New Professor of Primary Health Care Research
Dr Michael Moore, of the University of Southampton, has been offered a personal chair as Professor of Primary Health Care Research with effect from 1st August 2014.
Dr Moore has been working at the University of Southampton since 2004 and is deputy director of the Primary Care and Population Sciences Academic Unit in the Faculty of Medicine. His research includes the optimal management of acute minor illness in primary care with a focus on antibiotic sparing strategies. He has published on alternative approaches to the management of acute urine infection, sore throat illness and acute bronchitis. He has also published on the management of depression and the detection of early liver disease in the community.
Dr Moore comments: “Rising resistance to antibiotics is an international emergency. We are on the cusp of a post antibiotic era with increasing numbers of potentially untreatable infections. Just like carbon emissions and global warming everyone has to do their bit. Eight out of 10 antibiotics courses in the UK are started in primary care and many people treated would have recovered just as well without the antibiotics. We need the general public to be willing to take alternative approaches and for practitioners to be willing to discuss options other than antibiotics in their consultations.”
Dr Moore is the National Clinical Champion for antimicrobial stewardship for the Royal College of General Practitioners and represents the college on a number of national committees. He is primary care theme lead of the Wessex CLAHRC- an organisation dedicated to implementation of research in the NHS to raise the standards of care for patients.
He adds: “One of the tasks for the primary care theme will be to establish effective interventions for the management of acute respiratory illness in routine practice – this will reduce the consumption of antibiotics and help preserve effective treatments when they are really needed for our children and grandchildren.”
Dr Moore is a well-known General Practitioner in Salisbury with over 25 years’ experience in practice. He is still working for one day a week in his practice. He has championed the development of research in primary care through the National Institute for Health Research clinical research networks and is currently one of the divisional directors in the new Wessex Clinical Research Network.
“I started on my research career nearly 20 years ago, I have taken my experiences as a full time GP to make sure the questions being answered are relevant to daily practice. Over the years I have gradually increased the amount of time dedicated to research and been involved in integrating research into daily practice by engaging with practices and research networks. I am now in a position to be taking a lead role in new research and it is great that those efforts have been recognised by the University.”
Professor Paul Roderick, Head of Primary Care and Population Sciences Academic Unit, comments: “I am delighted about Mike’s promotion to a Chair; it is fitting recognition of his development as an internationally renowned primary care researcher. His research is addressing the major public health problem of antibiotic resistance, and along with colleagues is providing the evidence base for how antibiotics should be appropriately prescribed in primary care which is already having a significant impact on their use.”
Colleague Professor Paul Little added: “This is very well deserved recognition for Mike’s work – which brings a really pragmatic approach to researching and managing the common conditions we see – and also recognition for his excellent local, national and international leadership regarding antibiotic prescribing.”