Dr Christopher Barton, Flinders University
Leadership Programme Cohort 7
Dr Barton's research training was undertaken at research intensive universities including Monash University and the University of Adelaide in Australia. He developed expertise in primary health care research and mixed (qualitative and quantitative) methods, conducting research that focused on issues in the quality of respiratory care in primary care settings. His research interests include the use of mixed methods to investigate issues in the quality of chronic disease care in primary health care, social epidemiology of chronic illness, and the lived experience of chronic illness.
In 2011 he gained a continuing (tenure track) position in Social Health Sciences which is an academic unit within the Flinders University Prevention, Promotion and Primary Health Care cluster. The workload for this position comprises 30% research, 30% teaching and 40% administration and service to the community. Over the past 12 months he has established a teaching program in undergraduate quantitative research methods for health science students and has been invited to be departmental honours research program coordinator. He provides supervision to research students including honours and PhD students. He is a member of the Public Health Association (South Australia branch) executive committee and is involved in mentoring, scientific committees and policy development in this role.
In the next 12 months he plans to be more focused on research, and is seeking funding to pursue his research goals and establish an independent research program.
http://www.flinders.edu.au/people/christopher.barton
Dr Tom Blakeman, University of Manchester
I am a General Practitioner in Leeds and a NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care at the University of Manchester. My research interests focus on improving the delivery of care for people living with long-term conditions. In particular, I'm interested in embedding and integrating effective self-management support into primary care.
Following completion of vocational training in 1999, I spent two years as Academic Registrar at the University of New South Wales, Australia. During this time, I was chief investigator on studies evaluating the implementation of care planning into primary health care for persons with chronic and complex needs.
In 2003, I was awarded a HSR Training Fellowship by The Wellcome Trust to undertake a Masters in Health and Community Research in Manchester. This was followed by a NIHR Researcher Development Award to undertake a PhD focused on exploring support for self-management of long-term conditions in general practice. The study entailed a qualitative mixed methods approach, which included comparative analysis of interviews with patients and health professionals in conjunction with in-depth analysis of video-recordings of consultations. My PhD contributed to the design and evaluation of the WISE (Whole Systems Informing Self-management Engagement) intervention aimed at improving long-term condition management in primary care.
Informed by initial qualitative work, I am currently chief investigator for a RCT evaluating a complex self-management intervention aimed at improving outcomes for patients with early stage chronic kidney disease. This study forms a key element of the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research (CLAHRC) for Greater Manchester.
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/t.m.blakeman/
Dr Bianca Brijnath, Curtin University
I am an early career researcher in medical anthropology, primary health care, and public health. My research interests are practically and theoretically oriented and centre on issues of mental health, maternal and child health, and cross-cultural meanings of health and illness. I have a strong qualitative background and have taught and researched in India, Australia and Zambia.
I completed my PhD in 2010 on dementia care in India and joined the Department of General Practice at Monash University in April 2011. Prior to this I was a Global Report Fellow in the World Health Organization's Tropical Disease Research (WHO/TDR) programme. My current research activities focus on two major projects: the first is an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council funded postdoctoral fellowship which examines Indian-and Anglo-Australians use of antidepressants. The second project is a consultancy with the World Bank where I am the qualitative research specialist for a programme on health results-based financing with special emphasis on maternal and child health in developing countries. I work specifically on the impact evaluation in Zambia and my tasks include designing the qualitative impact evaluation, building local capacity in qualitative methods, analysing and publishing results.
To date I have published 20 peer-review articles, including my most prestigious award as one of eight global winners in the Young Voices in Health Research essay competition (2009) in The Lancet.
Prof Marcelo Marcos Piva Demarzo, Federal University of São Paulo - UNIFESP
M.D., Ph.D. [both by Ribeirão Preto Medical School - University of São Paulo - Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto - Universidade de São Paulo], currently acting on the following subjects: Community Oriented Primary Care (COPC), Family and Community Medicine, Preventive Medicine, Mindfulness-based Interventions for Health. Assistant Professor at Department of Preventive Medicine - Federal University of São Paulo Medical School [Escola Paulista de Medicina - Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP] since 2010. Fellow of the International Primary Care Research Leadership Programme (Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford) since 2012. Post-doctoral fellow at the Grupo de Salud Mental en Atención Primaria del Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (University of Zaragoza), Zaragoza, Spain, 2012-2013. Personal website: http://mindfulnessbrasil.com/. CV in Portuguese: http://lattes.cnpq.br/9242996936416312
http://www.researcherid.com/rid/A-7021-2010
Associate Professor Hazel Everitt, University of Southampton
Dr Hazel Everitt is an Associate Professor in General Practice at Southampton University and a GP at Totton Health Centre, Southampton. She undertook her Medical Degree at Bristol University and General Practice training in Bath. She has been involved in research at Primary Care in Southampton University since 1999, completing her MSc in Epidemiology from LSHTM as part of her MRC Clinical Training Fellowship and her PhD in 2006 in the Management of Acute Infective Conjunctivitis in General Practice. She has research interests in the Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Primary Care, the Management of Insomnia in Primary Care and Antibiotics for Minor Illness (particularly Acute Infective Conjunctivitis). She also has an interest in medical writing and is co-author of the Oxford Handbook of General Practice.
Hazel has just completed a feasibility study developing and assessing the effect of a patient self-management cognitive behavioural therapy website and medications for patients with IBS and plans to take the website on to a large trial. Her Insomnia research work currently involves qualitative studies with patients and GPs regarding the management of insomnia in primary care and a Cochrane review of antidepressants for insomnia.
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/about/staff/hae1.page
Dr Kamal Ram Mahtani, University of Oxford
I initially trained as a molecular biologist getting a BSc from Kings College London, before doing a PhD in Rheumatology at Imperial College London. It was during my PhD that I became interested in translational medicine. After that I went to UCL medical school and decided that General Practice was my preferred clinical speciality. However during my final year I wanted to develop my interest in translation research and came to The Department of Primary Care in Oxford and worked under Prof. Paul Glaziou and Dr Carl Heneghan, where I started learning some of the skills in Evidence Based Medicine. After finishing my medical degree I returned to The Department as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow (ACF) where I was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship at The Centre for Evidence Based Medicine. During my ACF post I developed an interest in chronic disease management and this led to my first Cochrane review.
In April 2012 I was awarded an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer post at The University of Oxford. My specific areas of interest are within cardiovascular and muscular skeletal medicine. My most recent projects involve the role of direct thrombin inhibitors in atrial fibrillation, the role of lifestyle modification in cardiovascular health and diagnosis of MSK conditions in primary care.
In addition I am involved with teaching on various workshops organised by the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine as well as supervising students within The Department.
http://www.phc.ox.ac.uk/team/researchers/kamal-mahtani
Dr Joanne Protheroe, Keele University
I joined Keele University as a Senior Lecturer in General Practice in 2011. After graduating in 1991, I worked for the NHS for 7 years before being awarded a Fellowship by the Wellcome Trust in 1998. This I completed in the Department of Primary Health Care in Bristol while at the same time maintaining a clinical commitment in General Practice. The end result of this Fellowship was a publication in the BMJ which was also awarded the `RCGP Research Paper of the Year Award 2000.' Following this in 2001, I was awarded a 4 year MRC Fellowship during which time I successfully completed the MRes followed by a PhD at the University of Manchester. This was followed by a 5-year Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the RC-UK scheme to fund research into the development of interventions to support shared decision making in disadvantaged groups.
Throughout this time I continue to practice as a General Practitioner in inner-city Manchester
My research, influenced by my clinical practice in inner-city Manchester, is focussed on two NHS priorities - the needs of socio-economically disadvantaged patients and the need for interventions to improve patient self-management in long-term conditions. My most recent project is to explore use of health trainers to improve health outcomes in patients with low health literacy, funded by an NIHR Research for Patient Benefit.
As part of my interest in Health Literacy research, I have been Deputy Chair of the Health Literacy UK (www.healthliteracy.org.uk) group since 2008, and now Chair Elect.
http://www.keele.ac.uk/pchs/staff/seniorresearchstaff/protheroejo/
Dr Joanne Reeve, University of Liverpool
From the earliest days of my medical training, I have been fascinated by illness. For me, disease is interesting - sometimes helping to explain and address illness. But illness - the human experience of being 'unwell', of something being 'not right' - is what has always sparked my curiosity and my critical thinking. And so it is 'illness' which shapes both my daily actions as a GP, and my career decisions to date.
I left medical school with strong interests in the wider social determinants of health and plans for a career in public health. It was a person-centred vision of health care which brought me back into general practice. I became curious about a particular way we understand and deal with health and illness - namely evidence-based decision making. Never having considered an academic career, I decided I had a problem I wanted to explore. I applied for an NCCRDC PhD fellowship to consider the utility of a biomedical account of depression in explaining and addressing an illness experience of distress in people living with terminal cancer.
This work inspired my College Paper on Interpretive Medicine. From there, a goal to support the critical development, delivery and evaluation of the person-centred interpretive approach to care that is generalism. I successfully applied for an NIHR Clinician Scientist Award to build a body of work on Generalist solutions for Complex Problems. I am now two years into a five year programme of work which includes elements of practice development, research and teaching/professional development.
http://www.liv.ac.uk/psychology-health-and-society/staff/joanne-reeve/
Dr Sarah Slight, University of Nottingham
Dr Sarah P Slight (nee Crowe) is a NIHR Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Nottingham U.K., and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, U.K. Sarah is currently on placement at Harvard Medical School in Boston working with Prof. David Westfall Bates, an internationally renowned expert in patient safety.
Sarah graduated from the University of Sunderland with a first class honours Master of Pharmacy degree in 2002, and received a Ph.D. in Pharmacy Practice Research from the University of Manchester in 2007. She was awarded a Diploma in Health Economics at the University of York in 2011.
Sarah previously practiced as a hospital pharmacist at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh before becoming an active researcher in the area of patient safety and health informatics. She was awarded a prestigious National Institute for Health Research Fellowship in 2010.
In her current role, she works on a number of different projects all with a focus on the quality and safety of patient care, and innovation adoption. Her publications include papers on Electronic Health Records and ePrescribing systems, and improving patient care at the primary secondary care interface. She recently completed a large study looking at the prevalence and causes of prescribing errors in English general practices for the General Medical Council. She has presented at numerous national and international conferences, and reviews for several U.K. and U.S. journals and grant-giving bodies.
Dr Slight's special research interests include clinical decision-making, improving the quality and safety of patient care, medication errors, health informatics, and related topics concerning the cost-effectiveness of computerised interventions.
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/chs/people/stafflisting/sarah.p.slight
Dr Akke Vellinga, National University of Ireland, Galway
I am an epidemiologist and moved to Ireland from Belgium (Antwerp) in 2005. Currently I have two half-time positions in the National University of Ireland, Galway (Senior Lecturer in Primary Care/Bacteriology).
My research interests find their origin at the crossing of medical, methodological, epidemiological and biological subjects. My goal is to do research which can add to and support evidence-based decision making in practice and policy. This aim is the thread though my study areas which have been various in their subjects.
My primary research focuses on the problem of antibiotic resistance. Bacteria have become less responsive to antibiotic treatment causing infections that are difficult to cure. My research is looking into novel ways to limit the use of antibiotics and understand the effect of (changes in) antibiotic use at every level, from the human population level to the bacterial genome. I am also involved in other research projects, one of which studies women with gestational diabetes focusing on how this affects them and their children in later life.
My research experience spans epidemiological and health services research, on a variety of topics: vaccine evaluation, vaccination coverage, asthma and allergies and zoonotic diseases in various places in Belgium. My interest in statistical modelling is clear from my papers on these topics. I also enjoy teaching statistics and epidemiology. I have a PhD in Medicine (Epidemiology), a Master in Epidemiology, Master in Science and diplomas in Health Economics and Teaching in Higher Education.
http://www.nuigalway.ie/general_practice/staff_pages/akkevellinga.html
Programme dates
History and previous cohorts
Cohort 10