Bob is a Professor in Paediatric Oncology at Hull York Medical School and the Centre for Research and Dissemination at the University of York, and an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric / Teenage-Young Adult Oncology at Leeds Children's Hospital.
Bob's main areas of work are in the development of individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis, supportive care management, and the development of skills in appraisal and translation of clinical research in practice. He is the lead of the PICNICC collaboration, “Predicting Infectious ComplicatioNs In Children with Cancer” which was formed by engaging international clinical and methodological experts, parent representatives and healthcare researchers to investigate primarily the patterns of risk in febrile neutropenia. The PICNICC collaboration consists of 22 different study groups from 15 countries and is actively engaged in involving new members from around the world to further develop its aims. This work develops the CRD research themes of methodological improvement in IPD meta-analysis and in improving outcomes in cancer medicine, and capacity building and translation of research in the NHS.
Bob has worked extensively to promote and teach evidence-based practice with the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine in Oxford, UK, and also the Centre for Evidence-based Child Health (Institute of Child Health, London, UK). He edits the evidence-based practice sections of the Archives of Diseases in Childhood, and is an associate editor of the journal. He has lectured in the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and the Nordic Countries on the subject of evidence-based practice, and has written widely on this.
Bob was the Clinical Lead for the NICE Guideline (CG151) on the management of neutropenic sepsis. In addition to the work in febrile neutropenia, he has undertaken many systematic reviews assessing the quality of evidence underlying interventions to ameliorate the side-effects of cancer treatments in childhood and is actively involved with developing and implementing high-quality clinical practice guidelines with the IPOG group. This includes Cochrane systematic reviews of the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, the treatment of constipation, nutritional support, and risk stratification in nephropathy. He works with the Cochrane Child Health field, the PRISMA-IPD group, and the Martin House Research Centre which encourages the development of high-quality health research with children and young people with life-limiting conditions.