Dr Emma F Magavern
NIHR Clinical Academic Lecturer
Centre: Clinical Pharmacology and Precision Medicine
Email: e.magavern@qmul.ac.uk
Profile
Dr Emma Magavern is a Clinical Lecturer and a Clinical Pharmacology and Internal Medicine doctor. She completed her PhD in pharmacogenomics at the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, working with Professor Sir Mark Caulfield and Professor Damian Smedley. She has now been appointed a NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, splitting her time between 50% clinical work and 50% academic work. She completed a BA in English prior to her MD and subsequent MScs in Bioethics and Genomics. Through training in clinical medicine, humanities, genetics, and pharmacology she has developed an interest in the scientific merits, clinical potential and implementation challenges of pharmacogenomics. She was co-secretary of the Royal College of Physicians/British Pharmacological Society (BPS) working group on pharmacogenomics and led the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) cardiovascular pharmacotherapy working group (CVP) pharmacogenomics position paper. She is part of the newly appointed NHS England Network of Excellence for Pharmacogenomics and a co-lead for the pharmacogenomics section of the Health Education England GeNotes initiative. Her main focus is on leveraging genomic medicine to reduce existing health inequalities. She is also a nucleus member of the ESC CVP and the chair of the BPS SpR Committee.
Research
Medicines do not work well or have side effects for many people who try them. Some of the reason for this variability in medication response is due to common variants in DNA. Large scale research on populations has shown that all of us will have at least one variant in our DNA that would change the approach to medicines use if we needed a specific medicine. Therefore, if we know who has these DNA variants, we can prescribe medicine in a more personalised way avoiding a trial-and-error approach. This can make medicines safer by reducing bad reactions to medications and improving how medicines work for people. My work is focused on understanding more about how and why people with different variants in DNA respond differently to medications. For this field of work to benefit patients the public need to know about this topic and tell the health care teams how we should use this practically in clinical settings in the NHS to benefit patients. Therefore, my work is also focused on communicating with patients and the public about this area of science, curating patient and prescriber information resources, and surveying patient attitudes, concerns, and needs.
Publications
-
Tamargo J, Agewall S, Borghi C et al. (2024). New pharmacological agents and novel cardiovascular pharmacotherapy strategies in 2023. nameOfConference
-
Magavern EF, Jacobs B, Warren H et al. (2023). CYP2C19 genotype prevalence and association with recurrent myocardial infarction in British-South Asians treated with clopidogrel. nameOfConference
QMRO: qmroHref -
Magavern EF, Hitchings A, Bollington L et al. (2024). UK Prescribing Safety Assessment (PSA): The development, implementation and outcomes of a national online prescribing assessment. nameOfConference
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.15919
-
Magavern EF, Durrani F, Raza M et al. (2023). British South Asian ancestry participants views of pharmacogenomics clinical implementation and research: a thematic analysis. nameOfConference
-
Magavern EF, Team GHR, Smedley D et al. (2023). Factor V Leiden, estrogen, and multimorbidity association with venous thromboembolism in a British-South Asian cohort. nameOfConference
QMRO: qmroHref -
Magavern EF, Jacobs B, Warren H et al. (2023). CYP2C19 Genotype Prevalence and Association With Recurrent Myocardial Infarction in British–South Asians Treated With Clopidogrel. nameOfConference
-
Magavern EF, van Heel DA, Team GHR et al. (2023). CYP2C19 loss‐of‐function alleles are not associated with higher prevalence of gastrointestinal bleeds in those who have been prescribed antidepressants: Analysis in a British‐South Asian cohort. nameOfConference
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.15762
-
Magavern EF, van Heel DA, Smedley D et al. (2023). SLCO1B1*5 is protective against non-senile cataracts in cohort prescribed statins: analysis in a British-South Asian cohort. nameOfConference
-
Magavern EF, Caulfield MJ (2023). Equal access to pharmacogenomics testing: The ethical imperative for population‐wide access in the UK NHS. nameOfConference
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.15689
Sponsors
My work is supported by Barts Charity and the Barts NIHR Biomedical Research Centre as well as the NHS England Pharmacogenomics Network of Excellence and Genomics England.
Collaborators
- Prof Sir Mark Caulfield
- Prof Damian Smedley
- Prof David van Heel
- Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed
- Prof Juan Carlos Kaski
- Dr Valentina Cipriani
- Dr Pilar Cachiero
- Dr Letizia Vestito
- Dr Helen Warren
- Dr Claudia Cabrera
- Dr Stavroula Kanoni
- Prof Bill Newman
- Dr John McDermott
- Vivienne Parry
News
Podcasts:
- DNA & Drugs (Pharmacogenomics)
- Insights into pharmacogenomics and increasing diversity in genomics research with Dr Emma Magavern (The Genetics Podcast)
Articles:
- Using genetic testing to improve medicines use after myocardial infarction (Hospital Healthcare)
- Common heart medication less effective in south Asian People (The Conversation)
- PGx variants linked to poor Plavix response in UK South Asians renews calls for expanding testing (Precision Medicine Online)
- Clopidogrel genetics study (Barts Charity)
- We're celebrating Internationals Women's Day (Barts Charity)
- Medication used to prevent heart attacks may be ineffective for British South Asians (National Institute for Health and Care Research)
- Blood thinner to treat heart disease proves ineffective for many South Asian patients due to a mutation in their DNA (Mail Online)
- Women with 4 key key risk factors at much greater risk of killer blood clots, scientists discover (The Sun)
Patient resources:
- CYP2C19 testing to guide Mavacamten dosing (NHS Northwest Genomic Medicine Service Alliance)
Prescriber resources:
- GeNotes: Pharmacogenomics launches today (Genomics Education)
- Results: Patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with known CYP2C19 genotype requiring mavacamten (NHS England | National Genomics Education Programme | Genotes)
Teaching
Dr Magavern teaches for a number of Genomics MSc courses in and around London, including QMUL, Imperial and Cambridge. She is also involved in teaching pharmacology and pharmacogenomics to undergraduate and postgraduate doctors and other health care practitioners.
Disclosures
No disclosures.