Andrew Farmer

Andrew Farmer completed his specialist training in the Oxford Deanery and then worked as a full-time general practitioner at Thame Health Centre for 17 years. He was a GP trainer, contributed to practice development, and began to develop an interest in research. In 1991 he was one of the first  general practitioners to be awarded a Harkness Fellowship from the Commonwealth Fund of New York. He subsequently completed a higher degree and then moved to the Oxford University Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, funded through an NHS R&D Senior Clinical Scientist Award in 2001. He took up his current university post in 2007. 

His research interests are focused on improving the health and wellbeing of people with chronic and long-term health conditions. Much of his work has centred on improving the self-management of diabetes in general practice. This has included researching where blood glucose monitoring is helpful, supporting people in making best use of their medicines, and developing and testing digital health systems. His research group uses a wide range of research methods including qualitative research, analysing electronic health records, and clinical trials to produce evidence. He is co-lead for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre Digital Health and Technology theme. He has an h-index of 52. He was appointed NIHR Senior Investigator Emeritus in 2021.  

Andrew works as a general practitioner at St Bartholomew's Medical Centre. He was appointed a member of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Commissioning Funding Board in 2001, Deputy Chair of the HTA Commissioning Board in 2007 and Chair of the HTA General Funding Committee in 2016. He has held a wide range of other research management roles including as the founding director of the UKCRN registered Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit at Oxford, Clinical Lead for the NIHR Diabetes Research Network, Co-Director of the NIHR Thames Valley Comprehensive Local Research Network and Panel Chair for NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research. He took up the role of Director of the NIHR HTA Programme in October 2020.