Professor Peter T. Donnan

Prof Peter T. DonnanProfessor Peter T. Donnan
BA, BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, FRSS

Peter Donnan is a Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Dundee. He leads the Dundee Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit (DEBU) in the Medical School Division of Clinical & Population Sciences, and Education. He is also co-director of Tayside Clinical Trials Unit which has recently achieved UKCRC registration. He has 20 years experience in the design and analysis of Health Services Research including randomised controlled trials of drugs (most recently steroids in Bell's Palsy, NEJM, 2007) as well public health interventions (screening for breast cancer, Lancet, 1990). He has also carried out extensive research on drug safety using Tayside's prescribing database and is the author of over 100 publications (h-index 26), as well as an investigator on research projects to a total of over £11 million. He has developed a number of prognostic algorithms, most notably predicting Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) in people with type 2 diabetes (Diabetes Care, 2006), and Chief Scientist Office funded algorithm to predict risk of emergency admissions in primary care with a view to developing cost-effective interventions for long term conditions (Archives Internal Medicine, 2008). This algorithm (PEONY) has now been adopted by NHS Tayside to identify people at high risk of emergency admissions. A recent HTA-funded study seeks to develop aids to clinical decision making with liver function tests in primary care. In 2004, Prof. Donnan was invited to become a member of the New Drugs Committee of the Scottish Medicines Consortium which seeks to advise Area and Drug Therapeutics Committees across Scotland regarding the cost-effectiveness of new drugs.

Publications

Selected Recent Journal Articles