Dr Stephen Spencer

Biography

Stephen Spencer is an intensive care and acute medicine specialist registrar and Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Fellow at the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme. As a medical student at the University of Manchester, he founded an international health research charity in rural and remote areas of Madagascar, where he led and conducted community-based observational research. Prior to his PhD Fellowship, he completed a distance learning MSc in Epidemiology with distinction at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).

Research interests

Stephen’s research focuses on breathlessness, complex care and acute care service design in low-resource settings. During his PhD Fellowship he worked as clinical lead in Malawi on the National Institute for Health and Care Research Multilink study (Multimorbidity-associated emergency hospital admissions; a “screen and link” strategy to improve outcomes for high-risk patients in sub-Saharan Africa) and delivered this multicentre study to time and target. During this time, he also led the Breathlessness in Sub-Saharan Africa study as principal investigator. The study was designed to understand evolving clinical phenotypes and pathophysiology of acute severe illness, with a focus on breathlessness syndromes to develop context-appropriate diagnostic approaches and design integrated care pathways. Stephen also oversees the ultrasound arm of the Building Respiratory support in East Africa Through High flow versus low flow oxygen Evaluation trial in Malawi and collaborates on the African Research Collaboration on Sepsis.

Selected research publications

Perspectives on multimorbidity care provision among public hospital-based healthcare workers in Blantyre and Chiradzulu, Malawi A qualitative study – Journal: PLoS ONE – Published: 2nd April 2026

Acute breathlessness as a cause of hospitalisation in Malawi: A prospective, patient-centred study to evaluate causes and outcomes – Journal: Thorax – Published: 10th September 2025

Interdisciplinary perspectives on multimorbidity in Africa: Developing an expanded conceptual model – Journal: PLOS Global Public Health – Published: 30th July 2024

Multimorbidity-associated emergency hospital admissions: a “screen and link” strategy to improve outcomes for high-risk patients in sub-Saharan Africa: a prospective multicentre cohort study protocol – Journal: NIHR Open Research – Published: 8th May 2024

Causes, outcomes and diagnosis of acute breathlessness hospital admissions in Malawi: protocol for a multicentre prospective cohort study – Journal: Wellcome Open Research – Published: 17th April 2024

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