Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the commonest form of
revascularisation undertaken in the United Kingdom for patients with
coronary artery disease in both the elective and emergency heart
attack setting, with over 80,000 such procedures undertaken annually.
Whilst the long-term mortality outcomes following these procedures are
well described, most data around complications is derived from
randomised controlled trials or registries in lower risk patient
cohorts, that do not reflect multi-morbid elderly patients encountered
routinely in clinical practice. Consequently, there is little data
around the frequency and types of complications in such patient groups
and their outcomes following PCI from the national perspective.

This PhD aims to study real world outcomes and complications of
patients undergoing PCI in the United Kingdom using the British
Cardiovascular intervention (BCIS) dataset that captures every PCI
undertaken in the UK. The project will involve studying changes in
complications over time, their predictors and their associated
outcomes, in specific patient subgroups and will use both BCIS and
linked Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data, and will help inform
optimal PCI practice.

The successful applicant will develop strong computational skills in
either R or Stata and expertise in advanced statistical methods like
mixed-effects modelling, multi-state modelling, and multiple
imputation for missing data.

The successful applicant will be based within the Centre for Health
Informatics (CHI) of the University of Manchester, which is also host
to the Health e-Research Centre (HeRC) and is part of the Farr
Institute. The HeRC is an MRC funded venture across the universities
of Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster and York, aiming to apply advanced
methods to unlock and harness real-world evidence from health data
across Northern England. The Farr Institute for Health Informatics
Research (UoM, UCL, University of Dundee and Swansea University), is
an MRC funded institute which aims to deliver high-quality,
cutting-edge research linking electronic health data with other forms
of research and routinely collected data, as well as build capacity in
health informatics research. The Farr Institute also provides the
physical and electronic infrastructure to support the safe use of
patient and research data for medical research, and enable
partnerships by providing a physical structure to co-locate NHS
organizations, industry, and other UK academic centres.

The successful applicant will be guided by a strong multidisciplinary
team of cardiologists and biostatisticians based in the University of
Manchester (UoM) and Keele University, with an exemplary track record
in the field in high impact factor clinical and methodological
journals. In addition to face to face training by the supervisory
team, they will attend relevant local or national training courses to
further develop statistical and computational skills. They will also
be able to benefit from the impressive infrastructure in health
informatics research that is already in place in the CHI, and from
peer-learning by interacting with a large group of bright PhD
candidates.

Typical career paths for graduates from this research area includes a
statistician in health research or a postdoctoral position in a
medical/statistics/health informatics department.

Applicants should hold (or expect to obtain) a minimum upper-second
honours degree (or equivalent) in a mathematics, statistics or related
subject area. A Masters degree and/or previous research experience
would be beneficial.

This PhD is fully funded by the North Staffordshire Medical Institute
and will cover tuition fees along with an annual stipend (£14, 296).
Due to the nature of the funding, applications are open to UK/EU
nationals only. The project is due to commence September 2016.

Please direct applications in the following format to Dr Matthew
Sperrin, [log in to unmask]:
• Academic CV
• Official academic transcripts
• Contact details for two suitable referees
• A personal statement (750 words maximum) outlining your suitability
for the study, what you hope to achieve from the PhD and your research
experience to date

Deadline for applications is Friday 29 April 2016.

Any enquiries relating to the project and/or suitability should be
directed to Dr Sperrin.

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