About
Professor Richard Lilford is an expert in a wide range of areas of health related research, from developing clinical trials and research ethics to assessing the cost effectiveness of treatments for the health service.
Richard’s clinical trials interest has particularly focused on the integration of new treatments and services into the health service, including psychological interventions, the clinical effects of information technology, organisation of services, surgical procedures and treatment policies. He has a deep interest in research methods and is an unreformed positivist.
This work focuses on integrating outstanding clinical research into the health service. In pursuit of this goal Richard is Director of the Birmingham Clinical Research Academy which facilitates research at the NHS/University interface.
His expertise in clinical research means Richard is heavily involved in cost effectiveness and decision analytic modelling in the health service.
Qualifications
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Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health (FFPH) 2003
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Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) 1997
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Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (FRCOG) 1996
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Membership of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine (MFPHM) 1995
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PhD in Medicine July 1984
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Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) 1981
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Member, Royal College of Gynaecologists (MRCOG)1979
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Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MB BCh) 1973
Biography
Born in Cape Town and educated in Johannesburg, Professor Richard Lilford is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Birmingham and was formally Head of School of Health and Population Sciences. He additionally holds the position of Vice-Dean for Applied Health Research and Director of Birmingham Clinical Research Academy.
Formally a consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Professor Lilford was Head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of Leeds for over ten years. Subsequent to that he was a senior civil servant for five years. He returned to academia and headed the Division/School of Health and Population Sciences for five years. He has published over two hundred and fifty original research papers and his research interests include the methodology of clinical trials, patient safety and Service Delivery Research. He also has a long-standing interest in the application of Bayesian statistics to medical and health-related research. He directs the £10m NIHR Birmingham and Black Country “CLAHRC” programme of applied research and holds many other NIHR, Charity, Research Council and EU grants and is Chief Investigator on grants from EPSRC, HTA programme and Health Foundation. He holds a NIHR Senior Investigator award and is an advisor on methods for research into Service Improvement for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Washington and WHO. He led the application for the West Midlands Central Health Innovation & Education Cluster. He is Director of the West Midland Institute for Safety and Quality in Healthcare and co-applicant on a MRC Trial Methodology grant.
Professor Lilford’s clinical trials interest has particularly focused on the integration of new treatments and services into the health service, including psychological interventions, the clinical effects of information technology, different methods of organising services, surgical procedures and treatment policies. This work focuses on integrating outstanding clinical research into the health service.
His expertise in clinical research means he is heavily involved in cost effectiveness and decision analytic modelling in the health service. He is a Research Advisor for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and a past member of the NICE Appraisal Committee and the NICE Research and Development Committee, he is a among the Core group of methodological experts for the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research and an Expert Panel Member for the NIHR Research Methods Fellowships and Internships Review Panel, he has formally been a member of the RAE Hospital Medicine Panel, the MRC Public Health and Epidemiology Research Board, the NICE appraisal committee and the Nice Research and Development committee, and currently chairs the Department of Health’s Multiple Sclerosis Risk Sharing Scheme.
Married to a General Practitioner and father to three children, he is an aviator and keen tennis player.
Teaching
Teaching Programmes
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Teaching medical students – whole class lectures on Safety and Quality in Health Care and Health Economics.
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Teacher on the Mini-Medical School course.
Postgraduate supervision
Supervision of PhD students
Research
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Health Service research
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Research Methods – Bayesian
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Decision analysis
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Health economics (especially service delivery)
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Clinical trials
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Evidence based medicine
Publications
Benning A, Ghaleb M, Suokas A, Dixon-Woods M, Dawson JF, Barber N, Franklin BD, Girling A, Hemming K, Carmalt M, Rudge GM, Naicker T, Nwulu U, Choudhury S, Lilford R. (2011) Large-scale organisational intervention to improve patient safety in four UK hospitals: mixed method evaluation. BMJ. 342:d195.
Benning A, Dixon-Woods M, Nwulu U, Ghaleb M, Dawson JF, Barber N, Franklin BD, Girling A, Hemming K, Carmalt M, Rudge G, Naicker T, Kotecha A, Derrington MC, Lilford R. (2011) Multiple/component patient safety intervention in English hospitals: controlled evaluation of second phase. BMJ. 342:d199.
Paley J, Lilford R. (2011) Qualitative methods: an alternative view. BMJ. 342:d424.
Shekelle P, Pronovost P, Wahter R, Taylor S, Dy S, Foy R, Hempel S, McDonald K, Ovretveit J, Rubenstein L, PSP Technical Expert Panellists (RJL plus others). (2011) Advancing the Science of Patient Safety. Ann Int Med [In press]
Arnold D, Bentham L, Jacob R, Lilford R, Girling A. (2011) Should patients with abnormal liver function tests in primary care be tested for chronic viral hepatitis: cost minimisation analysis based on a comprehensively tested cohort. BMC Fam Prac. 12:9 [available online only].
Coleman J, Hemming K, Nightingale P, Clark I, Dixon-Woods M, Ferner R, Lilford R. (2011) Can an electronic prescribing system detect doctors who are more likely to make a serious prescribing error? A retrospective analysis of routine prescribing data. J R Soc Med [In press]
Pronovost P, Lilford R. (2011) Spotlighting the Performance of Performance Measures. Health Affairs. [In press]
Bowater R, Lilford P, Lilford R. (2011) Estimating changes in overall survival using progression-free survival in metastatic breast and colorectal cancer. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. [In press]