Professor Robert Walton
Professor of Primary Care
email: r.walton@qmul.ac.uk
Phone: +44 20 7882 2502
Fax: +44 20 7882 2552
Email: r.walton@qmul.ac.uk
PA: Paula Broome
Tel: +44 20 7882 2503
p.s.broome@qmul.ac.uk
Centre for Primary Care and Public Health
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
Postal address:
2 Newark Street
Whitechapel
London E1 2AT
Robert Walton joined the Centre in December 2008 as Professor of Primary Medical Care having spent four years working at the MRC Unit in The Gambia, West Africa where he was Head of Genetics.
Research interests:
Robert’s interests are in the application of new developments in molecular medicine to improve diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses in the community. He is establishing a programme of research using novel genetic diagnostic tests to tailor drug therapy more closely to the metabolic profile of individual patients. In the future this ‘personalised medicine’ may result in more effective treatments with fewer side effects. The initial focus will be on treatment for tobacco dependence. A randomised controlled trial is planned in London, together with larger scale implementation studies in Glasgow and Greater Clyde.
Robert is also working with Adrian Martineau and Chris Griffiths exploring genetic predictors of response to calcitriol in the treatment of tuberculosis and respiratory disease, and with Clive Seale on sociological and organisational aspects of making novel therapeutic interventions available through community pharmacies. Building on the London Emission Zone study with Chris Griffiths, Stephen Bremner, Sandra Eldridge and Jonathan Grigg he will investigate how genetic factors mediate the effects of pollution on lung function in children with the aim of identifying those at high risk of chronic pulmonary disease. Working together with Clive and Stephanie Taylor he will continue Cochrane systematic reviews on effective professional practice, meta analysis of genetic studies on tobacco dependence and systematic overview of all published qualitative studies of pharmacist consultations.