Supervisor for Helene-Mari van der Westhuizen: Translating policy into practice: reducing nosocomial Tuberculosis transmission in South Africa. Rhodes Scholarship, University of Oxford.

Supervisor for Jienchi Dorward: Point-of-care viral load testing and mHealth adherence support to enhance primary care HIV services in South Africa. Wellcome Trust, University of Oxford.

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.

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 >38,000 participants and evaluated 9 medicines so far.

I have published >400 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 >60. Our PACE Study won the Royal College of General Practitioners Research Paper of the Year Award in 2020. 

Supervision

I have supervised 17 doctoral students to successful completion and currently supervise 2 doctoral students.

Grants

Chief or Co-Chief investigator for the following current or recent 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).