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Professor Jackie Cassell

Professor Jackie Cassell (BMBCh, MD, FFPH, BA [Philosophy])

Deputy Dean
E: J.Cassell@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1273 644741
Location: Room 319, Watson Building, University of Brighton Falmer campus, BN1 9PH

DA: Sonia Khan

E: PrimaryCareDA@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1273 644143

Areas of expertise: Electronic patient records; sexually transmitted infections; public health research

Research areas:Infection and immunology; primary care and health services; medical informatics

Other relevant positions: Deputy Dean; Honorary Consultant in Public Health

Biography

Professor Jackie Cassell studied medical sciences and English literature at the University of Cambridge, then completed her medical degree at the University of Oxford. She worked as a junior doctor in North Wales and East London, then took a degree in philosophy at the University of Sussex while working part time as a family planning, sexually transmitted infections, A&E and blood transfusion doctor. Having established an interest in sexual health and infectious diseases, Jackie trained as a specialist in genitourinary medicine (sexually transmitted infections and HIV) and in public health medicine in London. She was very lucky to be appointed as a Wellcome Trust Health Services Research Training fellow for her doctoral studies in the Department of Sexually Transmitted Diseases at University College London, allowing her to do academic training in addition to specialist medical training.

While completing her training in London, Jackie was Chief Investigator for two MRC funded studies in sexual health and electronic health records. She then came to the Brighton and Sussex Medical School during its 4th year, where she took a lead role in teaching research methods across the undergraduate curriculum and developed her research with the two host universities. She was a member of Council at the University of Sussex 2010-2014.

In January 2014 she took on the role of Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange for Brighton and Sussex Medical School, supporting the development of structures and governance for clinical research at BSMS and with its partners, and from 2016-2019 she was also Head of the Department of Primary Care and Public Health.

Research

Jackie is a clinically qualified consultant in Public Health and in Genitourinary Medicine with research interests across these fields. Currently some major funded research commitments include a role as Principal Investigator on the MiCare study exploring quality of care in residential and nursing care settings, Theme Lead for Public Health on the recently funded NIHR Applied Research Collaboration, co-applicant on the NIHR Research Design Service for South East Coast, and co-applicant on the LUSTRUM NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Health Research, which is a sexual health study following on from the previous BALLSEYE programme grant on men's health.

Jackie has published widely in the field of sexually transmitted infections, in particular on primary care and the impact of delayed care on disease transmission. She has led a programme of research in partner notification (contact tracing) for sexually transmitted infections, working with colleagues at University College London (where she has been Visiting Professor) and Public Health England (PHE).

Teaching

Jackie leads the teaching of research methods at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, which provides an early grounding for students and prepares them for their 4th year project in research, audit and/or service improvement. She is an examiner for the Diploma in Genitourinary Medicine, which is taken by doctors specialising in this field and is run by the Society of Apothecaries.

Selected publications

Morrison, E J, Middleton, J, Lanza, S, Cowen, J E, Hewitt, K, Walker, S L, Nicholls, M, Rajan-Iyer, J, Fletcher, J and Cassell, J (2019) Do we know how scabies outbreaks in residential and nursing care homes for the elderly should be managed? A systematic review of interventions using a novel approach to assess evidence quality. Epidemiology & Infection, 147 (e250). ISSN 0950-2688

Stockdale, Jessica, Cassell, Jackie and Ford, Elizabeth (2019) “Giving something back”: a systematic review and ethical enquiry into public views on the use of patient data for research in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Wellcome Open Research, 3 (6). pp. 1-24. ISSN 2398-502X

Sellers, R, Smith, A F, Leve, L D, Nixon, E, Cane, T, Cassell, J A and Harold, G T (2018) Utilising genetically-informed research designs to better understand family processes and child development: implications for adoption and foster-care focused interventions. Adoption and Fostering. ISSN 0308-5759 (Accepted)

Cassell, Jackie A, Middleton, Jo, Nalabanda, Ananth, Lanza, Stefania, Head, Michael G, Bostock, Jennifer, Hewitt, Kirsty, Jones, Christopher Ian, Darley, Charles, Karir, Simran and Walker, Stephen L (2018) Scabies outbreaks in ten care homes for elderly people: a prospective study of clinical features, epidemiology, and treatment outcomes. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 18 (8). pp. 894-902. ISSN 1473-3099

Tanton, Clare, Geary, Rebecca S, Clifton, Soazig, Field, Nigel, Heap, Katie L, Mapp, Fiona, Hughes, Gwenda, Johnson, Anne M, Cassell, Jackie A, Sonnenberg, Pam and Mercer, Catherine H (2018) Sexual health clinic attendance and non-attendance in Britain: findings from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3). Sexually Transmitted Infections, 94 (4). pp. 267-725. ISSN 1368-4973

Edelman, N L, Cassell, J A, Mercer, C H, Bremner, S A, Jones, Chris, Gersten, A and deVisser, R O (2018) Deriving a clinical prediction rule to target sexual healthcare to women attending British General Practices. Preventive Medicine, 112. pp. 185-192. ISSN 0091-7435

Ford, Elizabeth, Greenslade, Nicholas, Paudyal, Priya, Bremner, Stephen, Smith, Helen, Banerjee, Sube, Sadhwani, Shanu, Rooney, Philip, Oliver, Seb and Cassell, Jackie (2018) Predicting dementia from primary care records: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE, 13 (3). e0194735 1-23. ISSN 1932-6203

Kinyanjui, Timothy, Middleton, Jo, Güttel, Stefan, Cassell, Jackie, Ross, Joshua and House, Thomas (2018) Scabies in residential care homes: modelling, inference and interventions for well-connected population sub-units. PLoS Computational Biology, 14 (3). e1006046. ISSN 1553-7358

Bastaki, Hamad, Carter, Jessica, Marston, Louise, Cassell, Jackie and Rait, Greta (2018) Time delays in the diagnosis and treatment of malaria in non-endemic countries: a systematic review. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 21. pp. 21-27. ISSN 1477-8939

Clifton, Soazig, Mercer, Catherine H, Woodhall, Sarah C, Sonnenberg, Pam, Field, Nigel, Lu, Le, Johnson, Anne M and Cassell, Jackie A (2017) Patterns of chlamydia testing in different settings and implications for wider STI diagnosis and care: a probability sample survey of the British population. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 93 (4). pp. 276-283. ISSN 1368-4973.

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