Prof Michael Almond

Prof Mike Almond QVRM AE MRAeS DM FRCP DL VR has a clinical research background, with over 100 peer reviewed publications. He is an ex-RAF Reservist with involvement in the veteran community and a specific interest in the health and wellbeing of the Armed Forces and Veterans and their Families.

[email protected]
Follow Mike on Twitter @ProfMikeAlmond

Background

Mike was appointed Professor of Veterans & Families Studies at ARU in 2018, initially supporting the Veterans & Families Research Centre Hub.  The VFR Hub was designed to translate the findings of recent research into plain language and give insights that could be applied practically and understood by organisations that support veterans and their families. He subsequently became the Armed Forces Engagement Lead for the University.

Away from ARU, Mike sits on the Essex County Council Civilian Military Partnership Board, and chairs the Essex Reserve Forces and Cadets County Forum.

Mike was a Reservist from 1977 - 2021. His most recent deployment in 2018 was to South Sudan, supporting the United Nations’ Mission there. His last position in the RAF was as SO1 Med Reserves, which was designed to support the policy, manning and deployment of the RAF Reserves medical component.

Research interests

• Better informed public: Armed Forces community, politicians, policy makers and media
• The underpinning of relevant policy and services provision by research
• A stronger and more coherent network of academic partners
• Improved networking and knowledge sharing among participants
• A more coherent understanding of research coverage and gaps
• Recognition of excellence in research

Areas of research supervision

• Mike will consider supervising students interested in any of his areas of interest (see above).

Qualifications

• BMedSci
• BM
• BS
• DM
• FRCP

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• NIH RfPB, £150,000, 2015. A Randomised Controlled Trial of Anakinra vs. Steroids for Gout Attacks in patients with Renal Disease (ASGARD): a feasibility study (NIHR Portfolio study).
• Mobile Military Families: Impact on Health Care. NHS England sponsored £100,000

Selected recent publications

Bradley, S. and Almond, M. (2022) Duty and Care: Armed Forces Family Mobility and Health Care Report. Report, Feb 2022. Available at: https://nff.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Duty_and_Care.pdf

Almond M. (2021) 'Suicide among Scottish military veterans', Occupational & Environmental Medicine, oemed-2021-108026. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2021-108026

Fleuty, K., Cooper, A. and Almond, M. K. (2021) 'Armed Forces and Veteran Housing Policies: The United Kingdom 2021 Vision', Journal of Veterans Studies, 7(1), pp. 232-240. Available at: https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v7i1.242

Cable, G., Cathcart, D. and Almond, M. K. (2021) 'The case for veteran-friendly higher education in Canada and the United Kingdom', Journal of Veterans Studies, 7(1), pp. 46-54. Available at: https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v7i1.225

Petrova, M., Caddick, N. and Almond, M. K. (2021) 'Palliative and end-of-life care for military veterans: the forgotten few?', British Journal of General Practice, 71(703), pp. 86-89. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp21X714869. PMID: 33509828; PMCID: PMC7846368

Fleuty, K. and Almond, M. K. (2020) 'Remote Access Therapy for Veterans With Psychological Problems: Current State of the Art', Military Medicine, 185(7-8), e1046-e1050. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usaa020. PMID: 32060551

Dagens, A. B., Mckinnon, J., Simpson R., Calvert, C., Keast T., Hart, N. and Almond, M. (2020) 'Trans-Atlantic aeromedical repatriation of multiple COVID-19 patients: a hybrid military-civilian model', BMJ Military Health, bmjmilitary-2020-001565. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjmilitary-2020-001565. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33361440.

Almond, L. A. and Almond, M. K. (2021) 'Professor Hugh MacLean: One of the first British research nephrologists and the pioneer of the first United Kingdom veterans' renal clinic', Journal of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, 51(1), pp. 98-103. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4997/JRCPE.2021.124

Sridharan, S., Vilar, E., Davenport, A., Ashman, N., Almond, M., Banerjee, A., Roberts, J. and Farrington, K. (2018) 'Indexing dialysis dose for gender, body size and physical activity: Impact on survival', PLoS One, 13(9), e0203075. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203075. eCollection 2018.

Harnett, P., Jones, M., Almond, M., Ballasubramaniam, G. and Kunnath, V. (2018) 'A virtual clinic to improve long-term outcomes in chronic kidney disease', Clinical Medicine (London), 18(5), pp. 356-363. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.18-5-356

Posselt, B. N., Greenhalgh, A. M. and Almond, M. K. (2018) '100 years of the Royal Air Force's contribution to medicine: providing care in the air and delivering care by air', Clinical Medicine (Lond), 18(4), pp. 297-300. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7861/clinmedicine.18-4-297

Media experience

• NHS England Employers Armed Forces Meeting March 2021