Dr Ana Correia de Oliveira

About

Ana graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences by the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, in 2006. After that, she completed a MSc in Quality Control, followed by a PhD in Pharmacology/Toxicology, both in the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto. During her PhD, she looked at the influence of genetic variability on the effect of opioids used in palliative care (cancer patients). Additionally, during this time Ana had started teaching a broad range of subjects, including pharmacology, forensics toxicology and laboratory methods.
Once she was awarded a PhD, she moved to England in 2014 to start a teaching and learning focused career. Since then, Ana has been deeply involved in medical education teaching, curriculum development and assessment of medical biosciences. From 2014 to January 2020, she was an Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, where she also acted as Graduated Entry Medicine Course and Problem based Learning lead for approximately, three years. Her passion for medical education, teaching and curriculum development drove her to move to Kent and Medway Medical School in February 2020.

Research interests

From 2003 until 2014, Ana's main research interest was mainly related with scientific / bench research. She has started a research pathway in an Organic Chemistry laboratory, investigating anticancer properties of natural compounds (from plants). However, after doing her MSc thesis in quality control of genetic-related techniques, she decided to focus on genetic variability and pain, studying the impact of different polymorphisms in the analgesic effects of opioids in palliative care cancer patients. At the same time, Ana also developed an interest in quantification methods, especially liquid and gas chromatography.
Since 2014, Ana has continued to be involved in some scientific / bench research, especially related with clinical toxicology and medications adherence, supervising undergraduate projects and PhD students. However, her current research interest relates with educational research. In the last 4 years, she has implemented the use of peer-assessment and studied its relationship with the development of students’ self-efficacy and self-regulation of learning. Additionally, she has recently started to use innovative teaching methods and study their efficacy, especially when used for the delivery of large theoretical information in toxicology (e.g., escape rooms, gamification).

Teaching

Ana has been teaching in higher education since 2008 and had the pleasure to contribute to both undergraduate and postgraduate education. From 2008 to 2014, her main teaching related with pharmacology and forensics toxicology. Within the forensics field, she has taught environmental toxicology, food toxicology, laboratory methods for identification and quantification of compounds and pharmacogenomics/toxicogenomics.
From 2014, Ana taught different subjects (e.g. microbiology, virology, molecular biology), but her main areas of specialism are Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Toxicology. She has been teaching and leading Pharmacology and Therapeutics in early years of medical and medical-related curricula and involved in reviews of the theme and development of new teaching. Although Ana loves to teach all the areas of pharmacology, she has a special interest in opioids and neuropharmacology.
Additionally, she has continued to teach Toxicology, especially in optional modules of Clinical Toxicology, for students that have a special interest and want to learn in greater depth about this theme.

Professional

1. Oliveira A., Dinis-Oliveira RJ. and Carvalho F. 'Chapter 8 Opioides.' In Toxicologia Forense. 2015. Pactor: Lisboa

2. Oliveira A, et al. 'Interleukin-1 Genotype and Circulating Levels in Cancer Patients: Metastatic Status and Pain Perception.' Clin Biochem. 2014; 47(13-14):1209-13

3. Oliveira A, et al. 'Genetic Profile and Cancer-Related Pain: A Tale from Two Outlier Cases with Bone Metastatic Disease.' Pain Med. 2014; 15(4);710-712