08.11.2005
Professor Helen Smith, Chair of Primary Care, will give a public lecture at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) on Wednesday 16 November at 6.30pm. Entitled 'Trials in general practice: providing evidence for the majority', the lecture will reflect on Professor Smith's development of a research culture within general practice.
"Primary care is at the heart of NHS decision making," says Professor Smith. "More than 90% of contact between the population and our healthcare services takes place in the community."
Practitioners with a critical interest in the evidence base of their work are more likely to provide high quality clinical care, and Professor Smith has ended the days when primary care was considered a research-free zone. She is now the director of the Surrey and Sussex Integrated Primary Care Research Network (SIREN), based at BSMS. SIREN provides high-quality advice on research methodology in the settings of primary and community care.
Professor Smith leads the teaching of Public Health and General Practice at BSMS. She also contributes to local postgraduate education, teaching on a GP refresher course and on an MSc programme in Community Cardiology. She has previously taught at the University of Southampton, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Keele, North Staffordshire Polytechnic and the University of Nottingham.
Professor Smith plays a role in numerous other primary care research initiatives, and has published extensively on the subject. Among her other research is the prevention of hip fractures in the elderly, hay fever relief and new ways of dealing with GPs' workloads - now taken up nationally as NHS Direct.
Please inform BSMS if you wish to attend: email lectures@bsms.ac.uk
Professor Smith's research profile is available at www.bsms.ac.uk/research/eccm/helen_smith.htm
For further information, please contact Rehanna Neky, Communications Coordinator, r.neky@bsms.ac.uk or 01273 877844
Rehanna Neky
Communications Coordinator
Brighton and Sussex Medical
School
BSMS Teaching Building
University of Sussex
Brighton
BN1 9PX
Tel 01273 877844
Contact: Marketing and Communications, University of Brighton,
01273 643022
