Dr Stephen Kelley

FHEA FBPhS

Lecturer

DArcy Thompson Unit, School of Life Sciences

Programme Lead (Biomedical Sciences)

Portrait photo of Stephen Kelley
On this page

Contact

Email

s.p.kelley@dundee.ac.uk

Phone

+44 (0)1382 388324

Biography

I had a strong interest in psychopharmacology whilst obtaining my Bachelor’s degree at Rhode Island College. My research interests then carried into neuropharmacology at the University of Memphis for my Master’s degree, focusing on how specific brain areas can modulate the effects of psychostimulants. At the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center in San Francisco, my research focused on how drugs acting at GABAA and 5-HT3 receptors can produce behavioural and neurochemical changes influencing addiction and anxiety. I then completed my PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Dundee in 2005, under the supervision of Professors John Peters and Jeremy Lambert, focusing on biophysical properties of 5-HT3 and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. I then travelled to UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina to engage in post-doctoral research looking at drugs which reduce the sedative effects of neurosteroids. I then returned to the UK, becoming a lecturer, then senior lecturer at the Medway School of Pharmacy where I taught undergraduate MPharm (pharmacy) students then later BSc (Hons) pharmacology and physiology students over my 12 years at Medway. In 2019, I was delighted come back to Dundee and I am now teaching in both the Schools of Life Sciences and Medicine.

Teaching

The main topic that I love to teach my students is pharmacology, which is the science of how drugs work. My research experience has significantly informed my teaching expertise, but it has been my direct experience with undergraduate teaching that has greatly expanded my view of pharmacology, from the action of drugs at the molecular level through to the positive (and negative!) effects of drugs in the clinic. Prior to coming to teach at Dundee, I had been actively teaching both pharmacology and physiology to undergraduate pharmacy students on the MPharm programme at the Medway School of Pharmacy, Universities of Kent and Greenwich, for 12 years.  I led the design and implementation of the BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology and Physiology, serving as the Programme Leader and industrial placements coordinator, in addition to managing several modules before becoming the Director of Education for the School, with a focus on quality assurance across the undergraduate programmes.

Stories