Professor Abina Crean, University College Cork
Professor Abina Crean graduated with a degree in Pharmacy from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1992. She completed her PhD in Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, in 1997. Following this, she worked as a formulation scientist with Elan Pharmaceutical Technologies (1997–2001) and later as a Process Development Pharmacist at Servier (Ireland) Industries (2002–2003).
In 2003, Professor Crean joined the newly established School of Pharmacy at University College Cork (UCC), where she played a pivotal role in developing its research facilities and curriculum. She led the School’s successful Athena Swan Bronze application in 2018 and continues to serve on UCC’s Athena Swan Steering Committee.
Her research focuses on the design and development of high-quality, effective medicines through a deep understanding of the properties and behaviour of constituent materials, including active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and excipients. As a Principal Investigator, she established a pharmaceutical technology research group at UCC and has supervised numerous projects in pharmaceutical manufacturing and formulation science. A hallmark of her work is strong collaboration with both SMEs and multinational pharmaceutical companies.
In 2021, one of her collaborative projects won SSPC Industry Impact of the Year, recognizing a partnership between Alkermes, UCC’s School of Pharmacy, and research centre’s SSPC and PMTC at University of Limerick. This industry-led initiative was devised by Stephen Sheehan and Claire O’Reilly of Alkermes, in collaboration with Professor Crean and Dr David Egan.
More recently, UCC has partnered with Pfizer to advance discoveries in medicine development and manufacturing processes. This work spans three key areas—synthetic chemistry, analysis, and formulation design led respectively by Professors Anita Maguire, Melissa Hanna-Brown, and Abina Crean under the UCC Future Pharmaceuticals framework.
Professor Crean’s innovative contributions include co-filing a patent in 2021 with Dr. Waleed Faisal for novel microneedle technology and drug delivery systems. This invention, originating from the Career-IT project, led to the creation of Array Patch, a spin-out company from UCC’s School of Pharmacy. Array Patch focuses on dermatological applications and innovative patch formulations for generic drugs. The technology has earned multiple accolades, including Innovation of the Year at the Pharma Industry Awards 2022, winner of the 2023 IDEATE Ireland competition, and finalist at Big Ideas 2024.
Professor Crean also serves as an academic supervisor in the Centre for Doctoral Training in Transformative Pharmaceutical Technologies, a partnership between University College London, the University of Nottingham, and SSPC. Funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Council, Research Ireland, and 19 industry partners, this program delivers world-class training for future leaders in pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.
Since 2008, Professor Crean has supervised over 20 PhD students and currently mentors three of today’s award recipients, a testament to her dedication and impact on the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists.
