Don CAIRNS – Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland

Donald Cairns obtained his Pharmacy degree and PhD from the University of Strathclyde. Following a year as a post-doctoral research fellow with the Cancer Research Campaign, Dr Cairns moved to Leicester School of Pharmacy where he held a five-year lectureship in pharmacy. In 1992 Dr Cairns was appointed senior lecturer in medicinal chemistry at Sunderland University and in 2003 moved to Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen as Associate Head.   In 2006, he was promoted to Professor of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry and in 2012 was appointed Head of the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. He retired from the university in January 2022, and was appointed Professor Emeritus.

Prof Cairns’ research interests include the design and synthesis of selective anticancer agents, the molecular modelling of drug / DNA interactions and the design of prodrugs for the treatment of nephropathic cystinosis. He is a member of the General Pharmaceutical Council, and a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2006 he was appointed to the British Pharmacopoeia Commission and serves as Vice Chair of an Expert Advisory Group of the Commission on Human Medicines.