After graduating from Queen's University Belfast (QUB) with a 1st Class Honours Degree in Pharmacy, Lezley-Anne worked as a consultant pharmacist for a multinational company (Boots the Chemists). She returned to QUB to take up the post of Lecturer (Education) in September 2004 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer (Education) in 2013 and Professor (Education) in 2019. She teaches across the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) programme and contributes to postgraduate courses. Her teaching centres on pharmacy practice and evidence-based healthcare. She has won six university educational accolades in relation to her teaching. Furthermore, Lezley-Anne was awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (now part of Advance HE) in 2017 followed by Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy in 2019. She received national recognition by being awarded a National Teaching Fellowship in 2018. As Director of Education (Pharmacy) from August 2021 to July 2025, Lezley-Anne led the major transformation and two part accreditation of the MPharm degree programme to align it to the (2021) Standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists. These Standards lead to pharmacists having independent prescribing rights at the point of professional registration. She sits on various educational committees within the University and has External Examiner experience.

In 2006, she undertook a part-time PhD in Pharmacy Practice under the supervision of Professor Carmel Hughes relating to evidence-based practice and decision-making about over-the-counter medicines, and graduated in 2010. Her research interests include community pharmacy, evidence-based practice and over-the-counter consultations. Lezley-Anne has insight into this subject area from the perspectives of public, pharmacists, pre-registration tutors, pre-registration trainees, and undergraduate pharmacy students. In addition to international journal and conference contributions, she has also published an app in this area.

She has also published pedagogical work in internationally recognised journals on various topics including: assessment and feedback, goal orientations and academic performance, empathy, mental health, professionalism, resilience, moral reasoning, the transition from secondary to tertiary education and factors affecting career choice of pharmacy. She has disseminated numerous educational initiatives via national and international conferences and been an invited peer reviewer for over 30 internationally recognised journals.

Lezley-Anne is a member of the Pharmaceutical Society NI and a Faculty Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. She has experience writing and reviewing questions for the General Pharmaceutical Council registration assessment (the examination that determines professional membership). Lezley-Anne has also been a Registration Examination Committee member for the Pharmaceutical Society of NI and has worked to develop and deliver eLearning resources and other types of professional training for the NI Centre for Pharmacy Learning & Development. She has further contributed to the profession's development strategy, including professional guidance and policies, through her work on the NI Pharmacy Forum Education and Research Committee. She has delivered training for the NI Medical and Dental Agency and sat on a Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Herbal Working Group which produced a report making recommendations to the Government to influence policy. She has contibuted to the NI Pharmacy Workforce Review Group and NI Department of Health Working Group for implementing Multisector Experiential Learning.

Subsequent to my degree in Pharmacy:

PGDip Community Pharmacy (83%) (2002)

Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching (PGCHET) (2006)

PhD (Pharmacy Practice; 2010)

Students’ Union Education Award; outstanding feedback (student nominated category, 2013)

University Teaching Award; authenticity of teaching approach (team category, 2013)

University Teaching Award; exemplary feedback, inspiring and engaging learners (student nominated category, 2013)

International teaching award; entrepreneurialism (shortlisted, 2015)

Students’ Union Education Award; most inspiring (shortlisted, 2016)

University Teaching Award; development of peer mentoring scheme (student nominated category, 2016) 

Faculty Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (2016)

External funding awarded to develop an app relating to over-the-counter consultations (2016 and 2018)

Higher Education Academy (now part of Advance HE) Senior Fellowship (2017)

QUB Centre for Educational Development (CED) conference, poster prize (2017)

eHealth and Innovation in Pharmacy Practice Award, Pharmacy in Focus (2018)

University Teaching Award; app development (team category, 2018)

Higher Education Academy (part of Advance HE) National Teaching Fellow (2018)

Higher Education Academy (part of Advance HE) Principal Fellowship (2019)

Shaping Change in an Educational Setting, Learning and Teaching Conference, poster prize (2019)

Osmosis (Elsevier) Raise the Line Faculty Award, nominee (2022)

University Teaching Award; collective creativity, innovation, and impact on teaching and learning (team category, 2025)

Undergraduate; MPharm programme:

PMY4403: Managing Conditions in the Pharmacy (joint module co-ordinator)

PMY4402: Research Project

PMY4405: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations

PMY3178: Pharmacy Practice: Proprietary Dispensing (joint module co-ordinator - module ended 2023)

PMY3304: Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 2

PMY3305: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations

PMY2201: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations

PMY1100: Skills for Pharmacy

Postgraduate; Diploma/Certificate and MSc

PMY7007: An Introduction to Clinical Practice Reseach and Clinical Trials

PMY7041: Advanced Pharmacy Practice (with Independent Prescribing)

PMY7090: Research Project