Meet Our Talent
Meet Graham Mackay
Briefly explain your role here and what inspires you about your work?
I teach and research in Pharmacology – and really enjoy interacting with students in class and in the research lab.
My research looks at allergic diseases, immunopharmacology, and mast cell activation. Specifically allergic disease and more recently drug allergy. This is a big problem as it is relevant to every condition that we treat with drugs.
What lies ahead for your field?
Better understanding of the causes and predictors of drug allergy - so it can be an important part of the developing field of precision medicine.
Who stands out for you as a mentor or adviser during your career? How did they help?
There have been numerous people who have advised and supported me along my career journey. The ‘straight talk’ was the most important thing they offered – the recognition of difficulties and challenges I was experiencing but also giving encouragement to help focus and be more productive.
When I was an undergrad at the University of Glasgow I had an adviser – it was good to know that there was a member of academic staff that I had immediate contact with. I was also a country boy, so being in the big city was challenging. In my final years, we were lucky to have very small classes so got to know the academic staff very well. These aspects were very important to me especially having someone approachable that I could ask for help.