory Group for Digital Pharmacy at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Dr Katherine O’Neill is a Physiotherapy (Hons) graduate and holds a PhD in the area of respiratory disease (Queen’s University Belfast). She is currently undertaking her PgCert in Digital Health (University of Cumbria).

Katherine has experience of working in both hospital and university settings in a clinical research/ research role. She has developed expertise in research co-ordination, management, grant writing, quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Katherine has experience in writing for publication and presentation of research on national and international platforms.
Katherine also continues some clinical work as a Physiotherapist with the Early Intervention Team at Antrim Area Hospital.

Joanne Brown studied pharmacy at Queen’s University, Belfast and worked in community pharmacy before returning to Queen’s to undertake a PhD. She has worked in hospital clinical pharmacy since 2002, maintaining an interest in research. Most recent roles include 13 years as Teacher Practitioner Pharmacist and deployment to palliative care during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Joanne holds a post graduate certificate in higher education and training, is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an independent prescriber. She now works as a project pharmacist on iSIMPATHY.