Benjamin Brown

Overview

I am a practising General Practitioner (GP; primary care physician) and Research Fellow in Health Informatics. 

I build and evaluate software applications that analyse health data to drive improvements in healthcare by supporting clinicians and patients take action. I aim to do this by advancing methods to: 1) generate clinical actions from health data using artificial intelligence; 2) effectively communicate these actions to clinicians and patients; and 3) implement and optimise these processes at scale. 

I have skills in: database management; analysis of primary care electronic health record data; software design, development, evaluation, and implementation; qualitative research and its meta-synthesis.

I am currently involved in the following research grants:

Health e-Research Centre, which is part of the national UK Farr Institute for Health Informatics Research

NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (Greater Manchester PSTRC)

• Building Rapid Interventions to reduce antimicrobial resisTance and over-prescribing of antibiotics (BRIT), which is part of Connected Health Cities

My full list of publications can be found on Google Scholar.

Biography

I qualified as a GP and began doctoral studies as a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellow in 2014. During my PhD I developed clinical performance feedback software for primary care called PINGR (the Performance Improvement plaN GeneratoR). PINGR analyses data in patients'' electronic health records (EHRs) to suggest actions health professionals could take to improve care in accordance with clinical guidelines. The software has been adopted by Salford Clinical Commissioning Group, and is being used by GP practices across the city.

Prior to my PhD, I trained to be a GP as a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellow, and completed an MSc at The University of Birmingham''s Health Services Management Centre in 2012. Between 2009 and 2010 I undertook a Fellowship in health services management at the North West Strategic Health Authority where I provided clinical input to regional Urgent Care policy.

I have previously been awarded the British Computer Society’s Primary Health Care Specialist Group’s inaugural Early Career Informatician Award, the Royal College of General Practitioners'' (RCGP) Specialty Trainee Award, an RCGP Great Expectations Award, and a National Leadership Council Emerging Leader Award. I have served on RCGP Council as Chair of the national Associates in Training Committee, and the Executive Committee of the Society for Academic Primary Care.