Christopher Barton Email & Phone Number

Australia

Australia

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

In this role I provide leadership to the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM) and Department of General Practice (DGP) in areas of research training and research capacity building. I coordinate BMedSc Honours in the SPHPM and oversee delivery of an academic preparation and research training 'activity package' for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) to GP Academic Post registrars nationally. This program is now in it's sixth year supporting the development of academic GP registrars. I lead research in lived and patient experience of care that focuses on primary care patients with chronic respiratory illnesses including asthma and COPD. This work encompasses studies of smoking and smoking cessation in primary care and the use of e-cigarettes. I also collaborate on a number of research capacity building initiatives such as the re-vitalisation of MonREN, the Monash University practice based research network, and TROPHI, a partnership with RACGP and Melbourne Uni DGP to develop translational research capacity in Eastern Melbourne.I'm currently Convener for the Primary Care Special Interest Group for the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Notting Hill, Victoria

In this role I provided academic coordination, skills development and mentoring to undergraduate (e.g. honours) and postgraduate (e.g. PhD) research students and our department's Academic Post GP registrars. I oversaw delivery of an academic preparation and research training 'activity package' for the RACGP Academic Post program and worked extensively with RACGP to promote this program nationally. My research had a particular focus on chronic respiratory illnesses and smoking cessation with a focus on emotional and social wellbeing, and experience of care in primary care and community settings. I was an associate editor for BMC Family Practice (2014-2023) and Treasurer and Executive Committee member of the Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care (August 2019-2021). I was a member of the RACGP National Research Evaluation and Ethics Committee (NREEC) from 2013-2020.Key Publications 2017-2023:Barton C, et al. Asthma, atopy and severe psychological distress: prevalence and risk factors among young people in the Melbourne atopy cohort study. Journal of Asthma. 2020. 57(12):1323-1331Blakey J, Chung L, McDonald V, Ruane L, Barton C, et al. Oral corticosteroids stewardship for asthma in adults and adolescents: a position paper from the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand. Respirology. 2021; 1-19Madawala, S, Osadnik C, Warren N, Kasiviswanathan K, Barton C. Health care experiences of adults with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) across health care settings: a meta-ethnography. Eur Resp Journal Open Research. 2023. 9(2)Perera B, Barton C, Osadnik C. General practice management of COPD patients following acute exacerbations: a qualitative study. BJGP. 2023. 73(728): 186-195 Selamoglu M, Erbas B, Kasiviswanathan K, Barton C. General practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices surrounding the prescription of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation: a mixed-methods systematic review. BMC Pubic Health. 2022

In this role I provided leadership in research skills and researcher training in the School of Health Sciences at Flinders University. As Chair: Research Higher Degrees from 2014-2015 I established the Schools research higher degrees program. I completed a major overhaul of the BHS honours program and continued to teach quantitative methods in the BHS degree. My own program of research focused on observational studies to understand the impact respiratory illnesses like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had on the social function and emotional well-being of people in the community and primary care populations. I was actively involved in my professional communities as a Section Editor for BMC Public Health and an Associate Editor for BMC Family Practice. I sat on the National Research Evaluation and Ethics committee of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and peer reviewed scholarly articles for national and international medical journals and contributed grant reviews to organisations including asthma foundations in the UK and Australia and was a panel member for NHMRC postgraduate scholarship selection.Key Publications:- Stanners M, Barton C, Shakib S, Winefield H. Depression diagnosis and treatment amongst multimorbid patients: a qualitative exploratory study. BMC Family Practice 2014. 15:124. - Barton C, Effing T, Cafarella P. Social support and social networks in COPD: A scoping review. Journal of COPD 2015: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/15412555.2015.1008691- Barton C, Tam M, Abbott P, Liaw ST. Ethical considerations in recruiting primary care patients to research studies. Australian Family Physician, 2016. 45(3): 144-148.- Sloots JM, Barton CA, Buckman J, Bassett KL, van der Palene J, Frith PA, Effing TE. The predictive value of an adjusted COPD Assessment Test (CAT) score on the risk of respiratory related hospitalisations in severe COPD patients. Chronic Respiratory Disease, 2017. 14(1): 72-84

In this role I developed and then coordinated the topic Quantitative Methods for Social Health Research and taught into the related Qualitative Methods topic. Both topics were capstone topics in the Bachelor of Health Science at Flinders University. Between 2011 and 2013 I published 14 papers and was invited to take part in the Oxford Primary Care Research Leadership program (Cohort 7: 2012-2014). My research focused on issues in the social epidemiology of chronic illness, quality of chronic illness care in primary care, and the lived experience of chronic illness with a focus on these issues for people in the community living with asthma, COPD and multiple chronic illnesses. I was actively involved in my professional communities and regularly peer reviewed scholarly articles for national and international medical journals and contributed grant reviews to organisations including asthma foundations in the UK and Australia. As part of the Public Health Association of Australia SA Branch Executive committee I was involved in the organisation of our annual mentoring program and population health conference.Key Publications 2011-2013:- Ramos S and Barton C. On the journey with the dying: How general practitioners experience the death of their patients. Death Studies. 2011; 35(9): 824-851- Stanners M and Barton C. Chapter 26: Depression in the Context of Chronic and Multiple Chronic Illnesses In Victor Olisah Ed. Essential Notes in Psychiatry. In Tech Open Access Publishers, Rijeka, Croatia. 2012.- Cafarella P, Effing T, Barton C, Ahmed D, Frith P. Management of depression and anxiety in COPD. European Respiratory Society Monograph, 2013, 59:144-163.

In this role I was employed to develop and run a qualitative study to provide supplemental and explanatory data to an RCT to determine the efficacy of the Flinders Model of Chronic Condition Self Management for older, community dwelling people with multiple chronic conditions.Key Publications:Masters S, Oliver-Baxter J, Barton C, Summers M, Howard S, Roeger L, Reed R. Programs to support chronic disease self-management in participants with multi-morbidity: should we be concerned about the impact on spouses? Health and Social Care in the Community, 2013. 21(3):315–326.Reed R, Barton C, Isherwood L, Oliver Baxter J, Roeger L. Recruitment for a Clinical Trial of Chronic Disease Self-management for Older Adults with Multimorbidity: A Successful Approach within General Practice. BMC Family Practice. 14:125 doi:10.1186/1471-2296-14-125

Working on the Deployment Health Surveillance Program, an initiative of the Australian Department of Defence to establish a health surveillance program for overseas deployed military personnel.Key Publications:Barton C, Treloar S, Dobson A, McClintock C, McFarlane AC. The Deployment Health Surveillance Program: Vision and challenges of health surveillance for Australian military cohorts. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 2008; 32(6): 529-34.McFarlane A, Ellis N, Barton C, Browne D, Van Hooff M. The conundrum of medically unexplained symptoms: questions to consider. Psychosomatics; 2008; 49(5): 369-377.McFarlane AC, Williamson P, and Barton C. The impact of traumatic stressors in civilian occupational settings. Journal of Public Health Policy. 2009; 30:311-327.Barton C, McGuire A, Waller M, Treloar S, McClintock C, McFarlane AC, D’Este C. Smoking prevalence, its determinants and short term health implications in the Australian Defence Force. Military Medicine 2010; 175(4): 267-272.

Post Doctoral Research training in Primary Health Care. This position was funded from a competitive research fellowship offered by Lubims Pty Ltd (now Unicare). My research focussed on management of asthma and other complex chronic illnesses in general practice. My paper on management of asthma in general practice is cited in the Australian National Asthma Strategy 2018. Key Publications:Barton C, Proudfoot J, Amoroso C, Ramsay E, Holton C, Bubner T, Powell-Davies G, Harris M, and Beilby J. Management of asthma in Australian General Practice: Care is still not in line with clinical practice guidelines. Primary Care Respiratory Journal 2009; 18(2):100-105.Jayasinghe UW, Proudfoot J, Barton C, Amoroso C, Holton C, Powell-Davies G, Beilby J, Harris MF. Quality of life of Australian chronically-ill adults: patient and practice characteristics matter. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. 2009; 7:50. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-7-50.Rogers G, Barton C, Pekarsky B, Lawless A, Oddy J, Hepworth R, and Beilby J. Caring for a marginalised community: the costs of engaging with culture and complexity. Medical Journal of Australia 2005; November Supplement: S59-S63.Liaw ST, Sulaiman N, Barton C, Chondros P, Harris C, Sawyer S, Dharmage S. An interactive workshop plus locally adapted guidelines can improve asthma knowledge and management. BMC Family Practice. 2008; 9:22. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-9-22.Chugg K, Barton C, Antic R, Crockett A. Impact of Alexithymia on Asthma Patient Self-Management and Communication with Health Care Providers. J Asthma. 2009 46(2):126-9.

Phd, Epidemiology

Supported by a NHMRC Public Health scholarship my doctoral research comprised a series of inter-related studies investigating the impact.

Master Of Medical Science, Psychoneuroendocrinology

Bachelor Of Science, Psychology, Physiology