Dr Rathbone joined Newcastle University as part of the School of Pharmacy in September 2017 having formerly worked as a Senior Clinical Pharmacist at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Whilst at Northumbria he worked at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, Cramlington and led major research projects exploring emerging models of integrated pharmacy practice. 

Dr Rathbone completed his clinical pharmacy foundation training at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and then worked in various settings across the North East. Dr Rathbone has also completed the postgraduate diploma in clinical pharmacy and independent prescribing certificate for pharmacists in advanced general and respiratory medicine. He has experience of delivering clinical pharmacy services across a range of acute specialities including respiratory, acute assessment and care of the elderly. 

Dr Rathbone became a Lecturer in Clinical and Social Pharmacy in 2019.

Dr Rathbone's research interests bridge pharmaceutical and sociological paradigms and includes exploring phenomenon such as patients' experiences of medicines use, professional identity and inter-disciplinary collaboration.He is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University. 

Current research projects includ

Health Services Research

- Emerging models of pharmacy practice including the Northumbria Vanguard Foundation, ward-based pharmacy services, and pharmacists working in primary care.

- inter-professional collaboration to improve medicines use  

Social pharmacy

- Pharmaceuticalisation and medicalisation 

- Pharmaceutical regulation 

Safe and effective medicines use

- Patient experiences of medicines use

- Intervention development to improve medicines use

Health education

- Students’ experiences of developing professional attributes, clinical skills and work-based learning . 

- Postgraduate recruitment, education, training and progression 

Dr Rathbone is the lead for clinical skills teaching within the School of Pharmacy. He is the assessment lead for Objective Structure Clinical Examination (OSCEs) and problem-based learning (PBLs). 

Dr Rathbone teaches across multiple aspects of social and clinical pharmacy; this includes physical examination skills (such as respiratory, cardiovascular and abdominal examinations) and procedural skills such as taking blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose measurements as awell as teaching clinical ethics, encouraging students to deal with the big questions that influence drug design, development and pharmacy practice. 

Dr Rathbone also contributes to teaching on the MBBS programme as well as leading the postgraduate provision for pre-registraiton trainees and foundation pharmacists in the region. 

Dr Rathbone has been a founding coordinator of the Great North Pharmacy Careers Conference and the Great North Pharmacy Research Conference.

• Rathbone AP, Jamie K, Todd A, Husband A. A qualitative study exploring the lived experience of medication use in different disease states: linking the experiences of disease symptoms to medication adherence. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics 2021, 46(2), 352-362.
• Rathbone AP, Jamie K, Blackburn J, Gray W, Baqir W, Henderson E, Campbell D. Exploring an extended role for pharmacy assistants on inpatient wards in UK hospitals: using mixed-methods to develop the role of Medicines Assistants. European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy 2020, 27(2), 78-83.
• Masudur P, Rathbone AP. Providing medicines adherence support to areas of high deprivation in England: community pharmacists’ experience. The Pharmaceutical Journal 2020, 304(7936).
• Rathbone AP, Norris R, Parker P, Lindsley L, Robinson A, Baqir W, Campbell D, Husband A. Exploring the use of WhatsApp in out-of-hours pharmacy services: A multi-site qualitative study. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 2019, 16(4), 503-510.
• Rathbone AP, Nazar H, Harburn J, Todd A, Husband A. Exploring Undergraduate Pharmacy Student Experiences of Learning Human Anatomy Using Cadaveric Specimens. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019, 83(8), 7103.
• Rathbone AP. Prescribing Basics. Geeky Medics, 2019. Available at: https://geekymedics.com/prescribing-basics/.
• Rathbone AP, Rokib T, Baqir W, Campbell D. The Foundation Pharmacist Project: exploring new models of dual-sector postgraduate pharmacy training. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2019, 27(2), 191-200.
• Rathbone AP. How to take a medication history. Geeky Medics, 2018. Available at: https://geekymedics.com/how-to-take-a-medication-history/.
• Rathbone AP, Todd A, Jamie K, Bonam M, Banks L, Husband AK. A systematic review and thematic synthesis of patients’ experience of medicines adherence. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 2017, 13(3), 403-439.
• Baqir W, Rathbone AP, Stocker A, Campbell D. Foundation pharmacists in GP Practice: exploring experiences of future workforce development. In: Clinical Pharmacy Congress 2017. 2017, London, UK.
• Rathbone AP, Mansoor SM, Krass K, Hamrosi K, Aslani P. Qualitative study to conceptualise a model of interprofessional collaboration between pharmacists and general practitioners to support patients' adherence to medication. BMJ Open 2016, 6(3), e010488.
• Rathbone AP, Jamie K. Transferring from Clinical Pharmacy Practice to Qualitative Research: Questioning Identity, Epistemology and Ethical Frameworks. Sociological Research Online 2016, 21(2), 1-9.
• Rathbone AP, Husband AK, Todd A, Jamie K. "I've never been a big tablet taker": a phenomenology of the experiences of medicines adherence in men with diabetes. In: 59th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine. 2015, Dublin: BMJ Group.
• Rathbone AP, Husband AK, Todd A, Jamie K. PP53 “I’ve never been a big tablet taker”: a phenomenology of the experiences of medicines adherence in men with diabetes. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2015, 69(Suppl. 1), A75-A76.