Dr Benjamin C Brown MRCGP, MSc, MPH, PhD, FFCI

Overview

I am a GP (primary care physician) and health informatician. I lead research to develop and evaluate digital interventions that use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to solve important problems in, and improve the delivery of, health care.

I am currently funded as a Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Career Development Fellow, and hold a joint position between the Centre for Health Informatics and the Centre for Primary Care. 

My research focuses on the application of AI and ML to support health professionals and patients make better decisions, in addition to automating tasks to reduce their workload. I mainly focus on primary care, which has historically been underserved in global AI and ML research.

My current projects include:

• An Online Consultation system that analyses patient-reported symptoms as unstructured free-text to automate triage and workflow
• Clinical decision support systems that analyse free-text data from electronic health records
• Actionable clinical performance feedback software
• Software that reads patient letters to reduce administrative burden on clinicians
• Interventions to reduce antimicrobial resistance and over-prescribing of antibiotics
  

Internationally, I am a founding member of the Audit and Feedback Meta-Laboratory – a global network of leaders in data-driven quality improvement research.

In addition to those listed below, you can also view my publications on Google Scholar.

Biography

I qualified as a GP in 2014 and completed a PhD in Health Informatics in 2017 as a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellow. In 2018 I was an National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)  Academic Clinical Lecturer. Prior to my PhD, I trained to be a GP as an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow. 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 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.

Qualifications

MB ChB, University of Manchester, 2007

MSc (Distinction), University of Birmingham, 2012 

Member of the Royal College of GPs (MRCGP), 2014

MPH (Distinction), University of Manchester, 2017

PhD, Health Informatics, University of Manchester, 2018

Fellow of the Faculty of Clinical Informatics, 2020