Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog

Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog

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Seminar titled Developing a policy evaluation model for lung cancer early detection, by Dr Tristan Snowsill

Lung cancer kills more people in the UK each year than any other cancer, accounting for 1 in 5 cancer deaths. Fewer than half the people diagnosed with lung cancer survive for a year after diagnosis, and only 1 in 5 survive for more than 5 years. These are pretty dismal statistics. One of the […]


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Should we be more relaxed about high blood pressure?

Associate Professor Christopher Clark We know how to lower blood pressure with drugs,  and quite a lot about how health professionals can help people to treat their hypertension. (1) Evidence to support these interventions is well summarised in various international hypertension guidelines, which also reinforce lifestyle changes to lower blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular risk. […]


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What motivated my wanting to do research? by Dr Gianni Dongo

The answer to this question can often times seem scripted. There is usually a reference to a desire to stimulate lasting change in society, an altruistic aim to break frontiers of knowledge or a personal experience of a challenge that motivated quest for discovery. For me, I rather stumbled onto research during my primary medical […]


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The role of community pharmacies in early cancer detection with a focus on deprivation – by Dr Judit Konya

We know that the earlier cancer is diagnosed, the better the clinical outcomes are. Patients generally first present to General Practice with symptoms of undiagnosed cancer. However, in recent years there has been an expansion of clinical responsibility in other healthcare settings, and there has been a focus shift towards providing care to people closer […]


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Exeter in £10 million partnership to use data and AI to detect individual cancer risk – Professor Gary Abel

Doctors could soon be able to predict your individual chances of getting cancer and offer personalised detection and prevention, thanks to a new research project involving the University of Exeter. Today, Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) are announcing £10 […]


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SPCR Trainee Event Blog post – Dr Rosina Cross

Attending my first School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) Trainee event marked a significant milestone in my Post Doctoral Fellowship, researching physical activity promotion in Primary Care. Fresh from the excitement of being awarded a SPCR Funded fellowship, I arrived at the Manchester Marriott Piccadilly Hotel, eager to immerse myself in the programme of events. […]


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Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s – our study protocol was accepted for publication! – by Dr Deepthi Lavu

Switching specialities mid-way through your medical career is hard work. Imagine moving from fast paced Obstetrics and Gynaecology to equally challenging night shift free General Practice. Add to that, trying to change the tracks of your research focus from largely secondary care based women’s health to primary care; it is fun to say the least. […]


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Southwest Society for Academic Primary Care conference by Laura Gill – Research Assistant (Qualitative health services primary care cancer diagnostics)

In March this year, I attended the Southwest Society for Academic Primary Care conference along with Eve Kingston, Sarah Price and Luke Mounce. Eve and I had been accepted to present on work around the OSCA study (investigating non-attendance at cancer referral appointments in people with anxiety and/or depression), with Eve presenting her scoping review […]


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Q&A with APEx’s Early and Mid-Career Researcher Representative – Dr Sarah Moore

I’m a GP and clinical research fellow, currently working on a Wellcome funded doctoral fellowship. My area of research is improving early cancer diagnosis in primary care and I’m developing cancer risk prediction models for symptomatic patients. I’m also really interested in machine learning and its increasing relevance to our research. My passion outside of […]


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Do medical schools’ cognitively based selection assessment scores predict doctors’ post-qualification clinical competency? by Dr Taha Khan

Background: The selection of students to study medicine at university is a high-stakes process with far-reaching implications as the gateway to the profession. To differentiate between the plethora of high-achieving candidates, there has been widespread adoption of cognitively based selection assessments, also known as ‘admission tests’ or ‘aptitude tests’. These are psychological tests that assess […]


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