The School of Pharmacy, UCC Congratulates Seven PhD Candidates on Successful Viva Voce Examinations

13 Jan 2026

The School of Pharmacy, UCC is pleased to recognise seven doctoral candidates who successfully defended their theses in viva voces between August and December 2025.

Each viva reflects years of sustained research, collaboration, and determination, and reaching this point represents a significant academic achievement.

The School warmly congratulates the following researchers and acknowledges the dedication and guidance of their supervisory teams. We wish them every success in their future careers.

Tanweer AL-Dagamin
Thesis title: Drug-Silica Systems: The Impact of Drug-Loading Process Parameters on Drug Solid-State and Release
Supervisors: Prof Abina M. Crean, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Joey O’Shea, School of Pharmacy, UCC

Justus Lange
Thesis title: Rational Design of Solubilizing Formulations: Combining Mechanistic and Data-Driven Approaches for Excipient Selection and Formulation Optimization
Supervisors: Prof Brendan Griffin, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Patrick O’Dwyer, School of Pharmacy, UCC

Andrew Fagan
Thesis title: Predicting In-Vivo Performance From Pharmaceutical Tablet Manufacturing Data
Supervisors: Prof Abina M. Crean, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Prof Brendan Griffin, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Joey O’Shea, School of Pharmacy, UCC

Nicolas Pätzmann
Thesis title: Exploring Co-Milling as a Strategy to Improve the Dissolution of Poorly Water-Soluble Drugs
Supervisors: Prof Brendan Griffin, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Patrick O’Dwyer, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Prof Martin Kuentz, Institute of Pharma Technology, FHNW; Dr Josef Beranek, Zentiva N.V.

Aida López Espinar
Thesis title: Design and Synthesis of Ionisable Amino-Polyester Lipid Nanoparticles for Extrahepatic RNA Delivery
Supervisors: Dr Piotr Kowalski, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Sonja Vucen, School of Pharmacy, UCC

Lianne Mulder
Thesis title: Tie-ing the Endothelium: Development of an mRNA-Based Nanotherapeutic to Restore Microvascular Barrier Function for the Treatment of Sepsis-Induced Multiple Organ Failure
Supervisors: Dr Piotr Kowalski, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Katie Ryan, School of Pharmacy, UCC

Darren J. Walsh
Thesis title: Evaluation of the Impact of Pharmacist Interventions in a Geriatric Oncology Setting
Supervisors: Prof Laura Sahm, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Michelle O’Driscoll, School of Pharmacy, UCC; Dr Anne Horgan, Medical Oncologist, University Hospital Waterford