Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Manchester

Honorary Consultant in Emergency Medicine

Chair of the NICE Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee

Theme Lead at the NIHR Healthtec Research Centre in Emergency and Acute Care

Programme Lead and Lead for Innovation and Partnerships at the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre

• Fellowship of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine
• Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• Research Committee, Royal College of Emergency Medicine

My research interest is in the early diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes, particularly with biomarkers. I am internationally renowned for my work with high-sensitivity cardiac troponin. My methodological expertise is in clinical epidemiology (with interests in diagnostics, cohort studies and late phase clinical trials) and analytical modelling (particularly the derivation, validation and implementation of novel technology to support clinical decision making).

• Analytical modelling
• Clinical epidemiology
• Medical decision making
• Diagnostic studies
• Clinical Trials

• Senior Editor, St. Emlyn's Medical Education Blog (www.stemlynsblog.org)
• I offer Research Project options to medical students. My students have achieved some excellent publications and several presentations at national conferences over the past 8 years.
• Research degree supervision. I currently supervise or co-supervise five PhD and two DClinSci students.

I completed my clinical training in Emergency Medicine in Manchester, which included the three-year Critical Care rotation at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.  In 2005 I took up a Doctoral Research Fellowship and I completed my PhD in clinical decision rules to enable early exclusion of acute coronary syndromes in 2009.  In 2010 I took up a post as an NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer at The University of Manchester.  During that time I was Chief Investigator for a prospective cohort study of 477 patients with the aim of externally validating the (subsequently renamed) Manchester Acute Coronary Syndromes decision rule (UKCRN 8376).

In January 2012 I took up a post as Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT). I co-founded and became the Research Director for the Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care Research Group (the EMERGING team) and we developed a large portfolio of both academic and commercial studies. During that time, I also prepared a successful application for an NIHR Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2012-17).

In that fellowship, I was able to take advantage of training opportunities in qualitative research, health economics, and analytical modelling. I led several large studies, which led to the derivaiton and validation of the Troponin-only Manchester Acute Coronary Syndromes (T-MACS) decision aid. This was implemented in practice at MFT in June 2016, and then rolled out across Greater Manchester as a Health Innovation Manchester exemplar project.

During the fellowship, I was also appointed as Professor of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, and I worked as a specialist advisor to NICE on chest pain and high-sensitivity troponin.

In 2017, I was appointed as a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Manchester, and I have worked in that capacity ever since. I continue to work with a broad group of stakeholders - including clinicians from multiple specialties, companies of all sizes, and patients and the public to enhance the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes. 

For five years, I directed the Diagnostics and Technology Accelerator at MFT. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, this led me to instigate and co-lead the COVID-19 National Diagnostic Research and Evaluation (CONDOR) programme, which evaluated rapid tests for COVID-19, including the 'moonshot' evaluation of community lateral flow testing, which was later used for mass population screening.

From 2020, I spent five years as Director of Research and Innovation at MFT, and in 2025 I was appointed as Chair of the NICE Interventional Procedures Advisory Committee.

My current research focuses on point of care troponin testing, both in hospitals and ambulances.

• 2010 FRCEM (Fellowship of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine)
• 2009 PhD, Manchester Metropolitan University: Clinical decision rules for the rapid exclusion of acute coronary syndromes
• 2003 MRCSEd(A&E) (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Emergency Medicine section)
• 2000 MB ChB, University of Manchester