Laura Jane Sahm

Professor Laura Jane Sahm serves as Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Vice Dean of the School of Pharmacy at University College Cork. Appointed to these positions in 2023, she previously served as Acting Head of Clinical Pharmacy Practice from 2021 and has been a member of the School of Pharmacy staff since October 2005. Her career includes a joint appointment between the School of Pharmacy and Mercy University Hospital (2005-2015) and prior work as a senior clinical pharmacist at Bon Secours Hospital, Cork.

Dr. Sahm earned her B.Sc. Pharm(Hons) from the University of Brighton and completed her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics (Site-specific drug delivery of methrotrexate to melanoma) in 1995 from the University of Bath. Her research spans multiple critical healthcare areas including cancer research, health literacy, medication adherence, and vaccine health. She has secured significant research funding and has graduated 8 PhD students while currently supervising 7 PhD candidates and 1 MD student.

Her scholarly output includes 210 career publications with 110 peer-reviewed articles, totaling 3,021 citations and an h-index of 28. Professor Sahm's recent work demonstrates strong focus on cancer screening barriers, particularly for vulnerable populations including those with intellectual disabilities, and vaccine acceptance issues. Her research consistently bridges pharmacy practice with public health concerns, addressing medication adherence challenges across diverse patient populations.

Professor Sahm actively contributes to healthcare policy as an appointee to the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland and previously served on the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (2018-2021). Her grant portfolio reflects substantial research activity with over €1.6 million in career research income. She leads multiple research projects including the AIVRT: All-island Vaccine Research and Training Alliance and studies on medication adherence in aphasia.