Inaugural Lecture: Professors Mark Ashworth & Patrick White

Video recording of the Inaugural Lecture

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Professor Mark Ashworth

Primary care: clinical and research intermingled

Abstract

Primary care is such a rich resource for research, and the richness extends to so much more. I hope to take you on a research journey starting with my interest as a medical student in coeliac disease (its symptoms), through a brief career in tropical medicine (referencing leprosy and bladder stones), then a return to primary care. My first research interest as a GP was in benzodiazepine withdrawal; I then became interested in mental health outcomes, using primary care data to study both health care quality and inequalities, and more recently in multimorbidity, how different Long Term Conditions (LTCs) interact, often collide, progress or accumulate within each patient. 

Biography

Mark Ashworth qualified in medicine from Southampton University in 1979. He then trained in tropical medicine after study at the London School of Hygiene and working in India/Nepal for a year, mostly on the immunology of M. leprae. In 1985, he ‘saw the light’, changed careers and started in general practice, working in the same south London GP practice for 30 years. He has always had an interest in providing clinical care and combining this with primary care research. He took his Doctorate in 2004, and in 2016 left NHS general practice to focus on academic primary care. His main research interests are working with ‘big data’ involving primary care data, multimorbidity, health inequalities and the interface between mental health and physical health conditions. 

Professor Patrick White

One breath at a time – lung research in primary care

Abstract

Obstructive lung disease consists mainly of asthma and COPD. Patients get breathless due to narrowing of the airways that makes getting air in and out of the lungs difficult. The majority of people with these conditions are treated in primary care. It is there that research on treatment delivery should be carried out. Drugs have been administered predominantly by inhaler, but treatment has changed greatly since the first modern inhaler, Ventolin, was introduced in 1969. My interest arose from recognition of the difficulty that GPs experienced in providing up-to-date structured care. I will describe the interventions that I have researched to improve the delivery of treatment for these conditions from the first clinical trial of a GP educational intervention to current work on using lay health workers. 

Biography

Patrick White qualified at University College, Dublin in 1976. He moved to Edinburgh in 1977 to train in general practice. His first research was inspired by a medical student with poorly controlled epilepsy. It led to a life-long interest in chronic disease management and research. In 1981 he became a GP partner at Crown Dale Medical Centre in south London where he worked until 2014. He also started as research fellow at St George’s Hospital School of Medicine running an asthma trial. General practice fuelled his interest in service delivery for respiratory disease. In 1987 his research continued at King’s College Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, and subsequently the merged medical schools of King’s College London. His current research is about using lay health workers to optimise COPD treatment.