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News

Featured:

Department's Centre for Research Equity launches historic partnership to advance health equity in Northern Ireland

A crowd of people in summer clothes stand in the garden of Rhodes House under cream sunshades in front of trees and the Rhodes House building.

A toast to Primary Care: Celebrating growth and Professor Richard Hobbs' leadership at NDPCHS summer party

Awards & appointments Internal

A large group of prescription medication bottles sit on a table in front of a man who is holding and looking at one of the pill bottles out of focus in the background. The image is photographed with a very shallow depth of field with the focus being on the pill bottles in the foreground.

OpenSAFELY provides vital real-time data to support NHS ambition for safer opioid use

Big data

Profile picture of Prof Sir Aziz Sheikh

Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh OBE appointed as next Nuffield Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences and Head of Department, NDPCHS, University of Oxford

Awards & appointments

Healthcare specialist holding pills, tablets or vitamin in hand. Prescription of doctor concept. Pharmacy, drug store, medicine. Medic in white clothes show medication. Health care vector illustration

Antiviral molnupiravir offers only modest longer-term benefits for COVID-19, finds new paper from the PANORAMIC trial

COVID-19 Clinical trials

Can the long-term consequences of COVID 19 be reduced through the use of novel antiviral medicines? New research from the PANORAMIC trial, run in NDPCHS Clinical Trial Unit and funded and delivered by the NIHR, has found that treating vaccinated, higher-risk adults with COVID-19 with the antiviral drug molnupiravir offers only modest benefits when it comes to reducing long term effects of the acute illness.

Student collage

NDPCHS postgraduate programmes open for application for 2025

Students

We are now inviting applications for all of our postgraduate programmes based within the department for 2025.

A broken cigarette lies next to scattered tobacco, spelling out the word 'STOP' on a light blue background. The image symbolises the act of quitting smoking.

Three top strategies for quitting smoking

Health behaviours

Top three strategies for quitting smoking: e-cigarettes, varenicline, and cytisine. New review summarises data from fourteen Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Reviews of over 150,000 participants, providing evidence-based guidance for smokers seeking to quit.

Celebrating the success of our 2024 UNIQ+ interns

The Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences congratulates its 2024 UNIQ+ interns for completing their summer research projects, contributing valuable insights in health care and gaining vital experience for their future careers.

Logo for PANORAMIC (Platform Adaptive trial of NOvel antiviRals for eArly treatMent of COVID-19 In the Community). The logo features a stylized representation of a panoramic view, with three rectangles containing partial circular shapes with spikes, resembling a coronavirus. Below is the project name and full title in dark blue text.

PANORAMIC Trial Learnings: Shaping Future Pandemic Research

NIHR report highlights PANORAMIC trial's global impact on primary care pandemic research, offering key learnings and recommendations for future studies to enhance preparedness and patient outcomes.

The image depicts a tiny human figure attempting to restrain an enormous red coronavirus particle with teal strings against a stark, gray backdrop, symbolizing humanity's struggle against the pandemic.

The scale of Long COVID: New study highlights the widespread impact

COVID-19

A comprehensive state-of-the-art review published today in The Lancet has revealed the widespread impact of Long COVID, providing crucial insights into the condition's biological mechanisms and outlining key areas for future research.

Home healthcare nurse with disabled teenage boy

Identifying early symptoms associated with a diagnosis of childhood, adolescent and young adult cancers

QResearch

Researchers from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences have conducted the largest ever study examining symptoms of cancer in children, teenagers and young adults (CTYA) presenting to GPs. The research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, provides crucial new insights that could help improve early diagnosis of cancer in young people.

Nurse visiting senior patient at home. She is talking with senior woman about his condition and getting personal information.

Potential in deprescribing: reducing blood pressure drugs shows promise for improving older patients' care

In the largest study of its kind to date, new research from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford has found that reducing blood pressure medication in older adults with well-controlled blood pressure is likely to be safe in the long term, allowing doctors to simplify medication regimes.

A group of twelve people from the event posing for a photo in a room with a high ceiling and stained glass windows. They are standing and sitting around a table covered with a blue cloth featuring the University of Oxford logo. Behind them is a large screen displaying the title "Digital Health Equity Workshop: Designing Inclusive Health Technologies, Thoughtfully." The screen also shows logos of the University of Melbourne and Cogniss.

Congratulations to Hackathon Prize winners: Highlights from Centre for Digital Transformation of Health workshop

Congratulations to our students who participated in the Hackathon Prize competition as part of a workshop for the Centre for Digital Transformation of Health. DPhil student Gina Wren's team came in first-place and MSc in Applied Digital Health student Anton Elepaño's team took second-place.

MEdIC's Medical Education Masterclass Series 2024

Exciting Opportunity: MEdIC's Medical Education Masterclass Series 2024

Students Teaching

Medical Education Masterclass Series 2024: Open for Registration! Imperial College London's Medical Education Innovation and Research Centre (MEdIC) is offering its annual medical education masterclass series.

Junaid Hameed (left) and Clare Hornby (right) stand side by side, smiling, while holding an award. Behind them is a screen displaying the logo and name of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP)

Junaid Hameed and Clare Hornby win Best Student Presentation Award at the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP) Research and Publishing Conference

Congratulations to students Junaid Hameed and Clare Hornby on their Best Student Presentation Award! Junaid and Clare are final-year medical students (now about to graduate) in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. They were taking part in a project supervised by Dr Sharon Dixon. Read Junaid and Clare's reflections on their experience attending the conference and receiving the award below.

A large group of prescription medication bottles sit on a table in front of a man who is holding and looking at one of the pill bottles out of focus in the background. The image is photographed with a very shallow depth of field with the focus being on the pill bottles in the foreground.

OpenSAFELY provides vital real-time data to support NHS ambition for safer opioid use

Big data

Amid concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic might have led to increases in opioid prescribing, a new study from researchers at the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science, University of Oxford, demonstrates how the OpenSAFELY database can be used to conduct detailed analyses of opioid prescribing practices, in line with key recommendations from recent NHS England guidance aimed at preventing and reducing opioid harm.

Department's Centre for Research Equity launches historic partnership to advance health equity in Northern Ireland

Department's Centre for Research Equity partners with Northern Ireland to advance health equity. This groundbreaking collaboration aims to improve health outcomes, reduce disparities, and ensure research benefits all communities through inclusive, community-driven approaches.

A crowd of people in summer clothes stand in the garden of Rhodes House under cream sunshades in front of trees and the Rhodes House building.

A toast to Primary Care: Celebrating growth and Professor Richard Hobbs' leadership at NDPCHS summer party

Awards & appointments Internal

On Friday 21 June, more than 200 members of our department gathered for our summer party, held this year in honour of Professor Richard Hobbs, our outgoing Head of Department. The party was a perfect blend of celebration and reflection, marking the end of Richard’s 13-year tenure at the helm.

A woman wearing a red headscarf receives a vaccine injection from a healthcare professional wearing a face covering.

Study shows disparity in COVID-19 vaccines uptake for immunocompromised individuals, despite evidence of vaccine effectiveness and safety

COVID-19 QResearch

A new study by researchers at NDPCHS has shown disparities in vaccine uptake in immunocompromised individuals across ethnic and socioeconomic groups, despite evidence that vaccines are safe and effective for patients with weakened immune systems.

A cartoon of a man and woman in masks considering how to solve the problem of a pandemic in thought bubbles over their heads.

New sleeper frameworks to help better prepare for future pandemics

Researchers from NDPCHS and the Usher institute at the University of Edinburgh have developed a set of ‘sleeper frameworks’ – strategic plans designed for rapid deployment to significantly enhance disease surveillance and response capabilities – for use during future epidemics and pandemics.

Dr Nick Thomas, Prof Phil Evans, Prof Mahendra Patel, Prof Paul Little, Prof Ly-Mee Yu, Prof Chris Butler stand on a stage in formal dress, accepting the certificate and medal.

PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC teams honoured with prestigious Prix Galien Award

Awards & appointments COVID-19 Clinical trials

The teams behind the PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC clinical trials, run in the Clinical Trials Unit at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, have been awarded the prestigious Prix Galien Best Public Sector Innovation Award 2024 for their work in conducting innovative, large-scale clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four types of face masks arranged in a row on a flat surface: a dark cloth mask, a blue disposable surgical mask, a white KN95 mask, and a white N95 mask with a valve. The image accompanies a news story titled 'Comprehensive Review Confirms Mask Effectiveness Against Respiratory Infections, Urges Better Design and Policy Support' from the Department of Primary Care at the University of Oxford.

Comprehensive review confirms mask effectiveness against respiratory infections, urges better design and policy support

COVID-19 Infection, Respiratory and Acute Care Policy & health systems

New comprehensive review provides strong evidence that masks and respirators effectively reduce the transmission of respiratory infections like COVID-19, based on analysis of over 400 studies from multiple disciplines.

A person using a blood pressure monitor and a mobile phone app to monitor and keep track of their BP.

World hypertension day: How we’re tackling high blood pressure from pregnancy to later life

Cardiovascular & metabolic Digital health & innovation Public engagement & involvement

For World Hypertension Day 2024, discover three of our innovative studies – SNAP2, SHIP, and OPTIMISE 2 – aiming to improve blood pressure management across the life cycle through technology and patient involvement.

Ground-breaking art exhibition, The PANORAMIC PRINCIPLE, unveiled at Celebratory Symposium

Clinical trials

The PANORAMIC PRINCIPLE art exhibition, by CTU artist-in-residence Tanya Poole, was unveiled at the PRINCIPLE-PANORAMIC Celebratory Symposium this week. The portraits interpret the human experience of conducting and participating in the trials and honour the diverse array of participants, researchers, and medical professionals whose inclusive efforts set global benchmarks and transformed lives.

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