Our Team

Dr Mark Gabbay MD FRCGP is Professor of General Practice at the University of Liverpool, and Head of Department of Health Services Research. He is Director of the CLAHRC NWC.

His research interests include studying complex interventions in primary care, health inequalities, work and health, mental health and substance misuse. He is a GP at Brownlow Health in Liverpool, and holds a number of senior regional NIHR appointments including the research design service; primary care, mental health and comprehensive research networks. He has over 90 peer reviewed publications and as PI or Co-I over £60M research grants during his academic care.

Please contact Professor Mark Gabbay via M.B.Gabbay@liverpool.ac.uk

Jennie Popay is Professor of Sociology and Public Health at Lancaster University and Deputy Director of the NIHR School for Public Health Research. She has worked as a teacher, policy maker and researcher in academia and in the public and voluntary sectors in the UK, Africa and New Zealand.  Her research interests include the social determinants of health and health equity; the evaluation of complex ‘natural’ policy experiments’; and community empowerment.  A qualitative social science at heart, she has been involved in a wide range of mixed methods studies. Currently, she is undertaking research on approaches to assessing the impact of public involvement in research and on the impact on health inequalities of interventions aiming to increase community ‘control’. She has held public appointments with the Commission on Health Improvement and the Commission on Patient and Public Involvement in Health and is presently chair of the national charity The People’s Health Trust and a member of the Bevan Commission set up to advise the Welsh government on the future of the NHS and public health in Wales. Her role in the CLAHRC NWC is Director Engagement and lead for the public health/health inequalities theme.

Please contact Professor Jennie Popay via j.popay@lancaster.ac.uk or Libby Osborn via l.osborn@lancaster.ac.uk

Professor Caroline Watkins is currently Professor of Stroke and Older People’s Care, School of Health Director of Research and Director of Lancashire Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Central Lancashire. She is also Director of Capacity and Implementation, Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs). Caroline leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers with a large portfolio of clinically relevant research, and contributes to stroke service development at a local, national and international level. She is a Fellow of the European Stroke Organisation and World Stroke Organisation. She is a member of the UK’s HTA Commissioning Board and the Stroke Association Research Awards Committee.

Andrew is Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), specialising in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. During 20 years working in evidence synthesis and health technology assessment, Andrew has gained considerable experience in producing systematic reviews to support people in making decisions regarding the effectiveness of different health interventions with different stakeholders including the public, health professionals and policy makers.

 

Professor Tony Marson is a consultant neurologist and epileptologist at The Walton Centre and Professor of Neurology at The University of Liverpool.  He leads the Liverpool epilepsy research group and is also Deputy Director of the MRC North West Hub for Trials Methodology Research, Coordinating Editor of the Cochrane Epilepsy Group, Chair of the Programme Committee European Academy of Neurology, Director of Research Programmes Liverpool Health Partners and leads the National Audit of Seizure Management in Hospitals.  

Tony has particular expertise in assessing interventions, outcomes, and factors that influence outcomes in epilepsy.  He has led the two largest investigator led multicentre randomised epilepsy trials to date; the MRC funded Multicentre Study of Early Epilepsy and Single Seizure, and the NIHR HTA funded Study of Standard and New Antiepileptic Drugs (SANAD, 2500 patients).

Tony is currently chief investigator of the NIHR HTA funded SANAD II which will assess two newer antiepileptic drugs in newly diagnosed patients.  He is chief investigator of an NIHR programme grant which included the development statistical models to undertake and validate prognostic modelling of epilepsy data from randomized trials and prospective studies of other designs. He is also a member of the NIH funded epilepsy centre without walls that will identify genes that cause epilepsy and influence treatment response, and the ILAE sponsored group undertaking a ‘meta-GWAS’ attempting to identify common causal genetic variants for epilepsy.

Professor Munir Pirmohamed is currently David Weatherall Chair in Medicine at the University of Liverpool, and a Consultant Physician at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. He also holds the only NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics in the UK, and is Deputy Director of the M.R.C. Centre for Drug Safety Sciences, and Director of the Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine. He is also an inaugural NIHR Senior Investigator, and Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications. Professor Pirmohamed's research focuses on individual variability in drug response, both safety and efficacy, with a view to evaluating the mechanisms, and identifying strategies to personalise healthcare in order to optimise drug efficacy and minimise toxicity. The work spans the whole spectrum from discovery to implementation with laboratory based studies being linked translationally to patient studies, with the aim being to develop the evidence base that can move discoveries from the lab to the clinic, and from clinic to application. Professor Pirmohamed has received a number of honours including most recently, the William Withering Medal from the Royal College of Physicians and the IPIT award for Public Service from the University of North Carolina in the US. Please contact Professor Munir Pirmohamed via munirp@liverpool.ac.uk

Jane has been with the University of Liverpool since 2002, focussed on support for research grants and contracts, programme management and collaborative health services research. Along with Professor Mark Gabbay, Jane worked with colleagues in Liverpool PCT to establish LivHIR, the Liverpool Health Inequalities Research Institute, developing a programme of work focused on addressing health inequalities experienced by the people of Liverpool. Prior to joining the UoL, Jane gained project management experience at the Transport Research Laboratory, where she was a senior researcher, and at Halcrow, where she was an Environmental Consultant. As well as deputy for the Director, Jane’s role is helping develop our themes and engage with our Partners.

Please contact Jane via J.Cloke@liverpool.ac.uk

Rhiannon's research focuses on the psychological, social and environmental determinants of mental health and wellbeing. Her research and knowledge exchange activity spans disciplines from psychology to literature, public health to living environment and place-making.

Rhiannon’s ongoing research is directed at improving mental health and wellbeing through communities and neighbourhoods. She directs the Prosocial Place Research and Practice Programme and the Community Wellbeing Evidence Programme of the National What Works Centre for Wellbeing. In these roles she aims to promote equitable places that enhance health and wellbeing by addressing knowledge gaps, implementing evidence-informed practice and by connecting academics with practitioners and policy makers to address health and wellbeing inequalities.

Rhiannon is a member of the Community Engagement Committee of the DCLG National Estates Regeneration Strategy and sits on the Publications Steering Committee of NHS England’s Healthy New Towns Initiative.

Rhiannon is a member of Liverpool CCG’s R and D Committee and a trustee of the Liverpool Mental Health Consortium.

Ruth joined Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council as the Public Health Research & Development Manager in 2012 having previously worked at the Universities of Leeds and Manchester and as Reader in Health Policy Evaluation at King’s College London.  She is a social scientist with a PhD in Geography and a research and evaluation background across health services research, primary care, social care, and health policy and management.   She is experienced particularly in qualitative methods and the use of quantitative methods.  As the Public Health R&D Manager Ruth is responsible for working with key partners, research networks and academic institutions to support the development of research, evaluation and related skills across the local public services system.  Currently, Ruth is seconded part-time to the NIHR CLAHRC NWC as Deputy Director for the Knowledge Exchange Theme and Lead for the Partners’ Priority Programme.