Dr Barton is a primary care scientist and senior lecturer in the Department of General Practice. He is nationally recognised for his expertise in primary care research methods and ethics and regularly contributes as a methods expert on grant applications from clinician scientists and researchers within and outside of primary care. His current research program is centred around quality in primary care management of complex and chronic illness and focuses specially on management of respiratory illness and smoking cessation in primary care. He leads studies that are creating new and deeper understandings of the patient experience of care in general practice and general practitioner’s experiences delivering this care. He has a long-standing research interest in the emotional and social impact of chronic respiratory illnesses including asthma and COPD amongst primary care patients and individuals living in the community. This research is cited in Australia’s asthma management guidelines and has helped shape the current National Asthma Strategy 2018 and National Strategic Action Plan for Lung Conditions (2019). He is the Deputy Convener of the Primary Care special interest group of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) and was a member of the writing group for a TSANZ position paper on oral corticosteroid stewardship in 2021.

Another major focus of Dr Barton’s academic work is research capacity building for primary care. He has been at the forefront of the nationwide effort to grow research capacity within academic primary care in Australia, publishing on the state of the academic primary care workforce in 2016, delivering workshops and contributing to symposia across multiple years addressing workforce and research skills development. He leads the departments research training program which includes skills development, supervision and mentoring to undergraduate (e.g. honours), postgraduate (e.g. Masters and PhD) and post-doctoral researchers (e.g. academic registrars, post doc research fellows) in general practice. He also oversees the delivery of a research training 'activity package' for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) to GP academic registrars participating in an academic post. This program is the principal national program contributing to research capacity building in primary care in Australia and Dr Barton was awarded the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Industry Education Programs for this work in 2021.

Dr Barton is currently the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine coordinator for the Bachelor of Medical Science Honours program and actively supports the Faculty program as an assessor each year. He is a qualified Education Activity Representative (EAR) for the RACGP and has managed submissions to the RACGP to accredit education activities for CPD points for GPs since 2018. He was treasurer of the Academic Association for Academic Primary Care (AAAPC) from 2019-2021 and a long-standing member of the RACGP research evaluation and ethics committee (2014-2020).