Tribute: Graham Mould

Graham Mould joined me in 1968 as a research assistant at The London Hospital Medical College, at a time when our colleagues and peers were experimenting with bioanalysis in clinical pharmacology.

We believed that pharmacokinetics could be critical in both the selection of the right candidate drug in product design, as well as the right dose for the patient — this may be common sense nowadays, but it was a revolutionary concept at the time. There was a dearth of pharmacokinetic information for drugs in humans. A high proportion of the then current drugs had been sold without any pre-marketing pharmacokinetic research in animals or humans. This would be unthinkable nowadays. We were greatly helped, of course, by the fact that some of our professional predecessors in pharmaceutical science had pioneered studies of bioequivalence and drug interactions, both built on a firm foundation of accurate and specific bioanalysis.

Graham brought in all of the skills, understanding and enthusiasm needed; little coaching was required to enable him to become a trained independent practitioner of the science and for him to evolve into a full participant in its creative work. He went on to publish scholarly articles with me and others on this subject matter, to earn his MPhil and PhD degrees, and to earn the position of lecturer in pharmacology — all significant personal achievements.

He later pursued his objectives within a team dedicated to similar endeavours in Guildford, a setting different to that of our teaching hospital, where pathologists, clinicians and pharmacists collaborated in the birth of clinical pharmacy, and, incidentally, where he made his home with his wife and their three sons. Also, as a principal at Guildford Clinical Pharmacology, Graham provided research services in support of phase I studies, in the same area as his academic work.

Later, Graham found a niche in the legal system as a pharmacist expert witness, publishing on this in The Pharmaceutical Journal in 2016. He, and the journal, saw this role as exemplifying the values and training inherent in those of a pharmacist.

Graham was a man of integrity in both his personal life and in his career, driven by both faith and high scientific principles. He was a fine family man who I am proud to have known as a mentee, contemporary, friend, peer and colleague during our parallel careers. My sincere condolences go to his family — Halina, their sons, and grandchildren.

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, PJ, October 2019, Vol 303, No 7930;303(7930)::DOI:10.1211/PJ.2019.20207074

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