The Department of Social Medicine is a leading centre for research and teaching of epidemiology, public health and health services research. It was awarded the top 5* grade in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. The primary characteristic of research in the Department is that it is collaborative and multi-disciplinary. The Department’s staff are located either in Canynge Hall or Oakfield House.

Within the Department are several major research Centres and Programmes, including the MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology (CAiTE), Directed by Professor George Davey Smith and Deputy Directors Professor Debbie Lawlor and Professor Ian Day; and the premier birth cohort study, ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children).  The NIHR HTA Programme-funded ProtecT (Prostate testing for Cancer and Treatment) study is now the largest evaluation of prostate cancer treatments in the world.  Also in the Department are the MRC ConDuCT (COllaboration and iNnovation in DifficUlt and complex randomised Controlled Trials) methodology hub, directed by Professor Jane Blazeby; and, jointly with Primary Care, the BRTC (Bristol Randomised Trials Collaboration) UKCRC/NCRI-accredited trials unit.  From January 2009, the Department will host (with the Universities of Cardiff and Swansea) the UKCRC DECIPHer (Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement) Centre, led by Professor Rona Campbell.

Undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes provide training and career development for undergraduate medical students, public health trainees, clinicians, and research staff. The postgraduate Short Course Programme is a popular source of intensive short courses in epidemiological and HSR research methods and skills. There are weekly seminars in term-time. For the latest news from the Department, please see here.

Jenny Donovan, Head of Department.