The Southampton Research & Development Support Unit (RDSU)

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON

Faculty of Medicine Primary Care and Population Sciences Academic Unit

Associate Professor in Primary Care Research

Particulars of Appointment

We are seeking a senior academic in Primary Care at Associate Professor Level. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the successful and expanding research and education programmes within the Faculty. We are inviting invitations from both clinicians and non-clinicians.

This academic post will be within Primary Care part of the Academic Unit of Primary Care and Population Sciences and based at Aldermoor Health Centre Southampton.

Supported by the senior academic team you will develop a programme of high quality research in area of your own interest or one complementary to existing interests.

You will be an experienced researcher in the primary care domain with national and International reputation in this discipline. You will lead and co-ordinate substantial research projects of strategic importance to the Faculty and University and will interface with clinicians and primary care experts as appropriate. You will have experience of successfully obtaining funding for research and of publication of research findings in high quality peer reviewed journals. You will also contribute to the delivery of teaching to both undergraduate medical students and postgraduate students, and providing academic supervision to researchers wishing to undertake PhD/MDs. An ideal candidate would be prepared to take on a lead role for Higher Education (PhD, academic clinical careers).

Management administration and other duties will be assigned by the Head of Unit after discussion, and on the advice of the Dean of Faculty and other members of the Primary Care and Population Sciences Senior Management team.

An honorary contract for clinical applicants will be established with NHS England.

The Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton

The University is one of the country’s leading research-intensive higher education institutions and its strategy is to become world class in all activities, and world leading in several. Within the Faculty of Medicine, this appointment is central to that long-term goal. The Faculty of Medicine has embarked on a wide-ranging strategy to provide a research environment, which will allow it to secure a long-term future as a leading biomedical research institution. It has a strong track record in basic research, clinical translation and applied health. Working with colleagues across the University and in the local NHS we

1 have strengthened our position as a renowned centre for translational research, leading innovative learning and discovery for better health across the life course. There is a clear research strategy to investigate the biomedical basis of common human diseases and to translate this into clinical practice.

The Faculty’s research and education are delivered through five academic units:  Primary Care and Population Sciences  Cancer Sciences  Clinical and Experimental Sciences  Human Development and Health  Medical Education

Our main research programmes are primary care, respiratory medicine, developmental sciences, cancer sciences, and bone and joint disease. In the most recent (2014) REF, our research –in the Primary Care Research Group was ranked third on GPA score and retained its place in the School of Primary Care Research.

The Faculty has also prided itself on its high quality of undergraduate education exemplified by the top rating in the Quality Assurance Exercise.

We work closely with a number of local NHS providers in acute and community settings. Our main NHS provider, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, provides key infrastructure for translational and clinical research delivered through the Southampton Centre for Biomedical Research. Our research brings together the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility, the Clinical Trials Unit, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Nutrition and Lifestyle, NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Respiratory Medicine, and the Cancer Research UK Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. We collaborate with the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, and host the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre (NETSCC). We have access to the Hampshire Health Record - an integrated primary care/secondary care data set including more than one million primary care health records giving us the ability to undertake epidemiological work across the primary secondary care interface.

The Faculty comprises about 500 academic staff and 1,250 medical undergraduate, 100 taught postgraduate and 150 research postgraduate students. Our annual budget exceeds £75 million, a substantial proportion of which is from research and commercialisation activity. Our academic activity is located primarily at University Hospital Southampton (UHS), 15 minutes from the main Highfield Campus. The Primary Care group is based at Aldermoor Health Centre, a short walk from UHS.

For more information please go to: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/index.page

Primary Care and Population Sciences (PCPS) http://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/academic_units/academic_units/primary_care_population.page

Primary Care and Population Sciences is an academic group of over 70 staff with an increasingly unified management and research strategy. It comprises the Primary Medical Care (PMC) research group, Public Health group, Medical Statistics group; Qualitative methods group, Health Economics Assessment Team (HEAT) and the NIHR RDS (Research Design Service) South Central. The Southampton Primary Medical Care department is headed by Professor Michael Moore and the research

2 lead is Professor Paul Little, an NIHR senior scientist with an international reputation, notably in the management of common infections.

The PMC group is a thriving department that offers a broad spectrum of expertise in both methodologies and topic areas. We doubled in size between the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise and the 2014 Research Excellence Framework assessment, in which 87% of our research was rated as ‘internationally excellent’ or ‘world-leading’. In the Public Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care unit of assessment, we were ranked 3rd highest for the quality of our research outputs out of 32 institutions.

The following link provides more information about the department: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/academic_units/academic_units/primary_care_population.page

We have particularly strong links with the Health Psychology group, and with highly rated groups in secondary care medicine (particularly through the Southampton NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Nutrition, and Biomedical Research Unit in Respiratory Medicine), the Public health group in PCPS, the Faculty of Health Sciences, Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, and Computing Sciences within the University. Therefore, PhD students and post-doctoral research fellows may be co- supervised by clinical academics in primary medical care and scientists in these disciplines. They will also be supported to develop national and international links, through our extensive existing fruitful collaborations, where appropriate.

We are engaged in providing evidence to inform new approaches to major challenges in primary care, including:

Improving the management of acute infections and reducing antibiotic prescribing, led by Professors Paul Little and Michael Moore. We are providing evidence for better antibiotic use and alternative treatments to reduce the major public health threat of antibiotic resistance and save NHS resources. Current studies include the further development and implementation trial of very successful internet-based modules to change GP prescribing behaviour (the GRACE INTRO intervention), autoinflation for otitis media with effusion in school age children, qualitative work on GP views of delayed antibiotic prescribing, the ARTIC-PC multicentre HTA trial to assess antibiotics for childhood chest infections, the R-GNOSIS consortium in urinary infection (with Utrecht), and an HTA bid for a trial of antifungals in cellulitis. The Wessex CLAHRC includes a primary care and public health theme that also features antimicrobial stewardship.

Internet health promotion and disease self-management programmes, led by Professors Paul Little, Michael Moore, George Lewith, Mike Thomas and Lucy Yardley in Health Psychology. We currently have work streams developing and testing internet interventions which address issues surrounding lifestyle, mental health, and/or better medication management for a range of conditions including emotional distress, cancer-related distress and cancer survivorship, low back pain, chronic dizziness, asthma, COPD, respiratory infection, IBS, eczema, hypertension, and weight management. We are extending these to the whole population for health promotion and the prevention of obesity, and alcohol problems.

Improving the assessment and management of mental health problems in primary care, led by Professors Tony Kendrick and Michael Moore. We are providing evidence to support self-help for distress to reduce the demands on primary care, and improve the targeting of drug and psychological treatments for depression and anxiety to the people who really need them. Current work includes a

3 Cochrane systematic review of patient reported outcome measures in depression, analysis of CPRD data to determine the effects of NICE guidelines, the economic recession, and the QOF on diagnosis and treatment of depression since 2003, the PROMDEP trial of PROMs in depression and a recently funded HTA trial of cessation of long-term antidepressants.

Evaluating complementary therapies for common conditions, led by Professors George Lewith, Michael Moore and Paul Little. We are developing evidence for novel treatments that give patients more choice, and do not involve the risks of medication, including herbal medicines, mindfulness meditation, the Alexander Technique, and acupuncture. Current work includes trials of Pelargonium for chest infections, Uva ursi in acute UTI, and work on the placebo and non-specific therapeutic effects in consultations for pain, aiming to reduce the use of anti-inflammatories.

Improving the assessment and management of respiratory disorders, led by Professors Mike Thomas, George Lewith and Tony Kendrick. We are developing self-help and non-drug, psychologically based symptom management strategies in both COPD and asthma, in partnership with Asthma UK, which can increase patients’ self-reliance and help reduce the demands on primary care. We are using routine record data to explore variations in outcome in asthma and COPD, and exploring independent determinates of health related quality of life in people with COPD, such as anxiety, in SPCR funded research with Birmingham. We aim to evaluate psychological interventions for COPD, develop non- pharmacological approaches for asthma, and identify whether biomarkers can predict progression with the Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit.

Patient-centred cancer research, led by Professor Paul Little and Associate Professor Geraldine Leydon. We aim to further develop evidence for best practice in the early detection of cancer in general practice, building on the 20,000 patient CANDID cohort and in the longer-term support of survivors of cancer, working with Macmillan Cancer Support. Current work includes the EPAC (Elicitation of PAtients’ Concerns) and SPEAK (SPEcialist cAncer helpline) studies on Macmillan’s Cancer Helpline, mindfulness for breast and prostate cancer, and the PROACTIVE intervention designed to diminish anxiety in prostate cancer patients on active surveillance. We aim to develop a complex internet-supported intervention for lifestyle change and the management of distress among cancer survivors, and exploration of a database of video-recorded GP consultations to identify techniques that enhance or hinder the management of patient concerns, with access to US primary care consultation data.

Primary Care and Population Sciences has a thriving group of postdoctoral staff (clinical and non- clinical) and 20 postgraduate students. There is methodological expertise in qualitative methods, statistics, epidemiology, public health, health psychology and health economics. There is expertise in the Unit in analysis of large databases (e.g. CPRD for depression, Hampshire Health Record for antibiotic prescribing, acute kidney injury). There is a common senior management team and unified Unit level policies and practice. There is a regular Unit level seminar programme.

Clinical work We welcome applications from both clinicians and non-clinicians. Clinical staff will be helped to make arrangements for continued clinical work.

Contact Details For further information please contact one of the following:-

Professor Michael Moore ([email protected])

4 Professor Paul Little ([email protected]) Professor George Lewith ([email protected]) Professor Mike Thomas ([email protected]) Professor Tony Kendrick ([email protected])

Starting Date To be mutually agreed.