Contact information
Elizabeth Woolliams
elizabeth.woolliams@phc.ox.ac.uk
Colleges
Research groups
John Powell
MA MB BChir MSc PhD PGCertMedEd MRCPsych FFPH FFCI
Professor of Digital Health
- Professor of Digital Health Care
- NIHR Senior Investigator
- Senior Research Fellow, Jesus College
- Consultant Public Health Physician
- Digital Health Theme Lead, NIHR ARC
- Digital Health Theme Lead, NIHR HRC
- Co-Academic Director, MSc in Applied Digital Health
For prospective DPhil and MSc students
Please direct all enquiries about the MSc in Applied Digital Health to the Course Coordinator, Vivian Ansell vivian.ansell@phc.ox.ac.uk.
Please direct all enquiries about DPhil applications to the Graduate Studies Officer, Daniel Long daniel.long@phc.ox.ac.uk
I am not currently taking on any new DPhil students and I do not have any positions for visiting researchers or interns.
Background and current work
John Powell is an academic public health physician studying healthcare in the digital age and how and why people use information and communication technologies in relation to health, and how services can harness digital and AI tools to deliver benefit. He has combined an academic career as Professor and NIHR Senior Investigator at the University of Oxford with national policy roles, most recently as a senior clinician at NICE, where he advised the NHS on the safe adoption of innovations in surgery, and on the appraisal of digital health technologies. He is an expert adviser to national agencies including PHE and MHRA. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol, and the former Editor-in-Chief of NIHR Health Technology Assessment and NIHR Efficacy & Mechanism Evaluation. He has worked as a comedy writer and as a television drama advisor where his credits include Downton Abbey and the movie Ammonite. He was formerly Professor of Public Health at the University of Warwick where he helped establish the Institute for Digital Healthcare. He was the Clinical Director of NHS Choices, the NHS website. He has degrees in Social and Political Sciences and in Clinical Medicine. He has an H-index of 62.
Summary CV and publications list
- Publications
- PDF document 185.0 KB
Summary CV and publications list
Key publications
The impact of social media influencers on health outcomes: Systematic review
Journal article
Powell J. and Pring T., (2024), Social Science and Medicine, 340
doption and Use of the NHS App in England: a mixed-methods evaluation
Journal article
Kc S. et al, (2023), The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 73
Trust me, i'm a chatbot: How artificial intelligence in health care fails the turing test
Journal article
Powell J., (2019), Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21
Using online patient feedback to improve NHS services: the INQUIRE multimethod study
Journal article
Powell J. et al, (2019)
What is an appropriate level of evidence for a digital health intervention?
Journal article
Greaves F. et al, (2018), The Lancet, 392, 2665 - 2667
Recent publications
Bridging the gap: a mixed-methods real-world pilot of a digital intervention for adults with binge eating
Journal article
Osborne EL. et al, (2026), Journal of Eating Disorders, 14
Implications of digital fertility tracking for clinical care: a qualitative systematic review
Journal article
Sheridan Clay K. et al, (2025), Reproductive Health, 22
Qualitative evaluation of the implementation and national roll-out of the NHS App in England
Journal article
Reidy C. et al, (2025), BMC Medicine, 23
Social Media Use Among Parents and Caregivers of Children With Rare Genetic Diseases: Scoping Review
Journal article
Davis C. et al, (2025), Journal of Medical Internet Research, 27
Parental Use of Social Media and the Internet in the Context of Their Child's Genetic Neurodevelopmental Disorder: Mixed Methods Study Nested in the GenROC Cohort Study.
Journal article
Low KJ. et al, (2025), JMIR Pediatr Parent, 8