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Chris Butler

Chris Butler

Current DPhil students

Abigail Moore:  Understanding acute functional decline and its relationship to UTI in older people living in care homes

Trenton Honda: The epidemiology of UTI and antibiotic resistant uropathogens

Josh Fieggan: Optimizing Early Diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma through Predictive Modelling in the UK Biobank

Chris Butler

BA MBChB DCH CCH MD FRCGP (Hon)FFPH FMedSci Doctor Honoris Causa in Medicine and Healthcare


Professor of Primary Care

  • Lead the Infections and Acute Care Research Group
  • Clinical Director of the University of Oxford Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit
  • Deputy Clinical Director of the NIHR Community Healthcare MedTech and In-vitro Diagnostics Co-operative
  • Senior Research Fellow, Trinity College
  • Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences
  • Chair of the Longitude Prize Advisory Panel
  • Honorary Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine at University of Cape Town
  • Part time Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University

Research

I trained in Medicine at the University of Cape Town, did doctoral work at the University of Wales College of Medicine, and studied Clinical Epidemiology at The University of Toronto.  I was appointed Professor of Primary Care in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2013. I practices as a salaried GP, part-time, in the Cynon Valley in South Wales for many years, and was the patient-nominated Royal College of General Practitioners Wales General Practitioner or the Year in 2019. 

Research

My research focuses on common infections (especially the appropriate use of antimicrobials,  antimicrobial resistance, point of care testing,  and treatments for viral infections), and health care communication and behaviour change (co-author of Motivational Interviewing in Health Care). 

I am co-Chief Investigator of the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC adaptive, platform, randomised, controlled trials of community treatments for COVID 19, that have recruited >40,000 participants and evaluated 9 medicines so far.

I have published >500 papers and led or helped lead  ~30 randomised clinical trials, and have recently published trial results in the world’s top three general medical journals. My H-Index is >80. Our PACE Study won the Royal College of General Practitioners Research Paper of the Year Award in 2020. 

In March 2024, The University of Antwerp conferred “Doctor, Honoris Causa in Medicine and Health Sciences to Christopher Butler for making a fundamental contribution to primary care research into infectious disease management in the context of antimicrobial resistance and other pandemics, by building quintessential primary care research infrastructures and introducing efficient and   democratic research models, which help reduce the impact of infectious diseases on individual and population health.”

Supervision

I have supervised 19 doctoral students to successful completion and currently supervise 3 doctoral students.

Grants

Chief or Co-Chief investigator for the following current or recent selection of studies:

  1. Platform Adaptive trial of Novel antiviRals for eArly treatment of COVID-19 in the Community (PANORAMIC) (https://www.panoramictrial.org)
  2. Platform Community Clinical Trial of community treatment for epidemic and pandemic infections (PRINCIPLE) ( https://www.principletrial.org)
  3. European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases – Primary care adaptive platform trial for pandemics and epidemics (ECRAID-PRIME)( https://ecraid.eu/ecraid-prime-work-packages)
  4. Platform randomised controlled trial of point of care diagnostics for enhancing the quality of antibiotic prescribing for community acquired acute respiratory tract infection in ambulatory care in Europe (PRUDENCE) (https://www.value-dx.eu/index.php/2020/06/26/evaluating-the-clinical-and-cost-effectiveness-of-ca-arti-diagnostics-through-prudence-trial/)
  5. General Practitioner (GP) use of a C-Reactive Protein (CRP) Point of Care Test (POCT) to help target antibiotic prescribing to patients with Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (AECOPD) who are most likely to benefit (The PACE Study). 
  6. Antivirals for influenza Like Illness? An rCt of Clinical and Cost effectiveness in primary CarE (ALIC4E), which is part of the Platform foR European Preparedness Against (Re-)emerging Epidemics (PREPARE) consortium. 
  7. Probiotics to Reduce Infections iN Care homE reSidentS (PRINCESS).