Dr Farhad Peerally

Farhad is an Associate Professor in the Social Science Applied to Healthcare Research Group (SAPPHIRE) at the University of Leicester and a Consultant Gastroenterologist at Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation trust, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group Trust. He spends half of his time as a clinical-academic with research and educational roles at the University of Leicester and the other half as a Gastroenterologist at Kettering General Hospital, looking after patients with a range of gastrointestinal disorders, particularly inflammatory bowel disease and Barrett’s oesophagus.

Farhad has experience in conducting and leading patient safety research, with a particular focus on using qualitative methods to understand how healthcare organisations learn from past adverse patient safety events.

Farhad also holds an active clinical research interest, with experience in endoscopy research in the management of early oesophageal cancer and as principal investigator in clinical trials on inflammatory bowel disease.

Farhad has wide experience in developing novel educational interventions, including simulation-based programmes based on past patient safety incident and using virtual platforms to create a community of Gastroenterology learners. His role as an educator has been recognised nationally as a previous recipient of the of the British Society of Gastroenterologist Alistair McIntyre prize for improving Gastroenterology training. He is currently the lead for the patient safety and applied human factors module on the Masters in Quality and Safety in Healthcare programme at the University of Leicester.

Farhad holds research interests in both patient safety and gastrointestinal conditions, particularly Barrett’s oesophagus and Inflammatory Bowel disease. His research draws from principles in a wide range of fields: systems thinking, human factors, high reliability theory and implementation science, using primarily qualitative or mixed methods.

Farhad is currently leading research investigating how risk controls following patient safety investigations could be improved in healthcare (Health Foundation funded). He is also a co-investigator on an evaluation of the patient safety specialist role in the NHS (THIS institute funded).

Farhad's research on safety investigations in healthcare has obtained national recognition as one of the recipients of the Royal College of Physicians Turner Warwick Lectureship prize, and has been a springboard to publications, invited lectures, advisory roles and national guideline development, thereby influencing both policy and practice.

Farhad is a principal investigator on trials in inflammatory bowel disease at Kettering General Hospital. He is also keen to develop a body of research looking at the quality of care received by patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Farhad was the lead author of an NIHR-funded randomised control trial investigating the safety and efficacy of two endoscopic therapies for patients with early Barrett’s related oesophageal cancer. He holds an ongoing research interest in the management and surveillance of patients with Barrett’s oesophagus, with a particular focus on patients’ experience of care.

Peerally MF, Carr S, Waring J, Martin G, Dixon-Woods M. A content analysis of contributory factors reported in serious incident investigation reports in hospital care. Clinical Medicine 2022;22(5):423-433

Saifuddin A, Kent AJ, Mehta SJ, Hicks LC, Gonzalez HA, Segal JP, Brookes MJ, Subramanian S, Bhala N, Conley TE, Patel KV; PREPARE-IBD Collaborators, Lamb CA, Walker GJ, Kennedy NA, Sebastian S. Treatment adaptations and outcomes of patients experiencing inflammatory bowel disease flares during the early COVID-19 pandemic: the PREPARE-IBD multicentre cohort study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2022 Oct 5. doi: 10.1111/apt.17223. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36196569.

Lin S, Kennedy NA, Saifuddin A, Sandoval DM, Reynolds CJ, Seoane RC, Kottoor SH, Pieper FP, Lin KM, Butler DK, Chanchlani N, Nice R, Chee D, Bewshea C, Janjua M, McDonald TJ, Sebastian S, Alexander JL, Constable L, Lee JC, Murray CD, Hart AL, Irving PM, Jones GR, Kok KB, Lamb CA, Lees CW, Altmann DM, Boyton RJ, Goodhand JR, Powell N, Ahmad T; CLARITY IBD study collaborators. Antibody decay, T cell immunity and breakthrough infections following two SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses in inflammatory bowel disease patients treated with infliximab and vedolizumab. Nat Commun. 2022 Mar 16;13(1):1379. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28517-z. PMID: 35296643; PMCID: PMC8927425.

Peerally MF, Goldie F, Savva S, et alPWE-073 EUS-guided drainage of peripancreatic fluid collections: hot axios experience from a tertiary referral centre. Gut 2019;68:A161.

de Caestecker J, Barr H, Bhandari P, Lovat L, Peerally MF, Ragunath K, Smart H. Randomized studies for Barrett’s ablation: identifying the most cost-effective solutions by keeping an open mind. Gastrointestinal endoscopy. 2020 May 1;91(5):1218-20.Gastrointestinal Endoscopy 91, no. 5 (2020): 1218-1220.

Peerally MF, Bhandari P, Ragunath K, Barr H, Stokes C, Haidry R, Lovat L, Smart H, Harrison R, Smith K, Morris T. Radiofrequency ablation compared with argon plasma coagulation after endoscopic resection of high-grade dysplasia or stage T1 adenocarcinoma in Barrett’s esophagus: a randomized pilot study (BRIDE). Gastrointestinal endoscopy. 2019 Apr 1;89(4):680-9.

Liberati EG, Peerally MF, Dixon-Woods M. Learning from high risk industries may not be straightforward: a qualitative study of the hierarchy of risk controls approach in healthcare. International Journal for Quality in Health Care. 2018 Feb 1;30(1):39-43.

Powell-Dunford N, Brennan PA, Peerally MF, Kapur N, Hynes JM, Hodkinson PD. Mindful application of aviation practices in healthcare. Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. 2017 Dec 1;88(12):1107-16.

Peerally MF, Carr S, Waring J, Dixon-Woods M. The problem with root cause analysis. BMJ Quality and Safety 2017;26(5):417-422.

Aziz I, Peerally MF, Barnes JH, Kandasamy V, Whiteley JC, Partridge D, Vergani P, Cross SS, Green PH, Sanders DS. The clinical and phenotypical assessment of seronegative villous atrophy; a prospective UK centre experience evaluating 200 adult cases over a 15-year period (2000–2015). Gut. 2017 Sep 1;66(9):1563-72.

Peerally, M.F., and Carr.S. (2014) Opportunities in postgraduate medical education via clinical academic training. British journal of hospital medicine 75.3 C34-7.

• Practice of safety investigations in healthcare following adverse events
• Qualitative evaluations of interventions aiming at improving patient safety
• Qualitative explorations of quality and experience of care for patients with inflammatory bowel disease
• Evaluating new models of care in inflammatory bowel disease using qualitative or mixed methods

Farhad is module lead on the Patient Safety and applied Human Factors module for the MSc in Quality and Safety in Healthcare. He is a supervisor to Masters Dissertations at the University. He teaches on the undergraduate medical school programme and act as educational/ clinical supervisors to doctors in training.

• Patient safety incidents in healthcare
• Avoidable harm in healthcare
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• Board member of the Midlands Gastroenterology Society.
• British Society of Gastroenterology Guideline Development Group member for safe sedation in Endoscopy.
• Peer reviewer for a range of medical and healthcare safety journals.

• MBChB (University of Sheffield)
• MRCP (UK) and MRCP (Gastroenterology)
• MmedSci (University of Nottingham)
• PhD (University of Leicester)