Dr Rebecca Parr

Biography

Rebecca works as a Study Coordinator on the UK Antimicrobial Registry (UKAR), an observational, hospital-based study looking at the effectiveness and safety of drugs used to treat antimicrobial resistance. The UKAR, which is run in collaboration with the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, is open for participant recruitment across all 4 nations of the UK and is currently on target to collect data from 1000 consenting patients by May 2026. Rebecca enjoys working with the UKAR team, Jisha Babu and Jay Woods, on this challenging and rewarding study. The best part of this study for Rebecca are the daily interactions with research nurses, pharmacists and microbiologist at sites across the UK.

Rebecca also worked on the FRESKO study, were she really enjoyed speaking with patients during the post-study interviews. Most recently, Rebecca has been part of the iPRePaRe team, which was a fantastic experience, working with researchers from across Europe.

Rebecca is also a member of the Epidemiology Group Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement team. This role is extremely fulfilling and Rebecca is very grateful to be able to work with this fantastic, insightful group of people.

Prior to joining the Epidemiology Group, Rebecca worked for over 15 years in industry. Rebecca is an experienced protein engineer, specialising in antibody discovery using phage display technology. Rebecca has worked for big pharma and small biotech on the development of anti-cancer vaccines and antibodies. In addition to her Principal Scientist role within an Aberdeen-based biotech firm, Rebecca undertook a part-time PhD programme in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian. Rebecca's project was working toward the development of a hand-held device for the perioperative detection of local anaesthetic in patient blood. The project gave Rebecca the opportunity to experience the real-world application of molecular biology in a clinical setting.