The Discovery Programme management structure
The programme is led by Prof Willie Hamilton and Dr Fiona Walter. Each theme and project has its own management structure and coordination between the projects is managed by the senior management Committee and overseen by the programme Steering Committee.
The team includes all the main UK researchers in primary care cancer diagnostics, plus experts in qualitative methodology, health economics and modelling. Six of the team are in active NHS service and this provides a strong practical perspective. There are two consumer representatives to guide the comprehensive patient involvement. Five professors underpin the strong academic representation on the team. There are numerous links to the wider medical community including an NHS lead for cancer services.
An introduction to each of the individual team members is found below
Senior Management Team
The senior management team coordinates the programme and comprises the two senior academic leads, the programme Manager and the SYMPTOM Study Manager: Prof Willie Hamilton; Dr Fiona Walter and Dr Jon Banks.
Programme Steering Committee
This role of this committee is to monitor and supervise the progress of the programme towards its objectives and is made up of all the programme grant applicants, the management team, consumer representatives and an independent chair.
Administration
The administrative hub and Programme Manager are based in the Academic Unit of Primary Health Care at the University of Bristol.
Lead: Dr Jon Banks
NHS Hosting
The Discovery Programme is hosted by Bristol NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (formally NHS Bristol).
NHS Collaboration Lead: Dr Joanne Hartland
Discovery Programme research team
Prof Tony Ades
Tony Ades is Professor of Public Health Science University of Bristol and programme leader on an MRC programme previously funded through the MRC Health Services Research Collaboration, and now continuing at Bristol. The programme is on methods for evidence synthesis in epidemiology and decision modelling. Tony is a member of the Appraisal Committee at the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).
Role in programme: Project lead - Theme 3.2 - Modelling Investigative Pathways; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol BS8 2PS
Tel:
email:
Chantal Balasooriya-Smeekens
Chantal has been a PhD Student at the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge since October 2010. She graduated with a BSc and MSc in Clinical & Health Psychology from Utrecht University and an MSc in Medical Anthropology & Sociology from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Her MSc research was focused on health issues in the Philippines. In the current study, Chantal is using her social scientific and psychological background to explore the patients' perspective in help-seeking for symptoms that could be indicative of cancer.
Role in programme: PhD Student on Theme 1 - The SYMPTOM Study.
Address: Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, Wort's Causeway , Cambridge, CB1 8RN
Tel:
email:
Sue Ballard
Sue is not a professional participant, she is a consumer representative. She lost her husband to pancreatic cancer in 2003 and founded and ran the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK until 2009. She was a full member of the NCRN Consumer Liaison Group and a consumer representative on the NCRI Upper GI Clinical Studies Group until 2010. She now continues her voluntary patient advocacy work with a number of charities and is currently a consumer representative on the NCIN Upper GI Site Specific Clinical Reference Group, the TVCN Upper GI Tumour Site Specific Group and the NICE VTE guidelines development group. Sue has a degree in physics and works full time as a scientific research manager in a government agency.
Role in programme: Sue is a consumer representative for Theme 1 - The SYMPTOM Study and after talking to, and working with, numerous patients and their families, GPs and specialists brings direct experience of the symptoms and problems of diagnosing pancreatic cancer.
Dr Clare Bankhead
Clare is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research work has centred on breast and cervical cancer screening including specific work on the psychological impacts of screening and associated information related experiences and needs. She is a steering group member of the PIMMS, PsyFOCS and Caper-O studies.
Role in programme: Co-investigator - Theme 1 - The Symptom Study; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: Department of Primary Health Care, Rosemary Rue Building, Old Road Campus, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LF
Tel:
email:
Web: http://www.primarycare.ox.ac.uk/
dept_staff/clarebankhead/
Dr Jon Banks
Jon has been a research associate in the Academic Unit of Primary Care since 2002. He started in the unit undertaking qualitative research and over the years has become more involved in research project coordination and management. He has been involved in studies evaluating the supply of over the counter medicines, access to GPs and the organisation of out of hours care. Most recently he was the project coordinator on a trial evaluating the management of childhood obesity in primary and secondary care.
Role in programme: Programme manager; member of senior management committee; member of the programme steering committee; project co-ordinator Theme 3.1 - The Pivot Study
Address: Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol BS8 2PS
Tel:
email:
Web: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/primaryhealthcare/
staff/jonb.htm
Jacqueline Barrett (2010-2014)
Jacqueline is an Associate Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Medical School. She has worked with Professor Hamilton on all the Caper studies looking at the prediction of early diagnosis of colorectal, prostate, lung, ovarian and metastatic cancers. She has co-authored four Pathways to Diagnosis papers on Prostate, Colorectal, Lung & Ovarian cancer. Before joining the Caper unit in 2002 Jacqueline worked as a research Psychologist at Exeter University in developmental, cognitive and experimental psychology. She has also worked at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton for the clinical audit department.
Role in programme: Investigator - Theme 2 - Mapping the Diagnostic Pathways.
Lin Bigwood (2011-2013)
Lin is a qualified Mental Health Nurse and has worked in clinical, managerial and educational roles in the field of mental health for many years. Lin joined the School of Social and Community Medicine in September 2010 as Research Nurse on the PCAAR-H pilot study on antibiotic resistance. Lin worked on the PIVOT Study between 2011-2013 as Research Associate.
Dr Linda Birt (2012-2014)
Linda was a Research Associate in the Primary Care Unit at University of Cambridge. She joined the Symptom Team in April 2012. Linda is an experienced qualitative researcher having worked on a number of studies exploring patients' experience of health interventions. She previously worked with Fiona Walter on the FAST study which validated a family health screening tool used to identify people at increased risk of breast and colorectal cancer. Her secondary research interest developed from her PhD which explored the obligated nature of work for male informal family carers. She is interested in the ways in which chronic illness impacts on people's abilities to engage in occupational activities.
Role in programme: Research Associate, Theme 1 - The Symptom Study
Dr Mousumi Biswas
Mousumi is a research associate in health economics/statistics at the University of Bristol. Before joining Bristol, she worked as a research fellow in the Sarcoma Optimum Follow-up Investigation (SOFI) study at the Cancer Research Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU), University of Birmingham. She also worked as a technical analyst in the Clinical Guidelines Review Programme at the Centre for Clinical Practice, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Mousumi has a master's degree in public health, specialising in health economics and financial management. She also has a degree in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery and worked as a physician in the Department of Health and Family Welfare in India.
Role in programme: Research associate - Theme 3.2 - Modelling Investigative Pathways
Address: School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol BS8 2PS
Tel:
email:
Victor Boulter (2011-2014)
Victor has a degree in banking. After a career of 40 years in banking, finance, insurance, and estate agency, he was diagnosed on retirement with bowel cancer.
He has made a good recovery and now uses his knowledge and experience by volunteering to help health care professionals and researchers in the cancer field. He is involved with Macmillan, Mount Vernon Cancer Network and many subsidiaries as a patient representative / service user.
Role in programme: Victor was a consumer representative for Theme 1 - The SYMPTOM Study.
Dr Peter Brindle
Dr Peter Brindle is the R&D lead for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire PCTs and primary care lead for the Western Comprehensive Local Research Network. He was previously a Wellcome research fellow at the University of Bristol and his research interests are around cardiovascular disease risk prediction and general primary care research.
Role in programme: CCG representative; member of the programme steering committee.
Tel:
Address: Avon Primary Care Research Collaborative, South Plaza, Bristol
email:
Alison Clutterbuck
Alison is not a professional participant, she is a consumer representative. She is a member of the NCRN Consumer Liaison Group and a consumer representative on the NCRI Primary Care Clinical Studies Development Group.
Role in programme: Alison is a member of the programme steering committee and having personally received treatment for cancer brings a relevant consumer perspective to all aspects of the programme.
Christina Dobson (2011-2014)
Christina is a PhD student at the Research and Development Unit, within the School of Medicine and Health at Durham University. She has a BSc (Hons) degree in Medical Anthropology and has recently obtained an MA with distinction in Research Methods in Anthropology, both of which were from the University of Durham.
Role in programme: Research Associate on Theme 1 - The Symptom Study.
Address: Durham University, School of Medicine and Health, Wolfson Research Institute, Queen's Campus, University Boulevard, Stockton on Tees, TS17 6BH
Tel:
Email:
Prof Jon Emery
Jon Emery was the Professor of General Practice and Head of School of Primary, Aboriginal & Rural Health Care (SPARHC) at the University of Western Australia until he moved to the University of Melbourne in 2014. He is a visiting Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the General Practice and Primary Care Research Unit (GPPCRU) within the University of Cambridge in the UK. Jon's particular research interests are cancer diagnosis, complex interventions, genetic medicine and primary care trials. He was previously a Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist at the GPPCRU where he led the GRAIDS Trial and was a collaborator on a validation study of the SIAscope system in primary care. Jon is also a practising GP.
Role in programme: Co-investigator - Theme 1 - The SYMPTOM Study; member of the programme steering committee
email:
Dr Ardiana Gjini
Ardiana is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine, and is the Screening and Immunisation lead for Bath, Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire Area. Ardiana was formally the Public Health Lead for cancer, including the cancer screening programmes, for the Bristol and wider Avon area. After training in medicine, followed by Masters in Public Health, Dr Gjini undertook a PhD in epidemiology and improvement of clinical management, focusing on bacterial meningitis amongst adults. Her main interest is promoting earlier diagnosis of cancer working with the public and health professionals. She is also a Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, involved in research and teaching functions with the School of Social and Community Medicine at the University of Bristol.
Role in programme: NHS collaborator; member of the programme steering committee. Co-Lead Theme 3.3 - Theme 3.3 - C-DAPT (cancer diagnostic pathways improvement project).
email:
Dr Nicky Hall (2010-2014)
Nicky is a Research Associate in the Evaluation Research and Development Unit at Durham University. She has previously undertaken a range of primary care research and evaluation studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Her research interests include health-related beliefs and behaviours, behaviour change and treatment adherence. Her PhD thesis examined the influences on adherence to the gluten-free diet in adult coeliac disease.
Role in programme: Research Associate on Theme 1 - The Symptom Study and Theme 3.3 - C-DAPT (cancer diagnostic pathways improvement project).
Prof William Hamilton
William Hamilton is professor of primary care diagnostics at the University of Exeter. He is also a member of the DH-funded Policy Research Unit for Cancer Screening, Awareness and Early Diagnosis. He is the clinical lead in the NICE revision of its guidance on cancer diagnosis.
Prof Hamilton is head of the CAPER research unit which first trialled and developed key methodologies upon which the Discovery Programme is based. He also works as a GP in Devon.
Role in programme: Leader of the programme; project lead - Theme 2 - The Caper Studies; member of senior management committee; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: College House, St Luke's Campus, Magdalen Road, Exeter EX1 2LU
Tel:
email:
Secretary email:
Tel:
Dr Joanne Hartland
Jo's background is as a sociologist of medicine, specialising in qualitative research. Her research interests are around the issues of skill, 'expertise' and medicine, the extent to which medical work can be undertaken by clever machines, and the issues raised by 'bogus doctors'. She has held research posts at the Universities of Bath and Bristol and at Health Promotion Wales in Cardiff. In recent years she has moved into research management and large scale project and programme management, all in the health arena. She currently works as the R&D programme manager for the NHS Bristol Clinical Commissioning Group under the umbrella of the Avon Primary Care Research collaborative.
Role in programme: Principal NHS collaborator; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: R&D Programme Manager, Avon Primary Care Research Collaborative, South Plaza, Bristol
Tel:
email:
Dr Sandra Hollinghurst
Sandra is a Senior Lecturer in Health Economics specialising in the economics of primary health care. She has been a member of the Academic Unit of Primary Health Care at the University of Bristol since 2003 and during that time has been involved in a wide range of studies. Designs have included a before and after case control study, a prospective cohort study and several randomised controlled trials. A particular focus has been investigating different ways of providing primary health care and clinical areas include childhood infection, back pain, and mental health.
Role in programme: Co-investigator - Theme 3.1 - The Pivot Study; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol, BS8 2PS
Tel:
email:
Web: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/primaryhealthcare/
staff/hollinghursts.html
Margaret Johnson
Margaret has been passionately involved as a patient/carer/lay representative in cancer services and research since 1997, initially with CancerVoices and Macmillan, owing to family experiences, particularly her 12-year-old son (T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) and father (lymphoma). Margaret is involved in research with the NCRI Consumer Liaison Group, CRN Primary Care Research, CRN Children, and locally with the PPI group INsPIRE. Since 2007, Margaret has been involved in PPI with the Primary Care Research Unit, University of Cambridge, in Palliative/End of Life Care and Cancer Early Diagnosis including the following studies: CAPE, MoleMate, FAST and SYMPTOM as part of the Discovery Programme team.
Prof Roger Jones
Roger Jones was the Wolfson Professor of General Practice at King's College London from 1993 to 2010, and now has an emeritus position there. He has extensive experience and expertise in general practice and primary care medicine, health services research and medical education. His major research interest has been in the epidemiology and management of common gastrointestinal disorders in primary care. Roger is President of the Primary Care Society for Gastroenterology and Chairman of the European Society for Primary Care Gastroenterology. He was previously Chairman of the Society for Academic Primary Care, Chairman of the Conference of Academic Organisations in General Practice and Director of the Centre for Caribbean Medicine at King's. He is a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences Council and the Royal College of General Practitioners Council. He has also built up the primary care academic journal Family Practice and is now editor of the British Journal of General Practice.
Role in programme: Chairman of the programme steering committee
Address: Royal College of General Practitioners, 1 Bow Churchyard, London EC4 9DQ
Tel: (direct) or 7400 (switchboard)
email:
Maire Justice
Maire is not a professional participant, she is a consumer representative. She works within her local community actively promoting local awareness of cancer symptons. Maire has undergone a MacMillan training programme on counselling for people diagnosed with cancer and their close associates. She is also an active patient participation member of her doctor's surgery and secretary of the local resident's association. Maire also helps out at the local junior school, assisting children with their reading.
Role in programme: Maire is a member of the programme steering committee and brings personal experience of breast cancer diagnosed and treated five years ago.
Jenny Knowles
Jenny has spent eight years leading the work of the Improvement Foundation on various health related programmes, based in areas of high deprivation with poor health outcomes. The focus has been to involve local people in understanding the issues affecting the health status of their communities with the goal of improving these. Cancer is one of the topics worked on in this way. The earlier presentation of patients into primary care can be improved by better knowledge and awareness of the early signs of cancer, and building new relationships with general practitioners which increases confidence in individuals and the ability to articulate concerns. Thus, the patient pathway into cancer diagnosis, treatment and care, needs to focus in part on the relationship between communities, their knowledge and their primary care services. The work undertaken by the Improvement Foundation in this respect has achieved some notable success in the number of new cancer cases diagnosed through primary care.
The improvement Foundation is no longer operational and Jenny remains involved in the Discovery Programme bringing her experience to strengthen representation of the patient perspective on the studies.
Role in programme: Advise on patient and community engagement and the roles and development of volunteers and members of the general public in strategies related to cancer awareness and education; member of the programme steering committee.
Tel:
email:
John Lancaster
John worked as an engineer for 46 years. His wife of 44 years, Joyce Lancaster, died from pancreatic cancer in 2002, six months after being diagnosed. He has since worked as a cancer patient advocate in the following areas: Chair of Cancer User Group, Broomfield Hospital, Essex; representing patients on Essex Upper GI, London Cancer Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic (HPB) and Anglia Pancreatic Network Cancer Groups, the HPB Clinical Reference Group of NHS England. He has also submitted evidence to inquiries by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Pancreatic Cancer, attended Cancer Research UK Grand Challenge Workshops representing patients and contributed to the pancreatic arm of the SYMPTOM Study.
Tanimola Martins
Tanimola is an Associate Research Fellow at the University of Exeter Medical School. He has a Bachelor�s degree in Medical Rehabilitation and a Master of Public Health. His research work focuses on ethnic inequalities in the pathways to diagnosis of symptomatic cancer.
Role in programme: Investigator, Theme 3.1 - The PIVOTP Study, an extension of the PIVOT study.
Address: College House, University of Exeter Medical School, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU
Tel:
email:
Silvia Mendonca
Silvia is a Research Assistant in the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge. She holds a BSc in Molecular Biology and an MSc in Biostatistics. Prior to joining the unit in Feb 2014 she was working on the development of electronic health records at a rheumatology register in Portugal. Her broad research interests are in the use and data management of electronic health records for medical research.
Role in programme: Research Assistant, Theme 1 - The Symptom Study.
Address: Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, Wort's Causeway , Cambridge, CB1 8RN
Tel:
email:
Dr Katie Mills
Katie is a Research Associate in the Primary Care Unit at The University of Cambridge. Prior to joining the unit in July 2010, Katie undertook a PhD at the Nutrition Research Centre, London South Bank University. Her thesis explored data collected from qualitative and quantitative methodologies investigating patients' perceptions of heartburn symptom presentation and associated diet and lifestyle trigger factors.
Role in programme: Research Associate on Theme 1 - The SYMPTOM Study.
Address: Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, Wort's Causeway , Cambridge, CB1 8RN
Tel:
email:
Dr Helen Morris (2010-2014)
Helen is a Senior Research Associate in the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge. Since joining this Unit in 2002, Helen has been involved with a number of research projects in the fields ofcancer and genetics, including coordination of the GRAIDS Trial and the MoleMate UK Trial. Helen has a background in biochemistry and has experience of working in the biotechnology industry and scientific editing in addition to her research posts.
Role in programme: Manager of Theme 1 - The SYMPTOM Study; member of Senior Management Committee; member of the programme steering committee.
Prof Richard Neal
Richard Neal is an academic general practitioner based in north Wales. He is Clinical Senior Lecturer in General Practice at the North Wales Centre for Primary Care Research, Bangor University. He does clinical work in various practices in Flintshire. His research interests are in the diagnosis and management of cancer in primary care. Richard sits on the NCRI Primary Care Clinical Studies Group, he is a founder member of Cancer and Primary Care International Research Network (CA-PRI), he sits on the DH Lung Cancer Advisory Group and is a member of the NICE Lung Cancer Guideline development group. Richard also works as a volunteer doctor at Glastonbury and completes an occasional triathlon (slowly).
Role in programme: Co-investigator - Theme 2; advisor to Theme 1 - The Symptom Study; member of the programme steering committee.
Address:Professor Richard D Neal MB ChB PhD FRCGP, North Wales Centre for Primary Care Research, College of Health & Behavioural Sciences, Bangor University, Gwenfro Units 4-8, Wrexham Technology Park, Wrexham, LL13 7YP
Tel: (direct) / (office)
email:
Prof Tim Peters
Tim Peters is a medical statistician and trialist with over 20 years' experience of Health Services Research, mostly in primary care (over 250 papers; two co-edited books). He is Professor of Primary Care Health Services Research and Head of the School of Clinical Sciences at the University of Bristol. Tim chairs the MRC/NIHR Methodology Research Programme panel, is an NIHR Senior Investigator and co-edits the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology. His research interests focus on community-based RCTs, especially in mental health and chronic disease, with methodological interests in subgroup analyses and cluster trials.
Role in programme: Contributing methodological and analytical expertise particularly to Theme 2; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: School of Clinical Sciences, University of Bristol, 69 St Michael's Hill, Bristol, BS2 8DZ
Tel:
email:
Sarah Price
Sarah is a PhD student at the University of Exeter Medical School. Her research work focuses on identifying symptom information that is recorded as text by GPs, as this is not available to conventional studies of coded CPRD data. She has a background in scientific, technical and medical publishing, having worked as both a copy-editor and a production manager.
Role in programme: PhD Student.
Address: College House, University of Exeter Medical School, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU
Tel:
email:
Dr Peter Rose
Peter Rose is a partner in a rural general practice in South Oxfordshire, a part time University Lecturer in the Department of Primary Health Care at the University of Oxford and a partner in GP-Update a company providing GP education. His research interests include diagnosis and follow up of cancer, including cancer survivorship, and infectious eye disease. He is the chair of Module 3, Primary Care Physician Beliefs and Behaviours of the International Cancer Benchmarking exercise, a member of the South Central Committee of the Research for Patient Benefit and a member of the Primary Care Clinical Studies Group of the National Cancer Research Initiative.
Role in programme: Co-investigator - Theme 2; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: Department of Primary Health Care, University of Oxford, Rosemary Rue Building, Old Road, Headington, Oxford. OX3 7LF
Tel:
email:
Web: http://www.primarycare.ox.ac.uk/
dept_staff/peterrose/
Prof Greg Rubin
Greg Rubin is a general practitioner and Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at Durham University. His principal research interest is the management of gastrointestinal problems in primary care and at the interface with secondary care, particularly for cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, and he has published extensively on this subject. He leads the development of the National Audit of Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care, on behalf of the Department of Health and Royal College of General Practitioners and is chair of the RCGP Scientific Foundation Board.
Role in programme: Co-investigator - Theme 1 - The Symptom Study; Theme 3.3 - Development of Diagnostic Pathways; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: Durham University, School of Medicine and Health, Wolfson Research Institute, Queen's Campus, University Boulevard, Stockton on Tees, TS17 6BH
Tel:
email:
Secretary: Judith Walsh
Web: http://www.dur.ac.uk/school.health/
staff/?username=hhtd67
Dr Elizabeth Shephard
Elizabeth has a background in developmental neuropsychology research and has worked with children and adults with learning disabilities and genetic disorders and adults with mental health problems. More recent work has focused on illness within primary care, previously working on a RCT looking at the effectiveness of counselling and graded exercise therapy on patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome. She now works in Exeter as part of the Discovery Programme.
Role in programme: Associate Research Fellow working on Theme 2 looking at the bladder, kidney and testes cancer sites.
Address: College House, St Luke's Campus, Magdalen Road, Exeter EX1 2LU
Tel:
email:
Sal Stapley (2010-13)
Sal completed her PhD student at the University of Bristol focussing on the quantification of risk of pancreatic and gastro-oesophageal cancers in symptomatic patients presenting to primary care using data from the GPRD.
She is now a research fellow in the University of Exeter Medical School. She has worked with Prof Hamilton on early diagnosis of cancer since 2002 and her recent research work has centred on GPRD (General Practice Research Database) studies investigating the primary care presentation of headache as a symptom of brain tumour, gynaecological symptoms as a predictor of cervical cancer and symptoms of metastases in colorectal, breast and prostate cancers.
Role in programme: Researcher - Theme 2 - The Caper Study
Address: College House, St Luke's Campus, Magdalen Road, Exeter EX1 2LU
Tel:
email:
Dr Katrina Turner
Katrina is a Senior Lecturer in Primary Health Care at the University of Bristol. She has a wealth of experience in designing and conducting qualitative research studies, and has particular expertise in designing and overseeing qualitative studies nested within large randomised controlled trials. Katrina is currently involved in seven such nested projects. Her research interests include cancer, childhood obesity and depression.
Role in programme: Co-investigator on Theme 3.1 - The Pivot Study; advisor on Theme 1 - The SYMPTOM Study; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: Academic Unit of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol, BS8 2PS
Tel:
email:
Web: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/primaryhealthcare/
staff/turnerk.html
Dr Fiona Walter
Fiona leads the Cancer Prevention & Early Diagnosis group at the Primary Care Unit in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge and has a NIHR Clinician Scientist award. She also works as a GP in a local practice, and has Associate Clinical Professorships Universities of Melbourne and Western Australia. Her research interests include patient experience, cancer diagnosis and genetics in primary care, and qualitative methods. She sits on the NCRI Primary Care and Skin Cancer Clinical Studies Groups and their Screening, Prevention and Early Diagnosis (SPED) group.
Role in programme: Fiona is deputy leader of the programme; member of the Senior Management Team; principal investigator for Theme 1; advisor to themes 2 and 3.1; member of the programme steering committee.
Address: Primary Care Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Strangeways Research Laboratory, Wort's Causeway, Cambridge, CB1 8RN
Tel:
email:
New Discovery Research publication
The SYMPTOM Study team's research into symptom appraisal for colorectal cancer has been published in BMJ Open. This is a unique piece of research which compares the appraisal and help seeking experiences of patients with colorectal cancer symptoms who go on to have cancer and those who turn out to have non-cancer conditions. The research did not identify any clear differences between the two groups but did identify important barriers to presentation around the ‘private nature’ of colorectal symptoms which will prove useful to policy makers and the design of awareness campaigns. To read more about the research paper see the results section here.
Discovery conference slides available & new research publications
The Discovery Programme held its research conference at the Royal College of General Practitioners on June 2nd 2015. The team presented their research findings and outlined the impact of the programme to a wide range of patient groups, clinicians, policy makers, researchers and journalists. The PowerPoint slides used during the presentation have been uploaded to this website and can be viewed here.
There are also 2 new research papers to report. Chantal Balasooriya-Smeekens has published the literature review of her PhD in Psycho-Oncology, "The role of emotions in time to presentation for symptoms suggestive of cancer: a systematic review of quantitative studies". Abstract and publication details are here and further papers from Chantal's PhD will be published soon.
Nafees Din has published a new paper under the Discovery related research umbrella. The paper uses Discovery data drawn from the CAPER (theme 2) studies and considers "Age and Gender Variations in Cancer Diagnostic Intervals in 15 Cancers". Full publication details and abstract can be found here.