Health and Population Sciences

Child nursingArea Academic Contact: Professor Jon Frampton, Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, j.frampton@bham.ac.uk

This area represents one of the largest and most comprehensively inter-disciplinary population science centres in the UK, principally focusing on chronic diseases (cardiovascular, cancer, respiratory, occupational/ environmental medicine, maternal and child health, behavioural change) and health services (national horizon scanning centre, health technology assessment, GP commissioning, public health policy analysis and healthy impact assessment). 

This area is undergoing considerable growth within the College of Medical and Dental Sciences and is closely aligned to NIHR and Government priorities, incorporating the Research Domains of Health & Population Sciences; Cancer; and Cardiovascular, Respiratory & Neurological Sciences.  

The College has its own Clinical Trials Units as well as an MRC Trials Methodology Hub and Research Design Service.

Specific Research Themes

  • Cardiovascular disease programmes of applied research cover the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease.   Specialist areas include atrial fibrillation, blood pressure measurement and hypertension, cardiovascular risk calculation, smoking cessation, heart failure, stroke and TIA and thrombosis. 
  • Cancer - The Birmingham Cancer Research UK Centre has a strong translational focus and works on a range of cancers including leukaemia, urological and children’s tumours. The Centre has a broad range of expertise with particular strengths in DNA repair, tumour immunology and surgical research. Birmingham also hosts an Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, which develops and tests the latest treatments in early stage clinical trials. The CRUK Clinical Trials Unit delivers a wide variety of cancer clinical trials, ranging from phase I to phase IV, adult and childhood cancers and a wide variety of cancer types.
  • In the School of Health and Population Sciences programmes are being delivered to identify and quantify those aspects of lifestyle, the environment and work that lead to increased risks of cancer.
  • Chronic disease programmes encompass studies relating to the primary care-based diagnosis and management of disease.  Particular areas of interest include the early diagnosis and management of cancer, cancer screening, sub-clinical thyroid dysfunction, irritable bowel disease and the use of complementary therapies.
  • Behavioural medicine comprises the development and integration of environmental, behavioural and biomedical knowledge relevant to health and disease, and the application of this knowledge to prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. 
  • Methodology Research into the methods that used to evaluate health and healthcare is primarily undertaken by the MRC Trials Methodology Hub, the Biostatistics Group, the Health Economics Unit and groups in Public Health.   Major areas of development include methods for the design and evaluation of randomized trials, the evaluation of medical tests, health economic modelling and the measurement of patient outcomes, including innovative work on the use of the capability approach.
  • Health technology assessment, particularly through Primary Care and the well-developed network of practices (MidReC), now the second largest primary care network in the UK after the MRC GP Framework, linked to a trial support unit (), now the second largest primary care network in the UK after the GP Framework, linked to a trial support unit (PCCRTU), supported by NHS support for science funding.  In Public Health, there is considerable expertise in secondary research (ARIF and the West Midlands HTA Collaboration) and the large Horizon Scanning award has set the basis for further developments in these fields.

Key Investigators

Recent Research Grants

  • NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Birmingham & Black Country
  • Midland Hub for Trials Methodology Research, MRC
  • Research Design Service, Department of Health
  • British Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (BCCSS), Cancer Research UK
  • PG - COPD in primary care: from case finding to improving patient outcomes, Department of Health
  • The UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies (UKCTCS), ESRC
  • Pulse Oximetry as a Screening Test for Congenital Heart Disease in Newborn Babies, NIHR HTA
  • A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of an Obesity Prevention Intervention in Primary School Age Children, NIHR HTA
  • Improving the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism in hospital and the community, Department of Health
  • A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of an Occupational Therapy Intervention for Residents with Stroke Living in UK Care Homes”, NIHR HTA

Recent Publications

  • Glasziou P, et al (2008) When should a new test replace the current reference standard?  Ann Int Med, 149: 816-22.
  • MacArthur C, et al (2009) Antenatal peer support workers and breastfeeding initiation: a cluster randomised controlled trial. BMJ, 338: b131. 
  • Freemantle N, et al (2009) What factors predict differences in infant and perinatal mortality in Primary Care Trusts in England? A prognostic model. BMJ, 339: b2892.
  • Lilford RJ, et al (2010) Evaluating Policy and Service Interventions: A Framework to Guide Selection and Interpretation of Study End Points. BMJ. 341: 715-20.
  • Parsons A, et al (2010) Does smoking cessation after a diagnosis of early stage lung cancer influence prognosis? A systematic review of observational studies with meta-analysis. BMJ, 340: b5569.
  • Mackay D, et al (2010) Smoke-free legislation and hospitalizations for childhood asthma. N Engl J Med, 363: 1139-45.
  • Reulen RC, et al (2010) Long-term cause-specific mortality among survivors of childhood cancer. JAMA, 304: 172-9.
  • Flynn TN, et al (2010) Using discrete choice experiments to investigate heterogeneity in preferences for quality of life. Let the theory drive the analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 70: 1957-65.
  • Benning A, et al (2011) Multiple component patient safety intervention in English hospitals: controlled evaluation of second phase. BMJ, 342: d199
  • Mathers J, et al (2011) Widening access to medical education for under-represented socioeconomic groups: population based cross sectional analysis of UK data, 2002-6. BMJ, 342: d918.