Dr James Prior

James gained his undergraduate (BSc Sport Science) and postgraduate (MSc by research) degrees from the University of Central Lancashire in 2003 and 2005 respectively. He subsequently took up a research post at the University of Central Lancashire, investigating a new method of diagnosing osteoarthritis by recording high-frequency sound emitted from the knee joints.

In 2008, James moved into the area of primary care research by joining the Research Institute (RI) for Primary Care and Health Sciences at Keele University, allowing his continued focus into osteoarthritis, but in epidemiological and health services research areas. This post also provided James with the opportunity to undertake a PhD in epidemiology. Upon completion of his PhD in 2013, James moved into a new role of Research Associate on the RI's Inflammatory Condition Programme, focusing on the primary care epidemiology of several conditions, including gout, giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).

Within SAPC, James has several roles as an executive committee member. His principal role is as the communications lead, ensuring that the primary care community can access clear information on what activities SAPC is undertaking to improve academic primary care and updating the SAPC website and social media accounts. James also supports fellow committee members in work around supporting the careers of early academics and working with other stakeholder groups to promote academic primary care to wider fields of the healthcare community, patients and commissioning groups.