Cancer

An open, collaborative, and multidisciplinary group working with clinicians, researchers, and patients to improve pathways to cancer diagnosis.

A major focus of the group is building interdisciplinary teams to deliver projects to improve cancer control in primary care with impact and direct patient benefit.

To do this the cancer research theme works closely with patients, primary care professionals, cancer charities, researchers from other disciplines and institutions, NHS commissioners, diagnostics services and companies, and cancer care in the hospital setting.

Example partnerships include the CRUK Test Evidence Transition programme, Oxford Cancer, the Oxford CRUK Clinical Trials Unit Collaboration, the NIIHR HealthTech Research Centre, and the NIHR Policy Research Unit for Cancer Awareness Screening and Early Diagnosis.

Our work is informed and underpinned by our standing group of valued Patient and Public contributors and our active and ongoing programme of Community Engagement.

This multidisciplinary and collaborative approach enables the team to use the most appropriate research methodologies to address pressing research questions that have arisen out of direct clinical care.

Our work is organised into four themes: health records data, clinical studies, implementation science, and diagnostic reasoning.

Theme leads:

Brian D Nicholson

Associate Professor
Clare Bankhead

Professor of Epidemiology and Research Design

Cancer Sub Themes

We aim to produce high impact research that makes a difference to public health and healthcare provision. Click on the theme buttons below to view example projects.

Diagnostic reasoning

Diagnostic Reasoning

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Clinical Studies

Clinical Studies

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Health Records Data

Health Records Data

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Implementation

lmplementation

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Latest Publications

Prostate specific antigen retesting intervals and trends in England: population based cohort study
_{Collins K. et al, (2025)}_{The BMJ}

Patient characteristics, serious disease diagnoses, and incidental findings in individuals with non-specific symptoms referred to the Suspected CANcer (SCAN) Pathway: a prospective cohort study in England
_{Friedemann Smith C. et al,}_{The Lancet Primary Care}

Latest publications

Multimodal cell-free DNA whole-genome TAPS is sensitive and reveals specific cancer signals
Journal article

Vavoulis DV. et al, (2025), Nature Communications, 16
External validation of the COLOFIT colorectal cancer risk prediction model in the Oxford-FIT dataset: the importance of population characteristics and clinically relevant evaluation metrics
Journal article

Tamm A. et al, (2025), BMC Medicine, 23

Blog posts

Turning a blind eye on children with cancer is not an option: a father’s personal perspective

A health economist and father reflects on how his family's experience with childhood bone cancer exposed stark disparities in cancer innovation. Drawing on life inside an NHS oncology ward, he argues that rare childhood cancers demand renewed scientific, policy, and societal commitment - and that turning away from these children is not an option.

Hands holding pink breast cancer awareness ribbon

From Surviving to Thriving: How Primary Care Can Support Life After Breast Cancer

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dr Katherine Zippel shares the personal experiences that inspired her to begin a DPhil in Evidence-Based Health Care exploring how general practitioners can better support life after breast cancer. Drawing on her own journey as both a survivor and a GP, she reflects on the gaps in survivorship care — and how approaches such as social prescribing might help patients not only recover, but truly thrive.

Embracing Pride to assess perceptions of cancer research involvement among the LGBTQ+ community and improve inclusivity

The Cancer Theme at NDPCHS participated in four UK Pride events in summer 2025 to better understand and improve LGBTQ+ representation in cancer research.

Innovation, inequalities and interdisciplinary care: The Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI) Conference 2025

Members of our Cancer Theme recently attended the Cancer and Primary Care Research International Network (Ca-PRI) Conference, where several team members were recognised and celebrated for their work.