Dr Sheuli Porkess PFPM
An FPM Voices Q&A

What first sparked your interest in pharmaceutical medicine, and what has kept you passionate about the field?

I first became interested in pharmaceutical medicine when I worked as a lab assistant for ICI before going to medical school. I spent a year working on drug formulation and then followed up with a couple of summer holiday jobs at Zeneca when I was a medical student. During this time, I started to learn about drug discovery and development and was fortunate to be introduced to pharmaceutical physicians. My interest in the field has grown over time as I’ve worked across different geographies, therapy areas and disciplines within pharmaceutical medicine.

What does FPM represent to you, both professionally and personally?

FPM represents a brilliant combination of people – colleagues and friends – and expertise, in medicines, vaccines, medical technologies and cutting-edge science.

In what ways have you helped champion FPM’s mission for the next generation of pharmaceutical physicians?

I think it’s really important that the next generations of pharmaceutical physicians are aware of the specialty in the first place and that the specialty represents values that resonate. We then need to make sure that we offer support to enter and flourish in the profession.

The exam is a key part of this and I was an examiner for the Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine for many years and served as the convenor of the Critical Appraisal Paper for a while. I was part of the team that set up the collaboration of FPM with ABPI and Brighton and Sussex Medical School, to help undergraduates learn about pharmaceutical medicine. As part of this, I have lectured at Brighton and Sussex Medical School for many years.

Finally, in my role as President of FPM, I want to work with everyone to deliver a compelling vision for the specialty for the future – together we can really advance pharmaceutical medicine, but only if we work with the next generations of pharmaceutical physicians to ensure the specialty is relevant and will deliver for patients.

What’s a recent innovation or lesson—whether from colleagues, patients, or scientific advancements—that has inspired or changed your perspective?

I’m inspired by the breadth of pharmaceutical medicine – from medicines and vaccines to medical devices and diagnostics, digital health, genomics and AI. The potential to advance health is enormous and this inspires me every day.

How would you describe what you do to people who haven’t heard of pharmaceutical medicine?

We are doctors who work on innovations for health, like medicines, vaccines and health technologies. We develop, roll out and monitor these innovations.

How can the field of pharmaceutical medicine advance diversity and inclusion, and what actions can individuals take to contribute to meaningful change?

This is key to what we we do. We develop products that help people and in order to do that effectively, we need to understand the diversity of the populations that we are serving. This requires diversity of thought in the management teams prioritising the products we develop, diversity of perspectives from developers, regulators, patients and clinicians as we develop and roll out products, and ensuring feedback in how products are working in real life is from diverse populations.

Everyone should reflect on their daily work and question whether diversity is embedded across all aspects and, if not, then raise the question.

What is one key change or advancement you hope to see in pharmaceutical medicine in the coming years, and why?

The integration of environmental sustainability across pharmaceutical medicine. There is a fundamental link between health and the environment and, as pharmaceutical physicians, we need to understand how our daily work impacts the environment and vice versa in order to deliver products that have meaningful value for patients and health systems.

If you weren’t a doctor, what completely different career would you want to try?

I’m not sure it’s a completely different career but it would be in planetary health, using technology and science to address environmental issues.