Editor Profiles

Maria is an Editor for the BMC Series, and has been the Editor of BMC Family Practice since April 2019.

As an undergraduate student, Maria studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She moved on to completed an MSc in Molecular Medicine at the University of East Anglia, UK, where she stayed to obtain a PhD in Biomolecular Science. During her PhD studies, Maria investigated the structural and biochemical properties of periplasmic chaperones in Salmonella in response to envelope stress. It was then that Maria learned she had a greater interest in scientific writing and science communication than in the laboratory practises, and so following the completion of her PhD she joined the Editorial team of the BMC Series in October 2017.  

Clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management

Attila Altiner is Professor and Head of the Department of General Practice at the University of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany.

His main research interests are medical decision-making, patient empowerment, and the design and implementation of educational interventions to improve the quality of care. Within his research he employs equally qualitative as wells as quantitative approaches.  Beside research and teaching at Rostock University Medical School he sees patients twice a week.

“BMC Family Practice offers a unique possibility for the international readership to get in touch with present-day, state of the art research in family medicine. Without the limitations of a conventional journal we can cover the full spectrum of research topics and applied methodology in family medicine. We think that BMC Family Practice plays an important part for the future development of family medicine at local to global level.”

Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, education, and communication

Chris Burton is a GP and Professor of Primary Medical Care at the University of Sheffield. His main research and clinical interest is around persistent (“medically unexplained”) physical symptoms but his work extends to broader issues around the intersection of physical and mental health and the processes of diagnosis and reassurance.  His research involves evidence synthesis, analysis of routine healthcare data and the development and evaluation of interventions.

Other research interests include the analysis and interpretation of data, the nature of resilience in patients and professionals and the application of complexity science to illness and healthcare. He is head of the Academic Unit of Primary Medical Care at the University, and a member of the Health Services Research group within the School of Health and Related Research.

Chris became a Section Editor for BMC Family Practice in 2017, after 4 years as an Associate Editor.

Knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, education, and communication

I am a GP Principal in Central Manchester, Professor of General Practice Research at Keele University, Honorary Professor of Primary Care Mental Health at Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust and Honorary Professor of Primary Care, University of Manchester.

My main areas of interest and expertise include the primary care management of people with anxiety and depression, multimorbidity, and unexplained symptoms. I have qualitative research methods expertise, drawing on theories from social sciences and psychology, but always with a focus on clinical practice – trying to answer questions that are important to patients, their families, health care professionals and the NHS.

I am vice-Chair, Society Academic Primary Care (SAPC), becoming Chair in July 2019.

I am Chair of Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Scientific Foundation Board and RCGP ‘Curriculum Advisor, Mental Health’. I currently chair the RCGP ‘Research Paper of the Year’ panel.

I am currently a member of the NICE Clinical Guideline Development Group Depression (update) - work which directly impacts on commissioning decisions and patient care. I am Section Editor BMC Family Practice and Editor-in-Chief Health Expectations.

Clinical presentation, diagnosis, and management

Prof. Norbert Donner-Banzhoff, MD, MHSc is Professor of General Practice at the University of Marburg (Germany). He received his basic medical training at Technical University of Aachen (Germany) and teaching hospitals in Swansea, Cardiff and London (UK) and served as a Visiting Professor at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada).

He has served more than 10 years as board member of the German Society for General Practice/Family Medicine (DEGAM) and the Evidence-based Medicine Network. In 2016, he was appointed member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the German Innovation Fund for Health Services Research.

His research interests include clinical diagnosis, including cognitive processes, occurrence and avoidance of error, management and diagnosis of coronary heart disease and research designs. He is co-developer of computer-based decision aids for primary care (“arriba”) for which he has obtained the most important national awards. He has authored books on interventional health services research and professional learning and development. More generally, he is interested in understanding health care from a sociological, ethnological, historical and philosophical perspective.

He joined the BMC Family Practice team as Section Editor in 2014.

Service organization, utilization, and delivery of care

Mark is foundation Professor of General Practice, Executive Director of the Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity and Scientia Professor at the University of New South Wales.

His main research areas are on chronic illness prevention and management in primary health care and health equity. He has completed multisite trials of teamwork between general practice and allied health providers in the management of patients with chronic disease, an evaluation of self-management support for patients with chronic disease referred from primary health care services, an implementation trial of structured behavioural risk factor interventions, two large cluster randomised controlled trials of cardiovascular absolute risk assessment  and vascular disease prevention in general practice and a trial of implementation of guidelines for preventive care of patients with vascular risk factors in general practice.  He recently completed a study of obesity management for patients with low health literacy in general practice and is currently undertaking a trial of obesity management using m- and telehealth for patients with low health literacy in primary health care.  He has also led and been involved in research on refugee and indigenous health in general practice including a cohort study of Aboriginal children and access to primary health care for refugees and asylum seekers.  He has edited three editions of the Australian Guidelines for Preventive Care in General Practice and two editions of the SNAP guide (for lifestyle interventions in general practice).  He has over 340 publications which have been cited over 3500 times.

Service organization, utilization, and delivery of care

Cindy Lo-Kuen Lam, JP, MBBS (HK), MD (HK), FHKAM (Family Medicine), FRCGP, Specialist in Family Medicine.  Cindy is currently Danny D. B. Ho Professor in Family Medicine and Head of the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care of the University of Hong Kong.  She is Co-Chair of the Grant Review Board of the Health and Medical Research Fund of the Food and Health Bureau, Government of Hong Kong SAR and Chief Censor of the Hong Kong College of Family Physicians.  She served as an Associate Editor of BMC Family Practice from 2001 to 2015 and became a Section Editor in 2015.  She also serves on the Editorial Board of several other journals including BMC Medical Education and Family Practice (OUP).  Her main research interests are health-related quality of life, primary care health services and mental health. She has published more than 280 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 book chapters.

Epidemiology and research methodology in primary care

Christos Lionis graduated from Athens University Medical School in 1979. He is currently Professor of General Practice and Primary Health Care and Director of the Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Crete. He is also Dean of Education at the School of Medicine, University of Crete. Cardiovascular and mental health focusing on behaviour change are Christos’ principal interests. He is an Executive Board member of several networks including among others: the European Primary Care Cardiology Society, the WONCA Working Party on Research, the WONCA Working Party on Mental Health, the International Federation of Practice-based Research Networks and the European Society of Cardiology. He has been awarded with an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of General Practitioners, London (2009) and from WONCA (2016). Christos and the Clinic of Social and Family Medicine have over 320 Medline indexed publications. Christos joined the BMC Family Practice Editorial Board in 2013.