Patient-reported outcome assessment in inflammatory disease

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly used in clinical trials to provide the patient perspective on physical, functional and psychological consequences of treatment and the degree and impact of disease symptoms. These data can be used to inform shared decision-making, health economic evaluation and technology assessment, labelling claims, prognostic models, healthcare policy and commissioning.

The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) focusses on three key clinical areas: inflammatory arthritis, inflammatory gastroenterology and inflammatory sarcopenia. Within the BRC, cross-cutting PROs research aims to optimise the assessment of PROS within early phase trials and the broader research programme.


The over-arching objective is to promote high quality PRO data collection within the NIHR Birmingham BRC and to use these data to assess the relationship between PROs and other key clinical outcomes including –omics data and biomarkers.

The key aims of the proposed studentships are to:
• Identify appropriate PROs to recommend for use in BRC inflammatory disease studies through review of psychometric properties and with stakeholder input.
• Review existing literature on relationship between PROs and clinical variables.
• To use an existing Rheumatoid Arthritis database to undertake a longitudinal investigation of symptom trajectories in individuals with clinically suspect arthralgia and assess the relationship between PRO data and clinical outcomes.
• Establish methods for future PRO data collection for integration with -omic data for use in prognostic models.


The candidate will be based within the Centre for Patient Reported Outcome Research (CPROR) which aims to optimize the use of PROs in clinical trials and routine care, to improve service delivery, enhance patient care and outcomes and ensure that the patient perspective is at the heart of health research and NHS decision-making.

CPROR aims are to promote the efficient integration of PROs in the NHS, by: i) building capacity for applied and methodological PROs research to evaluate PROs use in routine care and as part of ‘big-data’ ii)Supporting clinicians, trials units, ethics committees, funders, regulators and policy makers to ensure high quality, ethical, efficient PRO data collection. iii) Providing education, training and support for optimal use and integration of PROs in clinical trials and routine care; iv) Working in partnership with patients and the public, clinicians and policy makers to ensure PRO data collected in routine care and trials meets their needs; v) Build on existing international collaborations with clinicians, funding bodies, regulatory agencies, methodologists and industry.


Person Specification

Applicants should have a first degree in a relevant discipline such as statistics. They should have a high level analytical capability. Knowledge of patient reported outcomes highly desirable.

How to apply
Applications should be directed to [Email Address Removed]

To apply, please send:
• A Detailed CV, including your nationality and country of birth;
• Names and addresses of two referees;
• A covering letter highlighting your research experience/capabilities;
• Copies of your degree transcripts;
• Evidence of your proficiency in the English language, if applicable.

Applicants will be required to attend an interview 4th July. This can be conducted face –to –face, or by video conference