Dr Merlin L Willcox
Academic Clinical Lecturer in Primary Care
Dr Merlin Willcox is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in the School of Primary Care, Population Sciences and Medical Education. He has worked as a GP in the NHS since 2003 and currently works in a practice in Oxford as well as in the Out of Hours service. His research interests include global health, clinical trials of herbal medicines, and improving care for vulnerable people.
Dr Willcox’s research on global health focusses on improving quality of primary health care and health promotion in low-income countries, with a particular focus on maternal and child health, family planning and malaria. He led a pilot confidential enquiry into maternal and child deaths in Uganda and Mali from 2011 to 2015. Recommendations from this have inspired several projects to develop and evaluate interventions, for example health education films and antenatal couples’ counselling.
Dr Willcox also researches complementary and integrative medicine. He is part of the team working on clinical trials of herbal medicines as alternatives to antibiotics, to address the problem of Antimicrobial Resistance. This includes an important collaboration with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine on evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine. He has also worked on clinical trials of herbal medicines for malaria in Uganda, Madagascar, and Mali and coordinates the RITAM network (Research Initiative on Traditional Antimalarial Methods).
Qualifications
BA, Medical Sciences, University of Cambridge, 1995
BM BCh, Medicine and Surgery, University of Oxford, 1998
DPhil, University of Oxford, 2016
Diploma in Child Health, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, London, 1999
Diploma of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG, London), 2000
Diploma of the Faculty of Family Planning (RCOG, London), 2002
Diploma in Geriatric Medicine (Royal College of Physicians, London), 2002
Diploma in Genito-Urinary Medicine (Society of Apothecaries, London), 2003
Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (London), 2003
Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (University of Liverpool), 2004
Postgraduate Diploma in Herbal Medicine (University of East London), 2006
Certificate in the Management of Drug Misuse, parts 1 and 2 (RCGP, London), 2009
Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Trials (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), 2010