Appointment of Council Members to the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland
Date published:
The Health Minister, Robbie Butler, has announced the appointment of three Council Members to the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
Professor Brendan Gilmore, Mrs Amy Hilbert and Professor David Jones have been appointed as Registrant Members. Appointments will commence on 1 September 2026 and will end on a date not later than 31 August 2030.
PSNI Council Members are remunerated by an attendance fee. Attendance at meetings of up to 4 hours duration attracts a fee of £120, while meetings lasting more than 4 hours attract a fee of £240. Training and induction days attract a fee of £120. The role of a PSNI Council Member carries a time commitment equivalent to 12 days per annum.
The procedure for these appointments is not bound by the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland, however, these appointments have been made in the ‘spirit of the Code’.
The PSNI was established by the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Northern Ireland) 1925 and has been based at 73 University Street, Belfast since 1933. It is the regulatory and professional leadership body for pharmacists in Northern Ireland. Its objectives include, amongst other matters, to advance chemistry and pharmacy and promote pharmaceutical education and the application of pharmaceutical knowledge, while safeguarding the interests of the members in the Society in their exercise of the profession of Pharmacy.
It maintains a register of over 3,000 pharmacists, just over 200 students, including Foundation Year Trainees, and over 530 pharmacy premises across Northern Ireland.
The PSNI Council comprises 14 Council Members (7 pharmacists/registrant members and 7 lay members).
Notes to editors:
- Professor Brendan Gilmore graduated from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) in 1999 with a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacy and registered as a pharmacist in 2000. He returned to QUB in 2004, completing a PhD in Biomedicinal Chemistry. He was appointed Lecturer in Pharmaceutics the same year and promoted to a personal chair as Professor in Pharmaceutical Microbiology in 2015. He is an Adjunct Professor, School of Medicine, University of Limerick. His research focuses on antimicrobial tolerance in biofilm-associated infections, antimicrobial resistance, and novel antimicrobial technologies. He has published extensively and has received several prestigious research awards and fellowships. Brendan is an editor of Hugo & Russell’s Pharmaceutical Microbiology (7 and 8 editions), a core textbook for undergraduate pharmacy programmes worldwide. He is Deputy Head of the School of Pharmacy at QUB and has significant leadership and governance experience, having served as trustee, Vice President and President (2020-23) of the Society for Applied Microbiology, the UK’s oldest microbiology society.
- Mrs Amy Hilbert graduated from the University of Brighton in 2013 and is an experienced pharmacist with a professional background spanning community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, urgent care, and pharmacy education. She has spent much of her career as a hospital pharmacist, specialising in critical care and anaesthetic medicine, where she led pharmacy service improvements, medicines optimisation initiatives, and contributed to multidisciplinary patient care. Amy currently serves as a Lead Pharmacist for the Foundation Training Year at the Northern Ireland Centre for Pharmacy Learning and Development, where she supports the delivery and development of the Foundation Training Year programme for trainee pharmacists across Northern Ireland. In addition, she works as a Clinical Triage Pharmacist with Dalriada Urgent Care, providing remote clinical assessment, medicines advice, and independent prescribing. She is passionate about advancing the pharmacy profession, supporting workforce development, and promoting safe, effective, patient-centred care.
- Professor David Jones is Professor of Pharmaceutical and Biomaterial Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). He gained a first-class BSc in Pharmacy, PhD in Pharmaceutics and DSc from QUB, and later a first-class BA in Mathematics and Statistics from the Open University. Following posts at the University of Otago and Norbrook Industries, he joined QUB’s School of Pharmacy in 1994, became Senior Lecturer in 1997 and was appointed to a personal chair in 1999. He has authored three textbooks, 15 patents and more than 400 research papers and communications. David’s awards include science medals from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and other professional bodies. He is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Statistician and Chartered Chemist, and is a Fellow or elected member of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Academy of Medical Sciences, Royal Irish Academy, Academia Europaea, Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Statistical Society, Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland and Irish Academy of Engineering. He was appointed MBE in the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours List.
- These appointments to the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland were made by the previous Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt.
- All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees to be published. All appointees have declared that they have not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
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