SPSA Annual Dinner 1965 L - R: Guest speaker Chris Nicholson (President of British Pharmaceutical Students Association), Ramsey Maclaron (Chairman, Sunderland Poly Students Union), David Begg (President, SPSA), Margaret Carling/Begg and Chairman of Sunderland Branch of Pharmaceutical Society.
Professor David I R Begg, FRPharmS FiQA MCPP
Pharmacy 1966
David qualified from Sunderland School of Pharmacy in 1966 and then spent several years in Production Management within the Pharmaceutical Industry, culminating in the post of Pharmaceutical Production and Sterile Products Manager with Cyanamid in Gosport, Hants (now part of Pfizer).
He spent 14 years in senior management with the UK Medicines Inspectorate, inspecting pharmaceutical manufacturing sites world-wide, and became responsible for managing a team of inspectors and training of inspectors, both in the UK and Europe.
In April 1986 he established David Begg Associates, based in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire. More recently offices in Boston (USA), Germany, Italy, South Africa and Singapore have been established. The company employs around 80 people and enjoys a world-wide reputation for Training and QA (Quality Assurance)/GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) consultancy principally with major research based pharmaceutical companies. More information is at www.nsf-dba.com.
While at Sunderland, David was Sunderland Pharmaceutical Students' Association (SPSA) President for the academic year 1965-66. He came from Middlesbrough and lived at Tunstall Park. He says he was attracted to the Sunderland Technical College because of its reputation with the Pharmacy Department, and that his degree influenced him to entry the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Having retired in June 2004, David retains an interest in professional activities. In 1991 he was made a Fellow of the RPSGB for distinction in the field of Industrial Pharmacy and is also a Fellow of the Institute of Quality Assurance. He is an Honorary Life Member of the British Pharmaceutical Students Association, the UK Pharmaceutical Quality Group and in March 2010 was made an Honorary Life Member of the Pharmaceutical Microbiology Interest Group (Pharmig).
David’s professional activities have included founder member and former Chairman of the Parenteral Society (now PHSS), past Chairman (2000 to 2003) and again immediate past Chairman of Pharmig (Pharmaceutical Microbiology Interest Group), former Chairman of the Industrial Pharmacists Group and former Executive Director of the European Industrial Pharmacists Group. He spent three years as a member of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission and Chairman of its Committee P (Pharmacy). More recently he was a Visiting Professor, honorary lecturer and external examiner at the School of Pharmacy, University of Strathclyde. In addition, he has lectured at other Schools of Pharmacy in the UK, France and Germany.
David has a special interest in the manufacture of both sterile and solid dose products. He has extensive knowledge of Qualified Person requirements having previously chaired the RPSGB’s panel of QP assessors and also established David Begg Associates QP training course in 1990 in conjunction with the School of Pharmacy University of Strathclyde.
He is married with two daughters (both microbiologists!) and has 4 grandchildren. In addition to family, his other passions embrace wine, cooking, classic cars (especially Jaguars and MG’s), World-War II aircraft and steam trains. David swims regularly, (he is “allergic” to walking!) enjoys listening to male voice choral music and is a sometime calligraphist.