Assistant Professor
MA MB BChir MPhil PhD MRCGP FHEA
Email: jau20@medschl.cam.ac.uk | Tel: +44 01223 748693 | Office: East Forvie Building | Research Gate | ORCID
Background
Juliet Usher-Smith is an Assistant Professor in General Practice and NIHR Advanced Fellow. She first joined the Primary Care Unit in 2009 as an Academic Clinical Fellow after graduating from the University of Cambridge in 2007 with a MA MB BChir and a PhD in skeletal muscle physiology. Prior to her appointment as a University Lecturer, she was a Clinical Lecturer in General practice and then a Cancer Research UK Prevention Fellow. She continues to work as a General Practitioner in Cambridge.
Research Interests
Juliet’s main research interest focuses on optimising the implementation of risk-stratified medicine to promote prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease. This includes the development and validation of risk models as well as considering the societal, psychological and behavioural aspects associated with their implementation.
Within this area, she has a particular interest in the potential for introducing risk stratification into bowel cancer screening programmes. Previous work has included systematic reviews, external validation of risk models for the development of bowel cancer, and a project funded by Bowel Cancer UK to model the potential impact of introducing risk stratification into the current English bowel screening programme. She is now leading a grant from the Cambridge Cancer Research UK Early Detection centre on the social and ethical implications of risk stratified screening (the EXPRESS study) and holds an NIHR Fellowship focusing on developing a strategy for implementation of risk stratification into bowel cancer screening programmes.
She also works closely with Professor Grant Stewart in the Department of Surgery on a programme of work relating to screening and surveillance for kidney cancer. This includes a series of projects evaluating potential screening strategies for kidney cancer, the Yorkshire Kidney Screening Trial which is the first trial of its kind to assess the feasibility of incorporating an additional abdominal CT-scan within lung cancer screening programmes, and studies to improve the use and communication of risk around recurrence of disease in patients treated with surgery for kidney cancer.
Teaching
She is the Departmental Strategic Lead for Education and Training, lead for the Primary Care Research theme within the MPhil in Population Health Sciences and course director of an undergraduate course in Applied Clinical Research. She also set up the Medical Student Systematic Review group, is the specialty academic lead for General Practice and a Fellow and Clinical Director of Studies at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. She has also supervised a number of MPhil and PhD students and regularly supervises medical student research placements.
Selected Publications
Usher-Smith JA, Mills K, Riedinger C, Saunders C, Helsingen LM, Lytvyn L, Buskermolen M, Lansdorp-Vogelaar I, Bretthauer M, Guyatt G, Griffin SJ. (2021) The impact of different absolute risks and benefits of screening on intention to take up colorectal cancer screening. PLoS ONE 16(2): e0246991. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246991
Thomas C, Mandrik O, Saunders CL, Griffin SJ, Whyte S, Usher-Smith JA. (2020) Should colorectal cancer screening start at different ages for men and women? Cost-effectiveness analysis for a resource constrained service Cancer Reports Feb 2:e1344. doi: 10.1002/cnr2.1344
Usher-Smith JA, Harvey-Kelly L, Harrison H, Rossi S, Griffin SJ, Stewart GD. (2020) Attitudes towards stratified screening in a UK population. Health Expectations. Dec 2. doi: 10.1111/hex.13175
Harvey-Kelly L, Mills K, Harrison H, Rossi S, Griffin SJ, Stewart GD, Usher-Smith JA. Kidney cancer screening: public attitudes and intentions. (2020) BMC Urology Oct 28;20(1):170. doi: 10.1186/s12894-020-00724-0
Harrison H, Thompson RE, Lin Z, Rossi S, Stewart GD, Griffin SJ, Usher-Smith JA. (2020) Risk prediction models for kidney cancer: a systematic review. European Urology Focus. Jul 14:S2405-4569(20)30190-5. doi: 10.1016/j.euf.2020.06.024.
Usher-Smith JA, Simmons R, Rossi S, Stewart GD. (2020) Current evidence on screening for renal cancer. Nature Reviews Urology. Nov;17(11):637-642. doi: 10.1038/s41585-020-0363-3.
Masson G, Mills KM, Sharp SJ, Sutton S, Klein WM, Griffin SJ, Usher-Smith JA. (2020) Effect of providing online risk information and lifestyle advice for the most common preventable cancers: a randomised controlled trial. Preventive Medicine. May 28:106154. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106154.
Usher-Smith JA, Simmons R, Rossi S, Stewart GD. (2020) Current evidence on screening for renal cancer. Nature Reviews Urology. Nov;17(11):637-642. doi: 10.1038/s41585-020-0363-3.
Saunders CL, Kilian B, Thompson D, Griffin SJ, Antoniou CA, Emery J, Walter FM, Usher-Smith JA. (2020) External validation of risk prediction models incorporating common genetic variants for incident colorectal cancer using UK Biobank. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. 13(6):509-520. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-19-0521
Bayne M, Fairey M, Silarova B, Griffin SJ, Sharp SJ, Klein WMP, Sutton S, Usher-Smith JA. (2019) Effect of interventions including provision of personalised cancer risk information on accuracy of risk perception and psychological responses: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Patient Education and Counselling Jan;103(1):83-95. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2019.08.010
McGeoch L, Saunders CL, Griffin SJ, Emery J, Walter FM, Thompson D, Antoniou AC, Usher-Smith JA. (2019) Risk prediction models for colorectal cancer incorporating common genetic variants: a systematic review. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. pii: cebp.0059.2019. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-19-0059
Silarova B, Sharp SJ, Usher-Smith JA, Lucas J, Payne R, Shefer G, Moore C, Girling C, Lawrence K, Tolkien Z, Walker M, Butterworth A, Di Angelantonio E, Danesh J, Griffin SJ. (2019) Effect of communicating phenotypic and genetic risk of coronary heart disease alongside web-based lifestyle advice. Heart. pii: heartjnl-2018-314211. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2018-314211
Usher-Smith JA, Harshfield A, Saunders CL, Sharp SJ, Emery J, Walter FM, Muir K, Griffin SJ. (2018) External validation of risk prediction models for incident colorectal cancer using UK Biobank. British Journal of Cancer doi: 10.1038/bjc.2017.463
Usher-Smith JA, Silarova B, Sharp SJ, Mills KM, Griffin SJ. (2017) Effect of interventions incorporating personalised cancer risk information on intentions and behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ Open 8(1):e017717. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017717
Usher-Smith J, Martin A, Harte E, MacLure C, Meads C, Saunders C, Griffin S, Walter F, Lawrence K, Robertson C, Mant J. (2017) NHS Health Check programme rapid evidence synthesis. https://www.healthcheck.nhs.uk/seecmsfile/?id=306
Usher-Smith JA, Sharp SJ, Griffin SJ (2016). The spectrum effect in risk prediction, screening, and diagnostic tests. BMJ. 22;353:i3139. doi: 10.1136/bmj.i3139
Usher-Smith JA, Emery J, Win AK, Walter FM, Griffin SJ. (2016) Risk prediction models for colorectal cancer: a systematic review. Cancer Prevention Research. 9(1):13-26. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-15-0274