Research and teaching to reduce ill health
We carry out research and education at the highest international standards of excellence. Our goals are to:
- identify and target the behaviours that lead to chronic disease;
- improve early detection of disease;
- improve the quality of health services;
- deliver first class teaching to medical students, clinicians, researchers and educators.
We have five research themes: Behaviour and Health, Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes, Cancer, Health Services Research and End of Life Care.
Education and training runs through all our work – for medical students and primary care researchers at every level.
The Primary Care Unit is based within the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, one of Europe’s premier university departments of population health sciences. Professor Jonathan Mant is Head of Unit and our Group leaders are Dr Stephen Barclay, Professor Christi Deaton, Dr Robbie Duschinsky, Professor Simon Griffin, Dr Richard Darnton, Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, Professor Theresa Marteau, Professor Stephen Sutton and Dr Fiona Walter.
The PCU is a member of the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, which is a partnership between eight leading academic centres for primary care research in England.
See more about the NIHR School for Primary Care Research in Cambridge
SAPC South East conference 'Academic Primary Care: Optimising Impact' 23 & 24 Jan 2020
Registration opens soon.
Abstract submissions and workshop proposals will be invited in September 2019.
Patient and public involvement in research
Patients and the public are key to the design and conduct of research within the Primary Care Unit.
See resources for researchers and read our latest blogs about public engagement.
The Primary Care Unit provides teaching to all Cambridge medical students.
We deliver clinical teaching in general practice, and cover professional skills and palliative care.
Primary Care Unit News
Advance care planning significantly improves quality of life for patients with heart failure, concludes the first systematic evaluation of published…
Phd-candidate and physician Rune Aakvik Pedersen at the Primary Care Unit in Trondheim – currently visiting the PCU – has…
New guideline for colorectal cancer screening prioritises informed choice over maximised uptake
A new BMJ Guideline on colorectal cancer screening, prepared by a panel including Dr Juliet Usher-Smith at the Primary Care…