Professor of Public Health
0113 343 7213
G30, Charles Thackrah Building
Qualifications
MB ChB, University of Wales, 1988
Masters in Public Health, University of Wales, 1994
MA in Philosophy, University of Wales, 1996
MD, University of Wales, 2000
Fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, 2003
Current and Previous Roles
Darren Shickle is Professor in Public Health and Head of Academic Unit of Public Health, in the Institute of Health Sciences at the University of Leeds. He is also an Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust and Honorary Consultant in Public Health Medicine, NHS Leeds.
Until September 2005, he was a Clinical Reader in Public Health Medicine and Deputy Head of the Section of Public Health in the School of Health and Related Research, at the University of Sheffield. Between October 2003 and March 2004 he was seconded as a Senior Medical Officer in the Scientific Developments and Bioethics Division at the Department of Health where he had particular responsibility for end of life issues, consent and international bioethics. As part of that secondment he represented the UK on the Council of Europe CDBI Bioethics Committee. He also chairs research ethics review panels for the European Commission. In 1996/7 Harkness Fellow he was based in the USA based at the Bioethics Institute, Johns Hopkins University, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Current Research Interests
His research interests are:
- Population eye health
- Public health ethics
- Public health genetics
- HIV and sexual health
As part of his current portfolio in population eye research he is analysing data on uptake of NHS funded eye tests to explore health inequalities; conducting qualitative focus groups to explore reasons for poor uptake of eye tests and developing and evaluating a 'not-for-profit' service for testing eyes in 'non-traditional' eye settings' (TENTS project).
He has a strong history of international collaborations with research partners across Europe, United States and Canada. For example, he is currently working on a World Universities Network project with University of Wisconsin, and University of Alberta - Putting New Paradigms into Practice: Transatlantic Lessons in Population Health Improvement. He was co-ordinator of a fifth Framework Programme research project (EuroPHEN) funded by the European Commission on ethical issues in public health. Other recent international research includes GeneBanC where we studied governance issues in relation to genetic biobanks, Challenges of Biomedicine(COB) examining medicalisation/ geneticisation in the context of organ transplantation and genetic testing, Ethical QALY, which considered the ethics of using tools such as QALYs in healthcare prioritisation, and Euroscreen which produced three reports of different ethical aspects of genetic screening.
Current and Recent Research
2011-012, RNIB, RNIB Research Development Support: Population Eye Research in Leeds (PERIL), £40,000
2010-2011, NHS Leeds, Increasing uptake of NHS funded eye examinations, £49,878.
2008-2010, Wakefield Metropolitan District Council and Leeds City Council, Health and Social Care needs of people living with HIV, £30,000
2008-2010, Economic and Social Research Council, Exploring cross-cultural values of ‘informed choice’ in antenatal genetic screening using Q methodology, £398,034
2006-2009, European Commission, Genetic bio and data banking: Confidentiality and protection of data. Towards a European harmonisation and policy, €200,504
2004-2007, MRC, Human embryonic stem (ES) cell resource Centre, £955,315
2004-2005, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Legal Foundations for a National Disease Control and Surveillance Agency in Canada, Canadian $180,000
2003-2006, European Commission, Public policies, law and bioethics: a framework for producing public health policy across the European Union by examining concepts of European and universal ethical standards (EuroPHEN), €1.854,000
2003-2005, NHS Service Development Organisation, The relative importance, both implicit and explicit, attached to cost-effectiveness equity and absolute access by people and organisations providing health services , £306,706
2003-2004, BUPA Foundation, ‘Expert Patient’ and ‘Non-expert Doctor’: Role reversal on the doctor-patient relationship , £82,726
2001- 2005, MRC, The impact of pharmacogenomics on the cost-effectiveness of prescribing in the NHS, £238,699
2001-2003, The Wellcome Trust, Contingent Valuation methodology as an innovative approach to public consultation, £78,736
2001-2001, Department of Health, Option appraisal for National policy development on screening including a review of the National Screening Committee and its relationship to NICE and other organisations, £14,769
Teaching Responsibilities
Teaching students on the University of Leeds MB ChB course and our Masters in Public Health programme.
PhD Supervision
I am interested in population eye health; public health ethics, HIV and sexual health; the public health implications of genetics
Current PhD Students
Esmie Kanja. A study of selected child related policies, services and well being of orphans in Malawi. Co-supervised with Cathy Brennan, Reinhard Huss, John Walley
Victor Joseph. Effects of Telehealth on COPD patients in the community (TELECCOM Study). Co-supervised with Robert West, Justin Keen and Susan Clamp.
Jane West. Explaining differences in birth size and adiposity between Pakistani and white babies. Co-supervised with j Wright, P McKinney, D Lawlor
Professional Activities
He is a member of the UK Royal College of Physicians Ethics in Medicine Committee and is or has been a member of various UK Royal College working groups which have written reports on Research Ethics Committees, Clinical Ethics Committees, and investigation of Sudden Unexplained Infant Death.
He is currently advising various ophthalmology and optometry organisations in relation to public health