Bernard Leddy

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Bernard Leddy

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Image:

Name:

Bernard Leddy

Featured Profile:

At A Glance

Licensed Body:

RSC

Region:

International

Location:

Ireland

First Degree:

Pharmacy

Job:

Manager

Age:

Home:

Lismore, County Waterford

Works For:

QM Specials and Mari Mina Healthcare

Qualifications:

B.Pharm,MSc,PhD

Pet Hates:

Mean and inconsiderate people

Burning Ambition:

To win the Nobel Prize for anything!!

Superpower:

To tell the truth

Links:

www.leddyb.com

Big Picture

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a child I always wanted to be a fighter pilot

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

When I first read General Medical and Pharmaceutical by Attfield it was published in the mid 1800's

What do you love about your job and being a “scientist”?

I feel that to be a scientist is to have a continuously open mind and to be always seeking new answers

What would you change?

I would love scientific research to be funded by charitable and altruistic foundations which are not tied to big industries. Possibly a simplistic ideal

Education

What qualifications did you take at school?

I took A Levels.

Why did you choose your first degree subject?

My first degree was BPharm (Hons) in Pharmacy. It followed on from Attfield's book and I thought that by getting into research I could cure diseases.

Do you have a Masters or PhD? If not, was it difficult to demonstrate Masters-level equivalence in order to achieve CSci?

I have an MSc and PhD.

Job

How do you describe your job when you meet people at a party?

I am no longer a bench scientist but the methods we use to make handmade medicines in QM Specials is always an ice breaker

What is ‘cutting-edge’ about your work?

We are constantly being asked to produce new formulations and the physical and chemical challenges make us keep our knowledge up to date

What are the biggest implications your work will/could have in the future?

That sick people will have a greater range of dose forms to choose from

Describe some of the highlights of your average day.

Every day is different but I am constantly making management and technical decisions

Describe briefly how your career has progressed to date.

I did two post-doc fellowships after my PhD but as it was the early 1980's I found a dearth of opportunities to enter a tenure track academic position so I returned to Pharmacy and have had an enormously rewarding career in management research and product development

How is your job cross-disciplinary?

I deal with HR issues, customer care issues and technical problems

How well is your job compensated? What is the starting salary for your field, and how much can this be expected to rise?

I am extremely well paid and have directorships and shareholdings in several of our companies

How do you see your field developing over the next 5-10 years?

Pharmaceutical research for novel drugs will never be within our scope but a link to formulations of new drugs could lead to a significant development of our work

What’s the most unexpected thing about your job?

What comes next!

What’s the biggest achievement of your career so far?

Last year I was elected President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland

Life

Would you say you have a good standard of living/ work-life balance?

Thankfully I have a fantastic quality of life as I live and work in one of the most peaceful and beautiful places on Earth

What do your friends and family think about your job?

Some of them don't understand exactly what I do but they all know I love doing it

What kind of hobbies or extracurricular activities do you do to relax?

I am a local Councilor and am involved with many local community development organisations

CSci

Why did you choose to apply for CSci and what do you value most about being a Chartered Scientist?

I was absolutely delighted that I was entitled to obtain CSci and the framed certificate has pride of place in my office. It emphasizes that I am at the very top of my profession

What is the value of professional bodies?

Professional bodies can act in two ways either as learned societies or as regulators or sometimes as both. Registration is very important

How important is CPD? What do you think of the revalidation process in ensuring that CSci is a mark of current competence?

I feel that CPD is vital and essential to maintain professional competence and to provide the general public with the re-assurance that once registered my competence is continually evaluated through a process of life long learning

Advice & Reflection

What words of wisdom would you give someone interested in getting into your field?

Find a subject that interests you and work as hard as you can at it. It is important to love what you do

How important is the mentoring process in your field and to you personally?

Mentoring is a vital part of the development and sustainability of any profession

What would you do differently if you were starting out in your career now?

I would have persisted with the more academic side of things if I could.

What would you like people to remember about your life as a scientist?

That by practicing my profession I made a difference.

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