Stewart Mercer (FRCGP, FRCPE, FFPHM, FRSE)
Professor of Primary Care and Multimorbidity
- Usher Institute
- College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Usher Institute
Usher Building, The University of Edinburgh
5-7 Little France Road
Edinburgh BioQuarter - Gate 3 - City
- EDINBURGH
- Post code
- EH16 4UX
Background
Stewart is Professor of Primary Care and Multimorbidity at the University of Edinburgh, and a General Practitioner. He entered medicine as a mature student at Bristol University after an early career in basic science including PhD studies at Cambridge University, and post-doctoral research at Oxford University. After qualifying as a GP in 1997, he gained a series of CSO Fellowships to develop research skills in primary care. He was Professor of Primary Care Research at Glasgow University (2008-2018) before joining the Usher Institute in January 2019.
Stewart is Adjunct Professor of Primary Care Research at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (since 2008) and Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester (since 2019). He was a Visiting Professor at McMasters University in 2018 and the University of Melbourne in 2012. He was the Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care (a collaboration between nine Scottish Universities active in primary care research and teaching) from 2014-2020.
Responsibilities & affiliations
Stewart is Deputy Director of the Advanced Care Research Centre and leads the New Models of Care work package. From 2020-2023 he was also the Deputy Director of the ACRC Academy
Research summary
Stewart is recognised internationally for his research on inequalities in health and in the provision of healthcare (the ’inverse care law’), the needs of patients with complex problems, and how health and social care systems need to adapt and respond to ageing population and widening health inequalities. He is committed to interdisciplinary research that includes deprived and under-served communities. His expertise includes complex intervention design and evaluation, cluster randomised controlled trials, and mixed-methods evaluation of new models of care. His research informs practice and policy. As Director of the Scottish School of Primary care he led the ‘National Evaluation of New Models of Primary Care in Scotland’, a £30 million investment by the Scottish Government in testing new ways of working prior to the introduction of the new GP contract in Scotland. He currently leads an independent evaluation (2020-2024) of the new GP contract in Scotland since its inception in 2018.