Professor of Primary Care and Clinical Pharmacology (University of Exeter), Co-chair (Society of Academic Primary Care)

Rupert Payne is Professor of Primary Care and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Exeter, and trained in Edinburgh and Cambridge. He leads a programme of applied health service research focused on improving the safety and quality of medicines use in primary care, with particular interests in improving how we measure, evaluate and manage polypharmacy, and expertise in quantitative methods and data science. He is co-chair of the Society for Academic Primary Care, and practices as a GP in North Somerset.

Professor of Primary Health Care (University of Bristol)

Debbie Sharp is Professor of Primary Health Care at the University of Bristol. She trained in Oxford, and later became a lecturer in General Practice and did her PhD at UMDS and the Institute of Psychiatry in London. Her major research interest was womens’ mental health and more broadly primary care mental health issues. She took up the Foundation chair in Primary Health Care in Bristol in 1994 and set about developing what is now a nationally and internationally renowned centre of excellence for academic primary care. These days her work mainly comprises leadership and mentorship for clinical academic trainees, particularly those in general practice.

Honorary Clinical Research Fellow (University of Exeter), Primary Care Research Lead (South West Peninsula NIHR Clinical Research Network)

Lisa Gibbons is a GP partner and research lead at Claremont Medical Practice in Exmouth and was delighted that the practice won the RCGP /CRN Research Practice of the Year Award 2018. She has been the Clinical Research Specialty Lead SW Peninsula Primary Care for six years and has led the National Primary Care IT Specialty Group for four years. She is member of the Clinical Research Network Primary Care Strategy Group and leads the digital subgroup of this group and was a clinical lead on the NIHR/HRA/Digital ‘Find Recruit and Follow Up’ programme.

Professor of Primary Care Research (Hull York Medical School), Director (Academy of Primary Care, Hull York Medical School)

Joanne Reeve is an inner-city GP and Professor of Primary Care at Hull York Medical School. She is an expert in medical generalism (the distinct knowledge work of whole person medical practice) and now leads a programme of work to support the redesign of general practice and primary healthcare on advanced generalist medicine principles. She founded and now leads the Wise GP programme, designed and implemented the award winning CATALYST programme for new to practice GPs in Yorkshire & Humber and heads up a programme of research on these topics in the Academy of Primary Care.

Professor of Primary Care Research (University of Exeter), Deputy Medical Director (NIHR Clinical Research Network)

Philip Evans is an academic GP and was, until his recent retirement, 31 years as a GP partner in St Leonard’s Practice, Exeter. He is Deputy Medical Director of the NIHR Clinical Research Network and was previously the NIHR CRN National Specialty Lead for Primary Care. He is Professor of Primary Care Research in the University of Exeter. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was Deputy Chair of the NIHR Urgent Public Health (UPH) Group and has recently led the CRN engagement with the four-nation PRINCIPLE and PANORAMIC studies of community-based treatment of COVID-19. He has over 25 years’ experience of leading primary care research networks, both locally and nationally.

NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow (University of Bristol), Outgoing PACT Committee Chair

Polly Duncan is a GP and NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. Her research focuses on patient centred care, multimorbidity, treatment burden and health inequalities. Polly is the founder and previous Chair of PACT and is leading one of the first projects delivered by the PACT network - “Care of Housebound patients in Primary care” (the CHiP study). She is passionate about providing more opportunities for healthcare professionals working at the coalface of general practice to get involved in research. She is a mum of three girls and enjoys jumping in the sea whenever she can.

NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer (University of Manchester), Outgoing PACT Committee Vice Chair

Sam Merriel is a GP in the North-West of England and an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Manchester. He completed his GP training in Bristol before undertaking a PhD at the University of Exeter. Sam is an Associate Editor for the British Journal of General Practice and Senior Editorial Board Member of BMC Cancer, and he has been a GP member of expert reference groups for NICE, the National Cancer Research Institute, Movember, and Prostate Cancer UK. Sam strongly believes in the importance of academic primary care, which drew him in to be part of the team that set up PACT.

Clinical Research Lead (Royal College of General Practitioners), Primary Care Research Lead (Thames Valley and South Midlands NIHR Clinical Research Network)