Abstract
President of the Academy, 2013–2015
After graduating with an honours degree in Biochemistry from the University of Sussex in 1970, Bob Flanagan worked at the Poisons Unit, Guy’s Hospital, under the Directorship of Dr Roy Goulding. In 2007, he was appointed Consultant Clinical Scientist and Director of the Toxicology Unit, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
Particular interests have included analytical methods, especially gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, latterly in conjunction with mass spectrometry, and their application in clinical toxicology and therapeutics; treatment of mental illness, especially as regards the use of antipsychotics, notably clozapine; treatment of cancer, especially in respect of the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as imatinib; and the diagnosis of substance abuse, especially misuse of volatiles such as butane.
Honorary appointments have included: Visiting Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Loughborough; Honorary Professor of Analytical Toxicology, Queen Mary, University of London; Visiting Professor, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, University of London; and Associate Professor, Katz Group Center for Pharmacy and Health Research, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Publications include more than 200 scientific papers and lead authorship of four books, viz. Basic Analytical Toxicology, Geneva: World Health Organization, 1995; Antidotes, London: Taylor & Francis, 2001; Electrochemical Detection in HPLC: Drugs and Poisons, Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2005; and Fundamentals of Analytical Toxicology, Chichester: Wiley, 2008. He has also contributed chapters to other textbooks, notably Clarke’s Analysis of Drugs and Poisons, 4th edition. Ed. AC Moffat et al., London: Pharmaceutical Press, 2011, and Disposition of Toxic Drugs and Chemicals in Man, 10th edition, RC Baselt, Seal Beach: Biomedical Publications, 2014.
He has advised medical professionals, police, coroners, and prosecution and defence lawyers on toxicological issues for some 25 years, and has also acted as a consultant to the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime on volatile substance abuse and on drug-facilitated crime, and to the World Health Organization, most recently in Serbia/Kosovo. A particular interest has been advising on the clinical interpretation of analytical toxicology results in samples of body fluids obtained either in life or post-mortem. He advised the Attorney General in the inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly and the National Offender Management Service on methadone-related deaths in prison, and has also advised on issues before the Court of Criminal Appeal in Scotland and the Court of Appeal in England and Wales.
Finally, he led on analytical toxicology training for the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and for the Royal College of Pathologists for more than 10 years. He was an examiner in toxicology for the Royal College of Pathologists and in forensic medical science for the Honourable Society of Apothecaries, and is an assessor in forensic toxicology, Netherlands Register of Forensic Scientists. He has served as Chair of the London Toxicology Group, and of the Separation Science Group, Royal Society of Chemistry, and has been a member of the Council of BAFS since 2007.
Other interests include natural history and history per se, especially industrial history, photography, classical music, especially opera, and attempting to keep fit. He has been Chairman of the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery for some 25 years.