1. Current Status, Position
 
Mrs Cockburn is Lead Diabetes Cardiovascular Risk Pharmacist and Lead Antimicrobial Pharmacist.
 
2. Education
 
Qualified as a pharmacist in 1988, she spent the early years of her career working in Leicestershire, UK, holding a variety of posts in secondary care and academia including Teacher-Practitioner at DeMontfort University, Leicester and Clinical Services Manager in Leicester NHS Trust. During this time she completed Diplomas in Health and Social Services Management and Clinical Pharmacy and fostered her interest in management of infectious disease and diabetes. Following a move back to Lothian she established a Cardiovascular Risk Pharmacist-led Out-Patient Service for patients with diabetes, became an Independent Pharmacist Prescriber and took up the post of Lead Antimicrobial Pharmacist in 2007. In 2009, she was appointed an Honorary Lecturer at Strathclyde University, UK. 
 
She is currently Vice-Chair of the Association of Scottish Antimicrobial Pharmacists Executive Group and she is an expert clinical advisor on antimicrobial agents to the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
 
3. Research Area
 
She specialises in optimisation of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with diabetes and has established several out-patient clinics in secondary care. Her research interests include evaluation of the effectiveness of the clinics and further development of referral criteria for patients attending the clinics. Within the specialty of antimicrobial management of infectious diseases she has facilitated development of antimicrobial multidisciplinary ward-rounds and implemented education programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate pharmacists and other non-medical prescribers.
 
Conflict of interest: None