Prime Highlights
- Dr Philip Crilly of Kingston University provided expert evidence to UK Parliament on two Health and Social Care Committee inquiries covering AI in medicine and obesity treatment.
- His doctoral research found 70.7% of participants in a hybrid pharmacy-based weight management program lost more than five percent of their body weight.
Key Facts
- The first inquiry examined how AI and genomics could support personalized medicine within the NHS.
- The second inquiry looked at the UK’s obesity crisis, with 64% of adults in England overweight or obese in 2022.
Background
Dr Philip Crilly, Associate Professor in Pharmacy Practice and Digital Public Health at Kingston University, has built a name for himself as a contributor to UK Parliament’s evidence on healthcare reform.
The registered pharmacist submitted insights to two separate Health and Social Care Committee inquiries, covering personalized medicine and the UK’s growing obesity crisis.
On personalized medicine, Crilly said true progress goes beyond genomics and targeted drug therapies. He said tailoring advice to a patient’s daily routine and personal goals plays an equally important role in delivering effective care.
He pointed to chatbot-style tools that now let patients ask detailed health questions and get guidance suited to their circumstances, a shift in how people interact with the healthcare system.
Even so, he maintained that human clinicians must stay at the center of treatment decisions to protect patient safety.
On obesity, Crilly pointed to the limits of current policies such as the sugar tax, saying they overlook stigma and the psychological side of weight loss. He drew on his own doctoral study, a hybrid pharmacy-based weight program backed by a private online peer support group.
The program achieved standout results, with more than seven in ten participants losing over five percent of their body weight, outperforming traditional clinical programs.
Crilly also found that pharmacies offered a more welcoming, low-barrier environment for marginalized and ethnically diverse groups compared with standard NHS clinical settings.
He called for a national rollout of pharmacy-based weight support services, with priority given to high-need areas, alongside tighter rules on weight-loss drug misuse and online misinformation.
