Personal profile
Overview
I am an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in the Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research and a general practitioner in Greater Manchester. I am interested in addressing inequities within access to healthcare. I applied a community-based participatory research approach and multiple qualitative methods during my PhD to describe longstanding access problems and critique policy in UK general practice. In subsequent research, we have applied a definiton of access as 'human fit' and an understanding of a paradox of access problems, from my PhD, to develop the OATH (Optimising Access Through Human fit) Resource Set.
Biography
I am from the US and moved to England in 2014 to undertake my PhD. I was a practicing family physician and health services researcher in the US.
I completed both my undergraduate degree in History of Science/History of Medicine and my medical degree at Yale University in 2004 and 2009, respectively. During medical school I was a summer intern at the World Health Organization in Geneva, and undertook clinical, research, and public health experiences in England, the Netherlands, Uganda, and El Salvador.
I completed residency training in family medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in 2012. During residency I was a visiting scholar at the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care. Following residency, I was a fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at Yale, earning a Master of Health Science degree in 2014.
I began my PhD at the University of Manchester in 2014 under the supervision of Kath Checkland, Simon Bailey, and Heather Waterman, and was sponsored by the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Greater Manchester. I established a community-based research team in Tameside and Glossop to partner with on all aspects of the research. The PhD, Understanding Access to General Practice, was a case study to understand issues of access to general practice from multiple perspectives. I completed my PhD in 2020.
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Understanding Access to General Practice, The University of Manchester
Award Date: 10 Sept 2020
Master of Science, Yale University
Award Date: 26 May 2014
Doctor of Medicine, Yale University
Award Date: 25 May 2009
Bachelor of Arts, History of Science/History of Medicine, Yale University
Award Date: 24 May 2004
Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms
- Healthier Futures
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
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SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
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SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Research output
- 11 Article
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Role of receptionists in general practice: under-researched and under-valued
Checkland, K., Bailey, S., Voorhees, J. & Hammond, J., 1 Mar 2025, In: British Journal of General Practice.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Understanding the human fit of access during initial recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study in English general practice
Hammond, J., Goulding, R., Drinkwater, J., Kent, L., Bailey, S., Checkland, K. & Voorhees, J., 15 Oct 2025, In: BMJ Open. 15, 10, p. e095120Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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A paradox of access problems in general practice: a qualitative participatory case study
Voorhees, J., Bailey , S., Waterman, H. & Checkland, K., 25 Jan 2024, In: British Journal of General Practice. 74, 739, e104-e112.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Why the spaces in which we deliver care matter: implications and recommendations for general practice
Kent, L., Goulding, R., Voorhees, J., Hammond, J. & Drinkwater, J., Jul 2024, In: The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners. 74, 744, p. 326-328 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Accessing primary care and the importance of ‘human fit’: a qualitative participatory case study
Voorhees, J., Bailey, S., Waterman, H. & Checkland, K., 1 May 2022, In: British Journal of General Practice. 72, 718, p. E342-E350Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access
Prizes
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Society of Academic Primary Care (SAPC) Doctoral Prize
Voorhees, J. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Thesis
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Understanding Access to General Practice
Voorhees, J. (Author), Checkland, K. (Main Supervisor) & Bailey, S. (Co Supervisor), 22 Jun 2020Student thesis: Phd
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