The Analytical Zen Podcast
Biography and Research: See Orcid.org/0000-0001-8344-6582 (presenting 100+ academic works)
Dr. Geraldine M. Dowling SFHEA is an accomplished professional with over 20 years experience in forensic, analytical toxicology, food safety, drug residue testing, method validation, ISO17025 laboratory accreditation and more than 10 years experience in academia as an educator. She is an internationally recognised researcher. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), awarded for excellence in teaching/research/leadership within higher education reflecting extensive experience and significant contributions to improving educational practices, research, mentoring professionals and enhancing the overall quality of teaching and learning in academic settings and in industry.
She is the creator and host of The Analytical Zen Podcast, an educational series designed to make complex scientific concepts accessible to both students and the general public (available on Spotify etc).
Dr. Dowling is currently elected Vice Chair (past Treasurer) of the United Kingdom and Ireland Association of Forensic Toxicologists (body represents forensic toxicology professionals in England, Ireland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Channel Islands). She is the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists elected regional representative for Ireland, a member of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists in America and elected member of the London Toxicology Group Committee. She has extensive experience in working/training professional staff and students in ISO17025 accredited national government laboratories in Ireland, including The State Laboratory, Teagasc, The National Dairy Science Laboratory, The Irish Equine Centre and The Marine Institute. She is a Principal Investigator supervising postgraduate students (PhD/MSc). Her research interests focus on analytical chemistry, lab accreditation, forensic science, forensic/clinical toxicology, metabolomics, medicine, flavoromics, food safety and education pedagogies.
Dr. Dowling was invited to give her expertise to a Irish Government working group titled the “Emerging Drug Trends and Drug Checking Working Group.” This government-supported initiative aim was to introduce safer, more informed approaches particularly through harm-reduction strategies rather than punitive or enforcement only methods.
Dr. Dowling is a contributing author, reviewer and editor across selected international journals eg Drug Testing and Analysis, Journal of Analytical Toxicology, Forensic Science Review, Journal of Forensic Research, Frontiers in Molecular Physiology etc. In addition, she has written, edited/co-authored four books.
Dr. Dowling is the Editor-in-Chief of The Gazette, the official publication of the International Alliance of Clinical and Forensic Toxicologists (ISSN: 3088-6600), as well as the Editor-in-Chief of the Science Undergraduate Research Experience Journal (ISSN: 2990-8167).
She is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Exact Sciences at the National University of La Plata, Argentina; a Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s College London, UK; and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Cameron Forensic Medical Sciences Unit, Queen Mary University of London, UK. Previously she was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Dr. Dowling’s work has had a lasting impact, with government agencies such as Ireland’s Marine Institute using her methods in aquaculture monitoring since 2006 and internationally the U.S. FDA adopting her research for monitoring non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs since 2011. This research continues to be applied and is still in use in 2025.
Please see Linkedln profile:
www.linkedin.com/in/geraldine-dowling-msc-pgdip-phd-sfhea-2b66b835
The Analytical Zen Podcast
Inside Synthetic Cathinones
In this episode of The Analytical Zen Podcast, Dr. Simona Pichini guides us through the complex and fast-evolving world of synthetic cathinones. Dr. Pichini is an Italian pharmacotoxicologist and Acting Director of the National Centre on Addiction and Doping at the Italian National Institute of Health. She is a leading expert in the pharmacokinetics and toxicology of drugs of abuse, new psychoactive substances, doping agents and alcohol biomarkers across all age groups. With a PhD in Clinical Pharmacology and more than 400 scientific publications (H-index: 56) and her work bridges analytical science with clinical outcomes. Dr. Pichini also advises national helplines, contributes to Italy’s Early Warning System on NPS, and serves as a scientific expert for the EU Drugs Agency. She is a member of the editorial boards of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis. An active member of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) since 2004, she received the TIAFT Achievement Award in 2010 becoming the first woman ever to do so and she currently serves as Secretary of the Association. She also co-organized the TIAFT 2023 meeting in Rome, Italy.