Keele professor awarded a National Institute for Health Research professorship

A Keele professor is one of eight of the UK's most promising leaders in health research to be awarded a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) professorship, in the first round of these NIHR professorship awards.  Each professor - selected by an international panel of independent experts - have received around £1.5m of funding to support a five year research programme (2012 to 2017). Nadine Foster, Professor of Musculoskeletal Health in Primary Care, is based in a national centre of excellence at Keele University, the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre.  Her research programme focuses on testing treatments and new services to help improve clinical outcomes for patients with common musculoskeletal problems such as low back pain, shoulder pain and knee pain. These types of problems are mostly commonly managed in primary care by general practitioners (GPs) and other health professionals such as physiotherapists. Her work will ensure GPs and physiotherapists offer treatments and services that help patients to cope with their problem and reduce pain.

The five year funding from the NIHR is facilitating a programme of top quality randomised controlled trials testing the clinical and cost effectiveness of different treatments for patients with pain problems, such as exercise, support for long-term physical activity behaviour, acupuncture and ultrasound-guided steroid injection. A second strand of Professor Foster's research is testing new services for musculoskeletal pain patients, including self-referral to physiotherapy and a new model of stratified care based on patient's risk of poor outcome that is all about spotting which patients will and won't do well in primary care and matching them to the most appropriate treatment options. The funding also supports other staff to work with Professor Foster to deliver this ambitious programme of work, including NIHR Research Fellow Dr Annette Bishop and two further members of staff who are yet to be appointed.