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“I am an academic public health physician. I have worked in 4 medical schools, in the UK (Bristol, UEA) and South Africa (Cape Town, Free State), doing epidemiological then health services research, and teaching medical and postgraduate research students.
Good primary health care is a foundation of good population health. So my research is mostly focused on innovation, integration and evaluation of primary health care, for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, respiratory disease, diabetes, and other long term conditions. When I was a medical student and junior doctor in 1980s South Africa, the struggle for liberation from apartheid had a big influence on me. I was active in anti-apartheid student and health politics in my twenties. This led me into occupational health and safety, consulting and doing epidemiological research for non-racial trade unions. My research since then has been grounded on methods I learned from fellow occupational epidemiologists. But when apartheid started dying out in the early nineties, I realised that there were even greater health benefits to be gained from health system reform, especially through massive expansion and strengthening of public sector primary health care. Hence my shift to health services research.
After public health specialist training in South Africa and the UK I learned more from British health services researchers and public health colleagues . One of the many admirable features of the NHS is that it encourages experimentation and is responsive to health services research evidence, which it funds generously. This makes the UK a world leader in the research methods I use, such as the evaluation of complex interventions with cluster randomised trials, cost effectiveness evaluation, and interdisciplinary mixtures of epidemiology, economics and social science. It has been my privilege to be based in this scientifically excellent setting while applying myself to the health care challenges of high, middle and low income countries.
- Educational and professional qualifications
- PhD, University of Bristol
- MSc (Public Health Medicine), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Diploma in Occupational Health, University of Cape Town
- Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB), University of Cape Town
- Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health, United Kingdom”
Fonte: University of East Anglia
