About J Robert
Qualifications: MD MA MB BChir FRCA SFHEA DL PhDProfessor Sneyd was brought up in Cornwall and one of his first jobs (1975) was as a Nursing Auxiliary in Devonport Hospital, Plymouth - now long since demolished! He graduated from Cambridge University in 1981 and continued his medical training in London. Halfway through he undertook a research degree and then spent a period working full time in the pharmaceutical industry before returning to work in the NHS.
After completing his UK anaesthetic training, he worked at the University of Michigan Medical School at Ann Arbor, USA. In 1993, he returned to the South West as a Consultant Anaesthetist and after a few years moved to the University as Reader in Anaesthesia and then Professor. In 1998 he took over the running of the Plymouth Postgraduate Medical School, first as Acting Dean and then as Dean. He led the Plymouth team in the successful bid for a new Peninsula Medical School and served as Vice-Dean of the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry. The first medical graduates have been working as NHS doctors since 1st August 2007 and the dental graduates have been doing so since 2011. He worked as a Consultant Anaesthetist at Derriford Hospital, mostly in neuro-anaesthesia and is very familiar with the interface between universities and the NHS. Until retiring in late 2018 he served as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry in Plymouth, leading schools of medicine, dentistry and biomedical science.
In anaesthesia he has engaged nationally through the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland as Council Member and Vice-President (2006-2011), the Royal College of Anaesthetists, UK as Council Member and Vice-President (2008-2018) and internationally with the European Society of Anaesthesiology, ESA as Council member and Director (2006-2012). For the NHS he has served on the Board of University Hospitals Plymouth (2013-2018), Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise (2013-2018) and Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (2017-2019). Also Chair of the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (2019-2020). In each case he has tried to represent the interests of patients and clinicians with an emphasis on sound strategy and common sense.
Professor Sneyd's research interests focus on drugs, pharmacology and pharmacokinetics with related projects based on signal processing. Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry he has a special interest in drug development, especially in intravenous anaesthesia. He led the 2013 UK national sedation review for the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. He is a regular scientific reviewer, mostly for the British Journal of Anaesthesia but also for Anesthesiology, Anaesthesia, Anesthesia and Analgesia, the European Journal of Anaesthesiology and various other journals.
As Emeritus Professor he remains research active and works internationally to support the development of new medicines.
Contact J Robert
Deans Office, John Bull Building, Research Way, Plymouth Science Park, Plymouth, PL6 8BU
robert.sneyd@plymouth.ac.uk
