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
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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 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
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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 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_popul
ation.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 postdoctoral 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
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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 selfhelp 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 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 nonspecific therapeutic effects in consultations for pain, aiming to reduce the use of antiinflammatories.
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 nonclinical) and 20 postgraduate students. There is methodological expertise in qualitative
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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
Professor
Professor
Professor
Professor
Michael Moore (mv198@soton.ac.uk)
Paul Little (P.little@soton.ac.uk)
George Lewith (gl3@soton.ac.uk)
Mike Thomas (D.M.Thomas@soton.ac.uk)
Tony Kendrick (A.R.Kendrick@soton.ac.uk)
Starting Date
To be mutually agreed.
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