Brian D Nicholson
BSc MBChB MRCGP MSc (Health Res) DPhil
GP NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer
- Affiliate Investigator - KPWHRI
- Associate Editor - Family Practice
- Macmillan GP Facilitator - Oxfordshire
- NHS General Practitioner
- Postdoctoral Fellow - CRUK PPRC
Contact information
+44 (0)1865 289300
Diagnosis and Cancer in Primary Care
Brian's academic interests include cancer, global health, and evidence-based diagnosis. He leads the Cancer Research Group.
His research aims to improve diagnosis for patients with non-specific or vague symptoms of cancer. In particular investigating weight loss as a feature of cancer in GP patients (NIHR - LOWCAN), novel multidisciplinary models of care (ACE - SCAN), and the role of safety-netting in preventing missed opportunities for diagnosis (CRUK - CASNET/CASNET2/NETTD).
He evaluates how GPs can safely use tests to diagnose primary and recurrent cancer, including circulating DNA, Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA), Faecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT), and Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125). He collaborates with secondary care colleagues about myeloma, lymphoma, testicular cancer, colorectal cancer, and ovarian cancer.
He is a GP in Oxford City, and the Macmillan GP Facilitator for Oxfordshire working with Oxfordshire CCG and Thames Valley Cancer Alliance to improve local pathways for cancer diagnosis.
He has received funding from NIHR, NIHR SPCR, CRUK, Macmillan, and NHS England. He sits on the NCRI Primary Care Clinical Studies Groups for early diagnosis and survivorship, the ICBP clinical advisory committee, and CRUK's Population Research Committee.
I currently supervise 4 full time DPhil students, 2 part time EBHC students, one postdoc and one ACF
Key publications
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Detecting cancer in primary care: Where does early diagnosis stop and overdiagnosis begin?
Journal article
Nicholson BD., (2017), European Journal of Cancer Care, 26
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Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: Diagnostic accuracy study
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2020), The BMJ, 370
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Can safety-netting improve cancer detection in patients with vague symptoms?
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2016), BMJ (Online), 355
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Responsibility for follow-up during the diagnostic process in primary care: A secondary analysis of International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership data
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2018), British Journal of General Practice, 68, e323 - e332
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Diagnostic accuracy of Faecal Immunochemical Testing for patients with symptoms of colorectal cancer: a retrospective cohort study of 14,487 consecutive test requests from English primary care.
Journal article
Nicholson B. et al, (2020)
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Blood CEA levels for detecting recurrent colorectal cancer
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2015), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2015
Recent publications
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Combining faecal immunochemical testing with blood test results for colorectal cancer risk stratification: a consecutive cohort of 16,604 patients presenting to primary care
Journal article
Withrow DR. et al, (2022), BMC Medicine, 20
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Progress and priorities in reducing the time to cancer diagnosis.
Journal article
Nicholson BD. and Lyratzopoulos G., (2022), British journal of cancer
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Levelling up prevention in primary care
Journal article
Heath L. et al, (2022), BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 378
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Harnessing the Electronic Health Care Record to Optimize Patient Safety in Primary Care: Framework for Evaluating e-Safety-Netting Tools
Journal article
Black GB. et al, (2022), JMIR Medical Informatics, 10