Leanne May

I have a longstanding interest in using technology to make teaching engaging and effective. I enjoy a flipped approach in pharmacy practice, particularly for responding to symptoms and minor illness, and I use simulation, role play and video to bring consultation and prescribing skills to life. As we move towards prescriber-ready graduates, I focus on helping students build the clinical reasoning, consultation and prescribing skills they will need on placement and in future practice, drawing on my community pharmacy and CPPE experience. I am currently completing my Independent Prescribing training, with a clinical focus on Type 2 diabetes, which keeps my teaching close to current prescribing practice.

As Digital Learning Lead, I shape how digital tools are used across the MPharm programme. I designed a scaffolded digital capability framework that introduces students to the systems they will meet in practice, from dispensing and workflow tools at level 4 through to MyDispense, PharmOutcomes, SystmOne and prescribing technologies spiralling in higher years, so their digital confidence grows alongside their clinical skills. I collaboratively embedded PebblePad as our e-portfolio platform to support reflective practice, longitudinal development and professional identity, mapped to the General Pharmaceutical Council's Initial Education and Training Standards and Learning Outcomes.

Inclusive teaching is a strand I care about. I have developed learning resources that improve how clinical presentations are represented across diverse populations, including a Canvas module showing dermatological conditions across a range of skin tones, inspired by the Mind the Gap initiative, so students learn to recognise and respond to health inequalities in practice. This connects to my wider interest in cultural competence and sustainability in the curriculum.

Assessment quality matters to me too. I led the embedding of MaxExam, Maxinity's assessment system, to strengthen the fairness and quality of our Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) through better data capture, analysis and quality assurance. I am also interested in how learning analytics and emerging tools, including artificial intelligence, can support teaching and assessment.

I was an early adopter of technology in teaching, from quiz-style clickers and leaderboards to encourage engagement, to leading the move to online teaching and assessment as MPharm course director during the COVID-19 pandemic, while protecting the practical learning that matters most.

Qualifications

• Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA)

Courses taught

• Pharmacy MPharm (Hons)
• Pharmacy with Biopharmaceutics MPharm (Hons)

My research looks at how digital innovation, simulation and inclusive teaching can improve pharmacy education and prepare students to prescribe. Recent work includes evaluating MyDispense and SystmOne simulation for developing prescribing skills, using PebblePad e-portfolio to bridge learning and professional practice, and working across universities to sustain experiential learning for large student cohorts.

A good deal of my work focuses on cultural competence and health inequalities. I have co-designed workshops using a design thinking approach to help students recognise and respond to inequalities in practice, alongside teaching resources that better represent clinical presentations across a range of skin tones. This has recently extended into a book chapter on pharmacy workforce development as a route to gender and health equity.

I also research prescribing education, including what students need to become safe and effective prescribers and collaborated on the evaluation of a pilot course for designated prescribing practitioners.

My full list of publications and conference presentations is below, with more detail on my Kingston research profile and ORCID.

Research outputs

Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

• Nathwani, P., May, L. and Micallef, R. (2025). Becoming a designated prescribing practitioner: a pilot educational course. Education for Primary Care, 36(4), pp.182-189.
• Slater, N., Mason, T., Micallef, R., Ramkhelawon, M. and May, L. (2023). Enabling access to pharmacy law teaching during COVID-19: student perceptions of MyDispense and assessment outcomes. Pharmacy, 11(2).
• Nabhani-Gebara, S., Fletcher, S., Shamim, A., May, L., Butt, N., Chagger, S., Mason, T., Patel, K., Royle, F. and Reeves, S. (2020). General practice pharmacists in England: integration, mediation and professional dynamics. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 16(1), pp.17-24.

Book Chapter

• Micallef, R., Nathwani, P. and May, L. (2026). Pharmacy Workforce Development: A Global Pathway to Gender and Health Equity. In: Encyclopedia of Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy. 2nd ed. Elsevier. In press.

Selected Published Conference Abstracts and Presentations

2026

• May, L. and Khadka, A. (2026). Exploring student perceptions of MyDispense simulation training on developing prescribing skills in second-year MPharm students at Kingston University London. Manchester Pharmacy Education Conference 2026. Pharmacy Education. 
• Nathwani, P., May, L., Micallef, R. and Saqi, T. (2026). Evaluation of the Brent Training Hub Experience Pilot Supporting Pharmacy Student GP Placements. Manchester Pharmacy Education Conference, Manchester, UK. 
• Cockerell, J., Bates, I., Whittlesea, C., Bansal, S., Kayyali, R., Brown, L., Butt, F., Malde, H., May, L. and Saqi, T. (2025). Collaborative practice between universities: creating sustainable infrastructure for experiential learning across large cohorts and geographies. Pharmacy Education, 25(4), p.77.

2025

• May, L., Neimi, A., Cusman, Z., Hossain, S. and Malik, S. (2025). Design and evaluate the digital integration of SystmOne in simulation-based teaching for MPharm students at Kingston University. Manchester Pharmacy Education Conference 2025. Pharmacy Education.
• Kamdar, D. and May, L. (2025). Innovative methods to teach health inequalities in pharmacy: evaluation of a health inequalities workshop using a design thinking approach in the MPharm. Manchester Pharmacy Education Conference 2025. Pharmacy Education.

2024

• May, L., Butt, F., Saqi, T., Crilly, P. and Kayyali, R. (2024). Empowering future-ready graduates: using PebblePad e-portfolio to bridge learning and professional skills. Conference presentation.
• Kamdar, D. and May, L. (2024). Cultivating cultural competence: evaluating pharmacy students' knowledge and perspectives following a cultural competence workshop. Conference presentation.
• Long, P., Al Khalil, Y., Chen, Y.C.S. and May, L. (2024). Service development and evaluation of a pharmacist-led respiratory diagnostic hub in a Primary Care Network. Conference presentation.
• May, L. (2024). Designing and evaluating the use of role play videos in the undergraduate teaching of prescribing in common minor illnesses for pharmacy students using simulation. Conference presentation.
• Kamdar, D. and May, L. (2024). Creating prescriber-ready pharmacy students: flipped classroom and simulation teaching for responding to symptoms and minor illness management in the MPharm programme. Conference presentation.
• Kamdar, D. and May, L. (2024). Cultivating Cultural Competence. Conference presentation.
• Kamdar, D. and May, L. (2024). Evaluation of a health inequalities workshop: a design thinking approach. Conference presentation.

2023

• May, L., Sadiq, Z. and Long, P. (2023). Designing a pilot tool to evaluate the quality of structured medication reviews in the Chiswick Primary Care Network. Conference presentation.
• May, L. (2023). Current pharmacist independent prescribers' views on the knowledge and skills required at undergraduate level for pharmacy students to become safe and effective future prescribers. Conference presentation.
• Kamdar, D., May, L. and Wells, J. (2023). Evaluating the impact of an inclusivity workshop on pharmacy students' perceptions and knowledge of health inequalities. Conference presentation.
• Kamdar, D., May, L. and Wells, J. (2023). Empowering pharmacy students to address health inequalities to shape holistic and sustainable practice. Conference presentation.

Specialisms

• Community pharmacy
• Digital technology in pharmacy education and training
• Pharmacy education and training
• Simulations in pharmacy education
• Responding to symptoms

Scholarly affiliations

• MyDispense Community

I have worked as a community pharmacist for a large pharmacy multiple since 2001 and continue as a part-time relief pharmacist for Boots. A key role during this time was as a group pharmacy manager, where I led clinical governance for eight pharmacies, line managed pharmacists across the area and implemented key clinical services. I am currently completing Independent Prescribing training with a clinical focus on Type 2 diabetes, which keeps my teaching and curriculum design close to current prescribing practice.

Much of my knowledge exchange sits where education meets primary care. I have worked with Primary Care Networks and practice colleagues to evaluate services, including a pharmacist-led respiratory diagnostic hub and a tool to assess the quality of structured medication reviews, and I have researched the role of general practice pharmacists. Building on this, I helped evaluate a pilot course for designated prescribing practitioners and a training hub pilot supporting pharmacy student GP placements, strengthening the link between the classroom and practice.

As a CPPE tutor, I support pharmacists and pharmacy technicians through online courses to return to the GPhC register and build the portfolio required for GPhC evaluation, and I help pharmacists already on the register return to practice after a break.

I have written widely for the pharmacy press. For C+D, I created revalidation support material, including a podcast modelling a peer discussion and worked examples of reflective accounts, and in 2021 I wrote articles on the Moderna and Janssen vaccines and the updated NICE guidance, alongside a social media video to help reduce vaccine hesitancy. Between 2017 and 2021 I wrote training modules on a wide range of clinical topics, including: multiple sclerosis, over-the-counter codeine, OTC medicine abuse, erectile dysfunction, ticks and Lyme disease, hyperhidrosis, concussion, oral thrush, leukaemia, non-oral hormonal contraception, asthma, lung cancer, first aid, trichotillomania, dry skin, look-alike sound-alike errors, lung function tests, lithium, hernia and calculations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic I supported drive-through testing centres across London in April 2020, testing and training others to administer swab tests, and over the summer of 2020 I ran drop-in calls to help Kingston students stay safe while working on the front line.

Qualifications and expertise

• Registered pharmacist GPhC
• Postgraduate Clinical Diploma in Pharmacy Practice (community), with Distinction
• CPPE Return to practice and return to register tutor
• CPPE Events Tutor, London

Professional and scholarly affiliations

• General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
• Fellow of Royal College of Pharmacy (RPS member since 2000)

University responsibilities

• Module Leader The Central Nervous System, Gastrointestinal Tract and Immunology (PY5051), co-taught at City St George's London
• Digital Learning Lead