What do football and pharmaceutical science have in common?!

In this, our final episode of series four, we go out on a high chatting to multi-award winning scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist Professor Claire Thompson. Not only is Claire the Founder and CEO of Agility Life Sciences, a drug formulation development company, she is a former footballer who in 2020 launched Girls in Football Teams to support the development of skills through football.

We chat to Claire about the role pharmaceutical science plays in the development of medicines and her own experience during COVID and what it means for the future of drug development. Claire believes that playing football has given her skills not just for sport, but for business and so wants to ensure as many girls as possible get the chance to have the same experience. We discuss how the charitable work of her company supports Girls with Goals!

Our micro-discussion has an end-of-term feel about it this week when discuss ‘things in healthcare than annoy us!’ Inspired by an article in the Guardian by Adrian Chiles ‘When did everything become ‘awesome’ and ‘amazing’?. We knew this one would wind Steve up, and it did! www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/01/when-did-everything-become-awesome-and-amazing-i-blame-the-americans.

As with all of our guests, Claire shares with us an Memory Pill, a career anthem and book that has influenced her career. Let’s just say this is the first time someone has picked a drug they were actually responsible for developing!

Live shows and special episodes
This will be our last regular episode until early in 2023 but don’t fear – there will be a number of special themed episodes between now and them. Stay tuned to Twitter for more details and keep an eye on our podcast feed. And if you want to see us in person then come along the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Conference on November 11th (https://www.rpharms.com/events). This your chance to meet the apothecaries and share with us your drug, anthem and book choices.

To get in touch follow us on Twitter @auralapothecary or email us at auralapothecarypod@gmail.com . Don’t forget to rate us and comment wherever you have got this podcast from.

You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg

You can view the Aural ApothecaryLibrary here; https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31270100-paul-gimson?ref=nav_mybooks&shelf=the-aural-apothecary

Claire on Twitter @claire6thompson.