Skip to content

Faculty Member

Frank Sullivan FRSE, FRCP, FRCGP, MCFP

Email Address(es)
frank.sullivan(at)nygh.on.ca
Office Phone
(416) 756-6483
Office Address
North York General Hospital 4001 Leslie Street Toronto, Ontario M2K 1E1
Website(s)
UTOPIAN website
Division(s)/Institute(s)
Clinical Public Health Division
Position
Professor
SGS Status
Full Member
Appointment Status
Status Only

Research Interests

  • * Health Informatics
  • * Clinical Trials

Dr. Sullivan’s research interests lie in mainly health informatics and community based trials, covering the spectrum from record-linkage of electronic health records to decision support to the evaluation of complex interventions.

Education & Training History

1980 Glasgow University, Faculty of Medicine. M.B., Ch.B. (Hons.)

1991 Glasgow University. Ph.D.

1984 M.R.C.G.P. (Distinction)

1996 FRCGP by Assessment

1983 M.R.C.P. (UK)

F.R.C.P. (Glas.) 1994 (Edin)2003

1988 Hlth.Econ.Cert (Aberdeen)

FHEA 2009

Other Affiliations

Gordon F. Cheesbrough Research Chair, North York General Hospital

Director of the University of Toronto Practice based Research Network (UTOPIAN)

Physician Family Medicine Teaching Unit North York General Hospital

Honorary Professor Medical School, University of Dundee, UK

Honours & Awards

RCGP Mackenzie lecturer 2015

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 2011

Australian Primary Health Care keynote lecturer and visiting professor 2009

BMJ Group Research paper of the year 2009

Irish College of General Practitioners Foundation Lecturer 2007

RCGP/MSD Paper of the year 2007

Brunton Memorial Prize as the most distinguished graduate in 1980.

Current Research Projects

2014-2015 The Scottish Health Research Register (SHARE); Grantholders Sullivan F, McKinstry B (Co-PI); Chief Scientist Office, £117,810

2014 What are the barriers and facilitators involved in using an Interactive Client Assessment Survey (iCAS) in Family Practice? Grantholders Sullivan F, Ahmad F, Fung A (PI); NYGH Exploration Fund, $7,320

2014-2017 The National Trial of Tonsillectomy IN Adults (NATTINA): A Clinical and Cost Effectiveness Study; Grantholders Wilson J, Sullivan F (Co-PI), Hussain M et al; HTA, £1.6M

2013-2015 Identifying risk factors for progression to multiple organ failure amongst individuals with acute pancreatitis; an assessment of Scottish healthcare data; Grantholders Sullivan F, Donnan P; GlaxoSmithKline, £113,575

2012-2014 The Scottish Health Research Register (SHARE); Grantholders Sullivan F, McKinstry B (Co-PI); Chief Scientist Office, £391,135

2013-2017 The Scottish eHealth Informatics Research Centre; Grantholders Morris A, Pell J, Ford I, Sullivan F, et al; MRC led consortium including Arthritis Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the Chief Scientist Office, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research and the Wellcome Trust, £5.9M

2012-2013 Making clinical trials more relevant: improving and validating the PRECIS tool for matching trial design decisions to trial purpose; Grantholders Treweek S, Sullivan F, Loudon K, Zwarenstein M; Chief Scientist Office, £36,185

2013-2014 An examination of factors influencing changes in smoking behaviour during lung cancer screening: a comparative qualitative study; Grantholders Young B., Sullivan F, Vadera K; Dundee Cancer Centre, £26,175

2012-2016 Detection in blood of autoantibodies to tumour antigens as a case-finding method in lung cancer using the EarlyCDT-Lung test; Grantholders Sullivan F(PI), Robertson J, Treweek S, Autier P, Sewell H, McCowan C, Fardon T, Robertson C, Mair F, Ritchie L, Vadera K, Kendrick D; Chief Scientist Office and Oncimune, £250K CSO, £720K Oncimmune

2012-2016 REstart or STop Antiplatelets Randomised Trial (RESTART); Grantholders Al-Shahi R, Dennis M, Murray G, Newby D, Sandercock P, Sudlow C, Sullivan F, White P, Whiteley W, Werring D; BHF, £1,081,077

2011-2014 Scottish Medical Education Research Consortium; Grantholders Rees CE, McCowan C, Sullivan F, Guthrie B, Ker J, Cleland J, Morrison J, Dowell J, Mires G; Medical Directorate – Medical Education Research Programme. NHS Education for Scotland, £450,000

2011-2015 The CREAM Study – Children with Eczema, Antibiotic Management study; Grantholders Sullivan FM, Francis NA, Co- Principal Investigators et al; HTA, £1.4M

2010-2015 Developing and Evaluating Communication strategies to support Informed Decisions and practice based on Evidence (DeCIDe); Grantholders Treweek S, Sullivan FM, Guthrie GB et al; EU-FP7, €3M

2010-2014 EHR4CR Electronic Health Records For Research; Grantholders DE Moor G, Sullivan FM et al; EU Innovative Medicines Initiative, €6M

2009-2014 Scottish Cervical Cancer Prevention Programme; Grantholders Cubie H, Cushieri K, Donaghy M, Sullivan F, Cruickshank M et al; CSO, £ 471,310

2008-2014 Scottish linkage in Biobank UK; Grantholders Sullivan F; MRC/Wellcome, £333,000

Representative Publications

Morales DR, Donnan PT, Daly F, Van Staa T, Sullivan F. Impact of clinical trial findings on Bell’s palsy management in general practice in the UK 2001-2012: interrupted time series regression analysis. BMJ Open. 2013.

Grant A, Sullivan F, Dowell J. An ethnographic exploration of influences on prescribing in general practice: why is there variation in prescribing practices? Implementation Science. 8(1):72.

Loudon K, Zwarenstein M, Sullivan F, Donnan P, Treweek S. Making clinical trials more relevant: improving and validating the PRECIS tool for matching trial design decisions to trial purpose. Trials. 2013. 14:115.

Treweek S, Lockhart P, Pitkethly M, Cook JA, Kjeldstrom M, Johansen M, Taskila TK, Sullivan F, Wilson S, Jackson C, jones R, Mitchell ED. Methods to improve recruitment to randomised controlled trials: Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2013.

Mair F, May C, O’Donnell K, Finch T, Sullivan F, Murray E. Factors that promote or inhibit the implementation of e-health systems: an explanatory systematic review. Bull World Health Organ. 2012. 90:357-364.

Sullivan FM, Treweek S, Grant A, Daly F, Nicolson D, McKinstry B, Hanley J, Ure J, Sheikh A. Improving recruitment to clinical trials with a register of a million patients who agree to the use of their clinical records for research in the Scottish Health Research Register (SHARE). Trials. 2011.

Sullivan FM, Swan IRC, Donnan PT, Morrison JMM, Smith BM, McKinstry B, Davenport RJ, Vale LD, Clarkson JE, Hammersley V, Hayavi S, Daly FD. Early treatment with prednisolone or Acyclovir and recovery in Bell’s palsy. New England Journal of Medicine. 2007. 357:1598-607.

Sullivan F, Butler C, Cupples M, Kinmonth AL. Primary care research networks in the United Kingdom. BMJ. 2007. 334:1093-4.

Thiru K, Hassey A, Sullivan F. A systematic review of the scope and quality of Electronic Patient Record (EPR) data in primary care. BMJ. 2003. 326:1070-2.

Mitchell LSullivan F. A descriptive feast but an evaluative famine: systematic review of published articles on primary care computing during 1980-97. BMJ. 2001. 322:279-322.