Professor Robin Ferner MSc MD FRCP FBPharmacolS FBToxicolS

Professor Robin Ferner

Institute of Clinical Sciences
Honorary Professor of Clinical Pharmacology

Contact details

Address
City Hospital
Birmingham
B18 7QH

Robin Ferner is interested in medication errors and adverse drug reactions, and how to prevent them. In addition to over 120 original papers and over 85 reviews, he has written commentaries for the LancetBMJ, and British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology on these topics.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3769-1346

Qualifications


  • 1988 MD (‘Beta-Cell Responses to Glucose in Man’)
  • 1980 MRCP (UK)
  • 1978 MB BS
  • 1975 MSc
  • 1971 BSc

Biography

Robin Ferner retired from the NHS in 2017. He is an Honorary Consultant Physician and Clinical Pharmacologist at City Hospital Birmingham, Director Emeritus of the West Midlands Centre for Adverse Drug Reactions, and Consulting Clinical Toxicologist at the National Poisons Information Service (Birmingham Centre). He qualified in Chemistry from University College London, and undertook research in Paris and Oxford before returning to London to study Medicine.

Teaching

  • SCRIPT eLearning suite for safer prescribing 
  • MSc Pharmacy
  • MSc Toxicology

Research

Research concentrates on the harms and prevention of harms from medicines.

Other activities

  • Royal College of Physicians/British Pharmacological Society Joint Specialist Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
  • Royal College of Physicians Patient Safety Committee
  • Joint Royal Colleges Medicines Safety Group

Publications

Highlight publications

Ferner, RE & Aronson, JK 2020, 'Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine in covid-19', BMJ, pp. m1432. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1432

Ferner, R & Aronson, JK 2006, 'Clarification of terminology in medication errors: definitions and classification', Drug Safety, vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 1011-22. https://doi.org/10.2165/00002018-200629110-00001

McDowell, S, Coleman, J & Ferner, R 2006, 'Systematic review and meta-analysis of ethnic differences in risks of adverse recations to drugs used in cardiovascular medicine', British Medical Journal, vol. 332, no. 7551, pp. 1177-81. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38803.528113.55

Recent publications

Article

Sanghvi, S, Ferner, RE, Scourfield, A, Urquhart, R, Amin, S, Hingorani, AD & Sofat, R 2023, 'How to assess pharmacogenomic tests for implementation in the NHS in England', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15820

O'callaghan, S, Ferner, R, Barron, A, Saxby, K & Sofat, R 2022, 'Free-of-charge medicine schemes in the NHS: a local and regional drug and therapeutic committee's experience', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, vol. 88, no. 6, pp. 2571-2580. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15094

Adeyere, E, Maniero, C, Magavern, E, Ferner, R & McGettigan, P 2022, 'Prescribing direct-acting oral anticoagulants - mind the evidence gap', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, vol. 88, no. 11, pp. 4724-4731. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15450

Ferner, R, Stevens, R, Anton, C & Aronson, J 2022, 'Spontaneous reporting to regulatory authorities of suspected adverse drug reactions to COVID-19 vaccines over time: the effect of publicity', Drug Safety, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 137-144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40264-021-01138-z

Ferner, R, Mason, J, Vallance, H, Choudhary, T, Marriott, J, Coleman, J & Pontefract, S 2021, 'Coping with COVID: preparing prescribers during the pandemic', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15153

Ferner, R 2021, 'Medicines and murder', The Medico-legal journal, vol. 89, no. 2, pp. 84-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/0025817221989573

Cox, AR & Ferner, R 2021, 'Tramadol: repeated prescriptions and repeated warnings', BMJ evidence-based medicine, vol. 26, no. 6, pp. E17. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2020-111661

Ferner, R & Pucci, M 2020, 'Adverse drug reactions', Medicine, vol. 48, no. 7, pp. 443-449. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mpmed.2020.04.010

Sanghvi, S, Allen, R, Cho, S, Ferner, RE, Urquhart, R & Sofat, R 2020, 'Are high-cost drug funding mechanisms fit for purpose? A retrospective study of individual funding requests in an NHS tertiary hospital', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.14409

Aronson, JK & Ferner, RE 2020, 'Drugs and the renin-angiotensin system in covid-19', BMJ, pp. m1313. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m1313

Review article

Aronson, JK, Heneghan, C & Ferner, RE 2023, 'Drug shortages. Part 1. Definitions and harms', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15842

Aronson, JK, Heneghan, C & Ferner, RE 2023, 'Drug shortages. Part 2: Trends, causes and solutions', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15853

Ferner, RE & Aronson, JK 2022, 'Medicines legislation and regulation in the United Kingdom 1500-2020', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.15497

Ferner, R, Day, R & Bradberry, S 2022, 'Phenytoin and damage to the cerebellum - a systematic review of published cases', Expert Opinion on Drug Safety, vol. 21, no. 7, pp. 957-977. https://doi.org/10.1080/14740338.2022.2058487

Bennett, F, Ferner, R & Sofat, R 2021, 'Overprescribing and rational therapeutics: barriers to change and opportunities to improve', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, vol. 87, no. 1, pp. 34-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.14291

Expertise

Clinical Pharmacology