By Lauren Minnie
The inauguration of Professor Roderick Walker took place on 24 February 2010 at Rhodes University.
Presenting his lecture, ‘Perfecting the Pill’, Prof Walker said the “fact that every drug molecule is different and requires different strategies to make successful dosage forms” is what intrigued him about his field of work, as well as the challenge of making formulations that can be made on a large scale.
Prof Walker was born in Johannesburg and after moving to Pietermaritzburg and Durban he matriculated from Durban High School where he excelled both academically and on the sports field and where he played first team hockey and was selected for the Natal schools basketball team.
Entering Rhodes University in 1980, Prof Walker received several bursaries and scholarships while studying as an undergraduate. He also continued to excel on the sports field, as he was named Rhodes University sportsman of the year in 1982 and was a finalist on two other occasions.
The years between 1984 and 1999 were productive for Prof Walker, to say the least. During this time, he completed his internship and registered as a pharmacist, married his wife and now has two daughters, filled in as a junior lecturer, a quality insurance consultant, as well as a senior scientist in the pharmaceutical industry whilst on sabbatical, before returning to Rhodes University in 2000 and being promoted to associate professor. It was also at this time that Prof Walker received the distinguished teacher of the year award from the South African Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
“I enjoyed my undergraduate years at Rhodes. During my internship I realised that community pharmacy was not for me. I also had spent my vacations during my BPharm degree working in the laboratories at Unilever in Durban (the company my father worked for – hence my interest in manufacturing). “
“I came back to do postgraduate studies with the intention of going into the pharmaceutical industry. Once back, I did teach and enjoyed that so I stayed on and then progressed through the ranks,” says Prof Walker.
In 2007 Prof Walker became a professor of pharmaceutics, and by 2008 had been appointed Dean and HoD in the faculty. Two years later he was appointed as a visiting professor for Aston University in the United Kingdom.
To date, Prof Walker has published 78 research papers and book chapters, and has given over 140 presentations, currently mentors 19 PhD and MSc students. He was a senior scientist in the USA, assisting in the development of sustainable release dosage forms, as well as consulting on a national and international basis.
Last week, Prof Walker was appointed by the Minister of Health to the Medicine Control Council.
His current research focuses on the development of paediatric medicines, and he hopes to continue with this in the future, as well as developing innovative strategies to deliver anti-retroviral drugs to the brain.
Prof Walker’s inaugural lecture, ‘Perfecting the Pill’, proved to be an informative and interesting presentation on the history and future of those little white tablets that so many of us pop without a second thought.
His lecture covered the drug development process and considerations in tablet development, as well as essential tablet qualities. Prof Walker then compared Immediate Release (IR) tablet formulations to Modified Release (MR) formulations, and in the process discussed controlled release technologies such as ProCore and Programmable Oral Release Technologies.
“I hope they have learnt that the “white tablet” they take is really a sophisticated technology designed to achieve a specific goal. I would also like people to realise that we no longer make or take “pills”,” says Prof Walker.
Photo: Camilla Marsh.