The UAPC Research Team

Professor Jeremy Dale - Professor of Primary Care

Jeremy's interests include the interface between primary care and emergency care, and out-of-hours care. Methodologies used include qualitative studies, quantitative studies and clinical trials.

Professor Helen Atherton - Professor

Helen’s research interests are in access to general practice and the delivery of the consultation in primary care, her expertise is in the use of email and video for consultation with patients in primary care settings. Helen also has interests in the reporting of patient experience, specifically the way that the NHS collects and utilises online feedback from patients. Helen is currently involved in leading or collaborating on several ongoing projects in these areas.

Dr Rachel Spencer - Associate Clinical Professor, General Practice

Rachel is an academic GP and her research interest is in all aspects of patient safety in primary care and has involved in prescribing safety research for the last ten years. She helped develop prescribing indicators used by the RCGP and the CPRD. Her doctoral work focused on safety of communication at the interface of primary and secondary care.

Dr Sarah Hillman - Associate Clinical Professor, General Practice

Sarah originally joined the Unit as an Academic Clinical Fellow in February 2017. Sarah’s research is around Women’s health in the community and primary care. She is also the co-lead for the IAT programme within the unit.

Dr John MacArtney - Associate Professor

John is a sociologist of health and illness with specific interests in palliative and end of life care, bereavement, and diagnosis of cancer and who specialises in qualitative research. John’s current position is a partnership with Marie Curie that aims to promote research activities within Marie Curie's services through local, national and international academic and clinical collaborations.

Dr Carol Bryce - Assistant Professor

Carol is a qualitative researcher who joined the Unit of Academic Primary Care in September 2016. She is involved in evaluating a post CCT GP fellowship programme in acute care and in the development of a digital resource to support carers. Carol has worked on research projects in public health, health education and behaviour change and has a particular interest in healthy eating and the interpretation of nutrition guidelines.

Dr Abi Eccles- Assistant Professor

Abi joined Warwick Primary Care in October 2016 working on various projects. Her research interests focus on patient centred care and communication during consultations. Abi’s doctoral research examined the information and decision support needs for people with Multiple Sclerosis; exploring the applicability of personalised care planning and accounts of decision making and interactions with healthcare professionals.

Dr Cath Grimley - Research Fellow

Cath joined the department in May 2021 and is currently involved with projects in palliative care and access to bereavement support. She completed her PhD in 2020 which was a mixed-methods study focusing on help-seeking behaviour for self-detection of breast cancer symptoms in women.

Eleanor Hoverd Link opens in a new window- HEE/NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellow

Eleanor is a Health Education England/National Institute for Health Research Clinical Doctoral Fellow . Her PhD is focussed on the experiences of participation in health research with people of African-Caribbean heritage in the UK, and she will be undertaking a realist evaluation to explore this. Eleanor works clinically as a Research Nurse with Coventry and Warwickshire CCG and the Clinical Research Network West Midlands primary care team.

Dr Zakia Shariff - Research Fellow

Zakia is a community pharmacist and has an interest in patient centric care for older people. Her doctoral work focussed specifically on how medications can be designed to improve adherence and acceptance in this population. She is currently working as a Research Associate on the GP-MATE project, looking at developing an intervention to assist older people’s communication with their GP practice following discharge from hospital.

Dr Florence Karaba - Research Fellow

Florence joined the Unit in September 2023 and is working on the GPNET-0 study.

Dr Susan Blyden - Research Fellow

Ms Olivia Geddes - Research Associate

Olivia joined the Unit in September 2023 is working on the GPNET-0 study.

Dr Claire Mann - Research Fellow

Claire is working on the Menopause GAP study.

Dr Becky MacGregorLink opens in a new window - NIHR Doctoral Fellow

Becky is a National Institute for Health Research Doctoral Fellow. Her PhD is focused on designing an intervention to improve community care in the NHS for women and partners who have had a stillbirth or second trimester miscarriage. Becky also works as a GP in Warwickshire and has a background in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Her research interests are in Women’s Health in the community.

Dr Helen LeachLink opens in a new window - In Practice Fellow

Helen is an NIHR Funded In Practice Fellow at the Unit of Academic Primary Care and works as a GP in Herefordshire. Before becoming a GP, Helen was a Clinical Teaching Fellow and has previously completed a Masters in the History of Medicine. Her research interests are in clinician-patient relationships and the experience of illness in primary care.

Dr Hyun YuLink opens in a new window - Academic Clinical Fellow

Hyun joined the Unit of Academic Primary Care in August 2023, as an Academic Clinical Fellow (ACF) in General Practice. He spends part of his week on undertaking the Master’s by Research (MScR) in Health Sciences at Warwick Medical School, with the remaining days spent on clinical duties as a GP registrar in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Dr Yasmine Zedan - Academic Clinical Fellow

Dr Lisa Shah - Academic Clinical Fellow

Susan Zhao Link opens in a new window- PhD Student

Susan's PhD is focussed on examining the experiences of Chinese caregivers caring for Chinese People at end of life in community settings in England. Susan works clinically as a Research Nurse with NIHR Clinical Research Network West Midlands (South primary care team).

Nicky ThomasLink opens in a new window - PhD Student

Nicky started her PhD at WMS in October 2020. Her research project focuses on exploring the role of general practice for parent carers of children with intellectual disabilities. Nicky is interested in patients lived experiences when seeking support for their own mental wellbeing and physical health, including accessibility of services for parent carers, and the use of digital technology in primary care.

Bethany McLoughlinLink opens in a new window - PhD Student

Bethany started her PhD at WMS in October 2020 and her research project centres on improving wellbeing and reducing isolation in carers. Bethany is interested in comparing the effectiveness and accessibility of online and in-person support groups for carers of people with dementia.

Armina PauleLink opens in a new window - PhD Student

Armina Paule started her PhD at WMS in March 2022. Her research project focuses on the use of online consultation platforms in primary health care setting for early cancer diagnosis. Armina is interested in effectiveness of online consultation platforms focusing of outcomes of diagnosis, accessibility of service, patients and staff satisfaction and service improvement.

Pretty Manyimo - PhD Student

Pretty's research focuses on how community specialist palliative care understands palliative care needs of different social groups as “complex” and how this affects patients and formal carers experience of a good death. She is interested in how identification and categorisation of patients as patients with complex specialist palliative care needs creates inequalities in community practice. Pretty works as a part-time Specialist Palliative Nurse with Leicestershire Partnership Trust.