Abubakr Abdelraouf Alfadl

I have the expertise, experience, and extensive background in public health, and social and administrative pharmacy with a strong publication record over the last 20 years. I was the Director of National Drugs Quality Control Laboratory – Sudan, and a member of the National Medicines and Poisons Board (Drug Regulatory Authority in Sudan) for close to 10 years. For a decade serving in this senior position, I gained rich experience in policy making and policy implementation, as well as health system management, especially in the pharmaceutical sector. Thereafter, I felt I need to augment my working experience with more conceptual understanding, hence, I shifted to academia with the aim of getting more involved in research work. I worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, then as Head of Pharmacy Practice Department. Also, I served as a member of several committees and Head of “Curriculum and Assessment Committee”, where I contributed significantly to curriculum development. My primary research interest is in the area of social and public health pharmacy. This research works at the interface of pharmacy and public health with the aim of exploring the public health skills of pharmacists and to what extent those skills contribute to improving population health beyond traditional pharmacy functions. This is an important approach as success in health care is no longer measured by services delivered, but rather by improvements in population health outcomes. On the other hand, research in social pharmacy improves pharmacists' understanding of the communities in which they work and consequently they can develop more empathic approaches for targeting factors that could improve medication use in their communities. Within these themes, my research addresses: consumer behavior with a focus on interactions involving patients, medicines, health professionals, and health care systems; pharmaceuticals promotion activities; pharmaceutical regulations; and health policy. I have contributed significantly to the literature on substandard and falsified medical products. Currently, I am working on a Research Topic that aims to bring together a collection of papers covering a wide range of challenges and achievements in pharmaceutical regulation policies and activities, covering countries and regions with different levels of income and regulatory stringency.