About us
The Division of Health and Social Care Research, one of the largest and expanding Research and Teaching Division’s within the School of Medicine, provides a focus for community-based and public health researchers and teachers in the School of Medicine and enjoys strong collaborative links with other Schools in the College.
Institutionally, the Division supports a broad range of leading research activities across King’s College, the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and King’s Health Partners (KHP) being notable examples. The Division also hosts the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Research Design Service London (RDS London) which complements a growing Research Consultancy Service. The Division consists of two Departments: Primary Care and Public Health Sciences, and Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation.
The core Division comprises over 120 staff and researchers who collaborate with 30 senior academics in affiliated Schools within the wider College.
Primary Care and Public Health Sciences
We are a highly multidisciplinary Department, with clinicians, social scientists, psychologists, statisticians, informaticians, educationalists and epidemiologists all represented in the Division. We have established and strong international links, particularly with US and European research and teaching partners.
The Division has a particular focus on translational research from ‘bench to community’ with part of the Division embedded within the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre, along with the Primary Care Research Network hub for Greater London. Our research is used to inform clinical guidelines and national policy, particularly in the areas of stroke, health inequalities, medical diagnosis and clinical research informatics.
Research Aims
We aim to improve public health and well-being and the evidence-base for general practice care, through our translational research activity that includes interventions in communities and populations, supported by innovative methodological platforms. Through KHP and its Public Health Board, the Institute of Health Promotion and Education (IHPE) and enabling networks we have the potential to drill down to local communities to (a) identify problems (b) understand their determinants (c) develop and test interventions and (d) implement these, all in the context of a challenging local community with very significant health disparities and needs and with a refinement of methods to really make the data and intervention fit for the community under study. In addition, we have expertise in the exploration of professional judgement and interventions to improve patient safety through decreased diagnostic error and reduction in diagnostic delay, including the application of stratified medicine in primary care.
The Division is keen to develop interventions (Late Translation (T2)) that draw on our current strengths and address key areas of risk reduction(primary and secondary prevention) particularly in lifestyle risk, public mental health, quality and safety of health and social care for long term conditions (cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke and mental health).
Within the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, the Population Sciences Cluster provides interdisciplinary skills in public health, primary care, epidemiology, statistics, health economics and social sciences for research and training. This complements theme expertise in environmental health, diabetes, cancer, transplantation, infection and stroke that will contribute to optimising the focus, effectiveness and impact of translational research in the BRC. The major questions are:
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Promoting excellence and effectiveness in translational research: How can the BRC engage and access populations effectively? How can the translational research pipeline be made more effective and efficient to improve clinical and population outcomes?
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How can a digital infrastructure support a learning healthcare system?
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Does personalised medicine improve population health?
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What is the effect of the environment on respiratory and cardiovascular health?
Undergraduate Education
Our undergraduate programme extends throughout the curriculum and gives students the opportunity to learn core knowledge and skills, develop professionally and have practical experience of patients in clinical environments. Students and community-based teachers in over 350 practices are supported through lectures, symposia, clinical placements, tutorials, seminars and role-playing workshops.
The Division delivers 13% of the total medical curriculum for the School through its Community Education arm (KUMEC) which has excellent links with GP practices in South London and beyond. Public Health, Medical Statistics and Sociology are taught in years 1 and 2 to all medical undergraduates with different routes in Public Health and Primary Care.
Graduate Education
Our graduate academic education includes a Masters programme with specialist routes in Public Health or Primary Care and a PhD programme.
Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
The Department, which is a constituent part of the Division, consists of a multidisciplinary group of researchers, including physiotherapists, clinical psychologists and bio-engineers. We conduct research in four main areas: physical activity and health promotion; long term conditions, ageing and self-management; health beliefs and complex interventions; and pedagogy.