Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed is a British clinical pharmacologist and geneticist. Since 2007 he has been the NHS Chair of

Pharmacogenetics Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of the genome in drug response. Its name ('' pharmaco-'' + ''genomics'') reflects its combining of pharmacology and genomics. Pharmacogenomics analyzes how the genetic makeup of an individual affects the ...

at the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

Background

He attended the former St Paul’s School and

Peterborough Technical College Peterborough College, established in 1946 as Peterborough Technical College, is a major further education college in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. History Engineering firms Peter Brotherhood and Baker Perkins relocated to Pete ...

. Pirmohamed studied medicine at the

from 1980 to 1985. He was awarded a PhD in

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

in 1993, and began working as a consultant physician at the

Royal Liverpool University Hospital The Royal Liverpool University Hospital (RLUH) is a major teaching and research hospital located in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the largest and busiest hospital in Merseyside and Cheshire, and has the largest emergency department of i ...

in 1996. Pirmohamed gained the position of Personal Chair in

Clinical Pharmacology Clinical pharmacology has been defined as "that discipline that teaches, does research, frames policy, gives information and advice about the actions and proper uses of medicines in humans and implements that knowledge in clinical practice". Clinic ...

at The

in 2001. He went on to become the NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics in 2007 and the

David Weatherall Sir David John Weatherall, (9 March 1933 – 8 December 2018) was a British physician and researcher in molecular genetics, haematology, pathology and clinical medicine. Early life and education David Weatherall was born in Liverpool.Geoff Wa ...

Chair of Medicine at the

in 2013. He was a member of the

Commission on Human Medicines The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) is a committee of the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. It was formed in October 2005, and assumed the responsibilities of the Medicines Commission and the Committee on Safety of Medi ...

and chair of its

Pharmacovigilance Term Given By Tushar Sharma (UPES Batch 2025) Pharmacovigilance (PV, or PhV), also known as drug safety, is the pharmaceutical science relating to the "collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention" of adverse effects with pharma ...

Expert Advisory Group from 2005 to 2020 and was appointed chair of the commission in 2021, He is Director of the Centre for Drug Safety Science, Director of the Wolfson Centre of Personalised Medicine, and Director of the MRC Clinical Pharmacology Training Scheme, all at the

. In addition, he is Director of HDR North, part of HDR UK. Alongside these responsibilities, Pirmohamed is a non-executive director for

NHS England NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...

/Improvement, a member of the governing council of the Medical Research Council, a medical trustee for the

British Heart Foundation The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is a cardiovascular research charity in the United Kingdom. It funds medical research related to heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, and runs influencing work aimed at shaping public policy ...

, and was president of the

British Pharmacological Society The British Pharmacological Society is the primary UK learned society for pharmacologists concerned with research into drugs and the way they work. Members work in academia, industry, regulatory agencies and the health services, and many are medi ...

from January 2020 to December 2021. He is president-elect of the Association of Physicians for 2022, and will become president in 2023. In 2022, he chaired a committee that produced a report, Personalised prescribing, on behalf of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

of London and the

, which advocates the implementation of

pharmacogenomics Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of the genome in drug response. Its name ('' pharmaco-'' + ''genomics'') reflects its combining of pharmacology and genomics. Pharmacogenomics analyzes how the genetic makeup of an individual affects the ...

into the UK NHS.

Research

, Pharmacogenetics and drug safety are the main areas of Pirmohamed's research. With a particular focus on adverse drug reactions, their role in improving prescription choices and the development of genetic tests for personalised medicine. He has published over 600 articles. He is included the 2021 list of highly cited researchers by

Clarivate Clarivate Plc is a British-American Public company, publicly traded analytics company that operates a collection of subscription business model, subscription-based services, in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics; business intelligence, ...

, and has been ranked number 1 expert in pharmacogenetics worldwide by Expertscape.

Awards

Pirmohamed is an inaugural

NIHR The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government’s major funder of Clinical research, clinical, public health, Social care in England, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 bil ...

Senior Investigator and is a Fellow of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

. Pirmohamed has received the William Withering Medal from the

and the IPIT award for Public Service from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

in the US. and the Bionow Outstanding Contribution award for 2021. He was knighted the in

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

in June 2015 for services to Medicine.

Professional memberships

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headquar ...

* Association of Physicians * Medical Council on Alcohol *

Medical Research Society The Medical Research Society (MRS) was founded by Sir Thomas Lewis in 1930. The Society was 'instituted for the purpose of advancing knowledge of the causes and processes of disease, by clinical or related experimental studies in man’. The MRS ...

Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM) is a British non-profit organisation that was founded after World War I and pioneered the development of postgraduate educational programmes in all branches of medicine. It was founded in late 1918 a ...

Funding

Pirmohamed has been awarded funding from The

UK Department of Health The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwi ...

MRC MRC may refer to Government * Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) * Medical Reserve Corps, a US network of volunteer organizations * Municipalité régionale de comté (regional county municipality), Quebec, Canada * Military Revolutionar ...

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

Wolfson Foundation The Wolfson Foundation is a charity that awards grants to support excellence in the fields of science and medicine, health, education and the arts and humanities. Overview The endowment of the Wolfson Foundation is currently some £800 million, ...

, and the EU FP7 programme funds .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirmohamed, Munir Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Liverpool British pharmacologists Clinical pharmacologists Knights Bachelor Academics of the University of Liverpool NIHR Senior Investigators