Biography
Juliet Usher-Smith is an Associate Professor in General Practice. She 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 an Associate Professor she held personal Fellowships as a Clinical Lecturer, a Cancer Research UK Prevention Fellow, and an NIHR Advanced Fellow.
Research
Her main research interest focuses on optimising the implementation of risk-stratified medicine to promote prevention and early detection of cancer and cardiovascular disease. This includes the development and validation of risk models, evaluation of the societal, psychological, behavioural and system-level aspects associated with implementation, and conducting feasibility and pilot studies within clinical practice. Current projects include a multi-site feasibility study of offering proactive risk-based breast cancer assessment in primary care (CanRisk-GP), a programme of research to optimise implementation of breast cancer risk assessment into the NHS for women under age 50 (PREVENT breast), a feasibility study of incorporating a newly developed PREDICT Kidney risk communication tool into clinical care for patients who have undergone surgery for newly diagnosed localised kidney cancer (PREDICT Kidney), and a programme of research to evaluate the introduction of risk stratification within the English and Scottish bowel cancer screening programmes.
Publications
Dennison, R., Waller, J., Clune, R., Tung, J., Morris, S., Usher-Smith, J. Receptiveness to Risk-Based Innovations. A multi-methods exploration of the receptiveness of the public to implementation of risk-based innovations within cancer screening and early diagnosis in the UK. Cancer Research UK. 2024.
Stewart GD, Godoy A, Farquhar F, Kitt J, Burge SW, Cartledge J, … Usher-Smith JA. Abdominal Non contrast Computed Tomography Scanning to Screen for Kidney Cancer and Other Abdominal Pathology Within Community-based Computed Tomography Screening for Lung Cancer: Results of the Yorkshire Kidney Screening Trial. European Urology. 2024 Sep 12:S0302-2838(24)02567-3. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2024.08.029
Zhe X, Usher-Smith JA, Pennells L, Chung R, Arnold M, Kim L, Kaptoge S, Sperrin M, di Angelantonio E, Wood AM. Age- and sex-specific thresholds for cardiovascular disease risk stratification and statin treatment decision-making. BMJ Medicine. 2024 Aug 12;3(1):e000633.doi: 10.1136/bmjmed-2023-000633
Chung R, Xu Z, Arnold M, Ip S, Harrison H, Barrett J, Pennells L, Kim L, Di Angelantonio E, Paige E, Ritchie S, Inouye M, Usher-Smith JA, Wood AM. Using polygenic risk scores for prioritising individuals at greatest need of a CVD risk assessment Journal of the American Heart Association. 2023 Aug;12(15):e029296. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.122.029296
Usher-Smith JA, Hindmarch S, French DP, Tischkowitz M, Moorthie S, Walter FM, Dennison RA, Stutzin F, Archer S, Taylor L, Emery J, Morris S, Easton DF, Antoniou AC. Proactive breast cancer risk assessment in primary care: a review based on the principles of screening. 2023 British Journal of Cancer. Feb 3;1-11. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02145-w.
Dennison B, Usher-Smith JA, John S. The ethics of risk-stratified cancer screening. European Journal of Cancer. 2023 Mar 23;187:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2023.03.023
Harrison H, Wood A, Pennells L, Rossi SH, Callister M, Cartledge J, Stewart GD, Usher-Smith JA. Estimating the effectiveness of kidney cancer screening within lung cancer screening programmes: a validation in UK Biobank. European Urology. 2023 Mar 30:S2588-9311(23)00066-4. doi: 10.1016/j.euo.2023.02.012
Archer S, Stutzin Donoso F, Carver T, Yue A, Cunningham AP, Ficorella L, Tischkowitz M, Easton DF, Antoniou AC, Emery J, Usher-Smith JA, Walter FM. Exploring the barriers and facilitators of implementing CanRisk in primary care: a qualitative thematic framework analysis. BJGP. 2023 Jul 27;73(733):e586-e596. doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2022.0643
Hollands GJ, Usher-Smith JA, Hasan R, Alexander F, Griffin SJ. Impact of visualising health risk with medical imaging on recipients’ health-related behaviours and outcomes: systematic review with meta-analysis. PLOS Medicine. 2022 Mar 3;19(3):e1003920. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003920
Harrison H, Li N, Saunders CL, Rossi SH, Dennis J, Griffin SJ, Stewart GD, Usher-Smith JA. The current state of genetic risk models for the development of kidney cancer: a review and validation. BJUI 2022 Nov;130(5):550-561. doi: 10.1111/bju.15752
Usher-Smith JA, Von Wagner C, Ghanouni A. Behavioural Challenges Associated With Risk-Adapted Cancer Screening. 2021 Cancer Control doi: 10.1177/10732748211060289
Harrison H, Pennells L, Wood A, Rossi SH, Stewart GD, Griffin SJ, Usher-Smith JA. Validation and public health modelling of risk prediction models for kidney cancer using UK Biobank. 2021 BJUI doi: 10.1111/bju.15598
Thomas C, Mandrik O, Saunders CL, Thompson D, Whyte S, Griffin SJ, Usher-Smith JA. The costs and benefits of risk-stratification for colorectal cancer screening based on phenotypic and genetic risk: a health economic analysis. 2021 Cancer Prevention Research May 26:canprevres.0620.2020. doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-20-0620
Usher-Smith JA, Mills K, Riedinger C, Saunders C, Helsingen LM, Lytvyn L, Buskermolen M, Lansdorp-Vogelaar I, Bretthauer M, Guyatt G, Griffin SJ. The impact of information about different absolute benefits and harms on intention to participate in colorectal cancer screening: A think-aloud study and online randomised experiment. 2021 PLoS ONE 16(2): e0246991. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246991
Teaching and Supervisions
She is the Departmental Strategic Lead for Education and Training and Director of Postgraduate Education and lead for the Primary Care Research theme within the MPhil in Population Health Sciences. She also set up the Medical Student Systematic Review group, is the specialty academic lead for General Practice, and teaches on the Primary Care Research module within the MPhil in Population Health Sciences.
She supervises PhD and Masters’ students, medical students, and Academic Clinical Fellows.
Other Professional Activities
She is a member of the Cancer Research UK Prevention and Population Research committee, a Fellow and Clinical Director of Studies at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and works as a General Practitioner in Cambridge.
