Oxford University

Richard Hobbs, Head of Department
Co-Director, Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Programme for Primary Care
Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences

The University of Oxford Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences has been the top ranked centre for academic primary care research ranking exercise since 1991 (90% of outputs rated outstanding in REF 2014). The department has research interests in cardiovascular disease, cancer, health behaviour change, infection, and patient experience, and hosts international capacity in trials, evidence based medicine, big data, near patient diagnostics, and patient self-management. We have changed international practice through evidence from major clinical trials in atrial fibrillation, stroke prevention, self-management and better diagnosis in hypertension, smoking cessation and weight reduction trials, infection diagnosis and antibiotic stewardship. We have identified thresholds for diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in heart failure, identified testing intervals for common risk factors including lipids and blood pressure, delivered landmark clinical trials in stroke prevention, cancer screening, patient self management, and antibiotic conservation, bench-marked preventable mortality in several African countries, and created the world’s biggest online repository of patient experience.