Julie Ashworth

Biography

Dr Ashworth studied medicine at the Universities of St Andrews (BSc Med Sci. 1987) and Manchester (MB ChB 1990). After qualifying, she completed specialist training in Anaesthesia, becoming a fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and was appointed as a Consultant at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in 1998. Dr Ashworth later specialised in Pain Medicine. She is a fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine and has worked full-time in Pain Medicine since 2009.

Julie joined Keele in 2008 as a part time researcher, then Honorary Senior Lecturer and was appointed Senior Lecturer in 2017. She continues to work clinically as a Consultant in Pain Medicine and is Clinical Lead for the IMPACT Community Pain Service, Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust, in North Staffordshire.

Julie’s research is inspired by her clinical work and focuses on improving care for patients with chronic pain and reducing harm from analgesics. She currently co-leads a major research programme to reduce inappropriate opioid prescribing for chronic pain.

Research and scholarship

Dr Ashworth is Principle Investigator and co-lead for the PROMPPT programme funded by the National Institute for Health Research [Programme Grant for Applied Research RP-PG-0617-20005]). PROMPPT aims to develop and test a clinical pharmacist-led intervention to reduce opioids, where appropriate, and support self-management of chronic pain in primary care. She is also Chief Investigator on a study investigating trends in gabapentinoid prescribing and the association between gabapentinoids and adverse events in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme [PB-PG-1217-20011].

Teaching

Dr Ashworth teaches on the AHP Independent Prescriber Course and has given invited lectures on chronic pain management and use of analgesics to doctors and allied health professionals at events locally, nationally and internationally.

Book Chapters

Ashworth J. Medical diseases influencing anaesthesia. Ch 1.2 in Lee’s Synopsis of Anaesthesia 13th Edition Elsevier 2006