Skip to main content

Staff Profile

Khalid Garba

Lecturer in Pharmaceutics

Background

Dr Khalid joined Newcastle University School of Pharmacy in April 2026 as a Lecturer in Pharmaceutics, bringing over a decade of cross-sector experience spanning academia, pharmaceutical industry, public health, and international non-governmental organisations.

Driven by a passion for advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing, he served as a Senior Formulation Scientist at FABRX Ltd., London, and delivered projects on pharmaceutical 3D printing for Pfizer Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, USA. During this period, he served as a Visiting Scientist at the University College London (UCL) School of Pharmacy. He previously held a postdoctoral research fellow position at Queen’s University Belfast, working on a UKRI-MRC funded project focused on developing drug-eluting medical devices.

His teaching experience extends across Kingston University London, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria, University of Charleston, USA, and served as a Lab Teaching Assistant at the University of Milan, Italy. Khalid served as a resource person for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Nigeria and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) Nigeria on projects related to public health, medicine logistics and supply chain. He also held voluntary roles with the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), including as a member of the FIP COVID-19 Global Expert Advisory Group (education and workforce development) and as liaison for the FIP-UNESCO UNITWIN program representing the FIP Early Career Pharmaceutical Group (ECPG).

He is a recipient of merit awards from the FIP, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), and PSN Young Pharmacists Group (PSN-YPG). 

Qualifications

  • PhD Applied Pharmaceutical Technology, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
  • MSc Pharmaceutics, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria
  • Bachelor of Pharmacy (BPharm), Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria





Research

My research projects are inspired not only by laboratory experimentation, but also by real world clinical applications. Thus, my research domains include clinical implementation of pharmaceutical 3D printing, point-of-care manufacturing using pharmaceutical additive manufacturing, pre-clinical formulation development using various types of pharmaceutical 3D printing technology such as semi-solid extrusion 3D printing, Direct powder extrusion 3D printing, Fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing, etc. Because of exposure during my PhD to solid oral drug delivery systems, I have developed an interest in personalised orodispersible films, conventional tablets, and gummies/chewable tablets for children. More so, I am looking into the development and characterisation of multi-drug eluting medical devices such as drug-eluting surgical sutures to convert surgical site infections (SSIs), bone infections and wound healing for human and veterinary uses.


Specialisms

  • Pharmaceutical additive manufacturing (3D printing)
  • Point-of-care manufacturing/clinical implementation of pharmaceutical 3D printing
  • Drug eluting medical devices
  • Orodispersible films
  • Personalised formulation development for children and special patient populations such as elderly and dysphagic patients
  • Hot melt extrusion


Teaching

Pharmaceutics