Andrew Hitchings is a clinical pharmacologist and intensive care doctor. Clinically, he works as a consultant in the neurointensive care unit of St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. St George’s is a large teaching hospital that provides general and specialist care, including tertiary neuroscience services, to a population of more than 3 million people. It is a major trauma centre, treating people who have suffered serious injuries in accidents across a wide area of southeast England. Dr Hitchings looks after patients who are critically unwell due to traumatic brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury and neurological diseases; patients recovering from neurosurgery; and patients with general critical illnesses.
As a senior lecturer in clinical pharmacology for St George’s, University of London, Dr Hitchings is a specialist in the use and study of medicines. He is an enthusiastic and effective teacher, recognised as such in a national award from the British Pharmacological Society. He is Chief Examiner for the final year examinations of the medicine (MBBS) programme and leads teaching in clinical pharmacology and prescribing. He also contributes to clinical pharmacology and prescribing teaching for the pharmacy (MPharm) degree, a programme delivered jointly by Kingston University and St George’s. He is a member of the Assessment Board for the UK Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA) and chairs a specialty question group for the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians (MRCP[UK]) written examinations. He is an external examiner for the final MB examinations for the University of Cambridge medicine (MBChB) programme.
Dr Hitchings also makes a substantial contribution to medicines management activities at St George’s, and nationally as the clinical pharmacologist on a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Technology Appraisal committee.
He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London (FRCP), the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FFICM) and the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). He is experienced in clinical research, having completed a PhD based on clinical trial research in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (projects supported by grants from the Medical Research Council and British Lung Foundation). He has authored several original articles in major medical journals (including the BMJ and Thorax). Working as part of a dynamic clinical pharmacology team at St George’s, he is co-author of Prescribing Scenarios at a Glance (Wiley, 2014) and The Top 100 Drugs (Elsevier) – a best-selling textbook that is now in its second edition.
