Paul Tiffin, Professor of Health Services and Workforce Research, Hull York Medical School and Health Sciences
Paul has extensive experience and expertise in exploiting routinely arising data in order to address important health services issues.
Paul graduated from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne with a medical degree and an intercalated degree in psychopharmacology and was subsequently awarded a Medical Doctorate (MD).
Before coming to York he held a HEFCE Clinical Senior Lecturer Fellowship, hosted at Durham University (2009-2014) where he spent some time as co-director for the Centre for Medical Education Research.
email: paul.tiffin@york.ac.uk
Our 60-second interview with Paul:
What do you do in the field of mental health?
I am focused on two broad aspects of mental health; understanding workforce issues in mental health services, and using data science to squeeze more useful information out of routine and research data.
What do you find most rewarding and inspiring in this work?
At the risk of sounding über-nerdy… I get most pleasure from applying the latest statistical techniques to data in order to make new discoveries…for me maths is a microscope (that reveals individual differences in both clinicians and patients) as well as a telescope (that can make predictions about future outcomes or behaviour). I am also inspired when I hear about mental health teams making a real difference to patients, despite the massive staffing challenges we face in services. I am also constantly moved and inspired by the experiences of service-users. They have often overcome serious mental health issues to rebuild meaningful, fulfilling lives and give back to others.
What is the most challenging or complicated aspect of this work?
I think navigating the labyrinthine bureaucracy that has grown up around NHS research activity, like the thorny thicket surrounding Sleeping Beauty's castle, has always been difficult. It is also challenging to implement research in a health service that is increasingly coming apart at the seams. Managers are now so busy firefighting that research often becomes number #4 on a list of three priorities….
What impact do you hope your work is having- or can potentially have?
My work on selecting medical students has influenced policy - I am proud that there will be some very able doctors from less advantaged backgrounds working in the NHS because of my research. More generally I am working on bringing newer modelling approaches to mental health research, such as ‘targeted learning’. This is a powerful method which fuses machine learning with traditional epidemiological approaches. It means we can get better estimates of the actual causal impact of exposures or treatments from routine or observational data, rather than relying on slow, costly clinical trials. Moreover, I am working to make mental health and workforce research more transparent and reproducible. This is going to be increasingly important as complex machine learning and Artificial Intelligence approaches are applied to the field.
Could you share with us one piece of advice that you follow for your own mental health?
Learn a relaxation technique that works for you - and practise it as often as you can! It doesn't matter if it is a form of mediation or progressive muscular relaxation. People assume relaxation is an innate trait - but it is a trainable skill. There is no money to be made by marketing it and in my experience very few clinicians actually teach it and do it alongside clients. But it’s free. And it works.