Education and qualifications

2007 Chartered Health Psychologist, British Psychological Society

2001 Certificate in Economic Evaluation in Healthcare, University of Glamorgan

1996 PhD in Psychology, Cardiff University

1992 BA Joint Hons Psychology and Education, First Class, Cardiff University

Career overview

2014- Reader, Cardiff University School of Medicine

2009-2014 Senior Lecturer, Cardiff University School of Medicine

2004-2009 Lecturer in Cancer Genetics Health Services Research, Cardiff University

2002-2007 Consultant, Cancer Research UK

1999-2004 Wellcome Trust Health Services Research Fellow, UWCM

1996-1999 Post-doctoral Research Associate, University of Wales College of Medicine

My research focuses on understanding the reasons why some people do not take up cancer screening or visit the doctor early if they experience a symptom, and assessing the impact of screening on people who do take part. We develop and test tools designed to support earlier symptom presentation, engagement with screening, and treatment decision making in higher risk groups including older people, people from lower socioeconomic groups, and those at increased genetic risk. An example of a current project is ABACus (Awareness and Beliefs About Cancer), funded by Cancer Research UK and conducted in partnership with Tenovus Cancer Care. The aim is to develop and evaluate the health check intervention – an interactive touchscreen intervention delivered by a trained lay advisor, with the purpose of encouraging cancer awareness and help seeking among people living in socioeconomically deprived communities.

Williams, D.et al. 2017. Women’s perspectives on human papillomavirus self-sampling in the context of the UK cervical screening programme.. Health Expectations (10.1111/hex.12544) pdf Field, J.et al. 2016. UK Lung Cancer RCT Pilot Screening Trial: baseline findings from the screening arm provide evidence for the potential implementation of lung cancer screening. Thorax 71(2), pp. 161-170. (10.1136/thoraxjnl-2015-207140) pdf Smits, S.et al. 2016. Development of a behaviour change intervention to encourage timely cancer symptom presentation among people living in deprived communities using the Behaviour Change Wheel. Annals of Behavioral Medicine (10.1007/s12160-016-9849-x) pdf McCutchan, G.et al. 2016. Barriers to cancer symptom presentation among people from low socioeconomic groups: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health 16(1), article number: 1052. (10.1186/s12889-016-3733-2) pdf Davies, F.et al. 2016. The transition to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: an exploratory qualitative study of health professionals' experiences. International Journal of MS Care 18(5), pp. 257-264. (10.7224/1537-2073.2015-062) pdf Brain, K.et al. 2016. Long-term psychosocial outcomes of low dose computed tomography screening: results of the UK Lung Cancer Screening (UKLS) randomised controlled trial. Thorax (10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-208283) pdf Brain, K.et al. 2016. Long-term psychosocial outcomes of low-dose CT screening: results of the UK Lung Cancer Screening randomised controlled trial. Thorax (10.1136/thoraxjnl-2016-208283) pdf Smits, S.et al. 2016. The double-edged sword of ovarian cancer information for women at increased risk who have previously taken part in screening. Ecancermedicalscience 2016(10), article number: 650. (10.3332/ecancer.2016.650) pdf Field, J.et al. 2016. The UK Lung Cancer Screening Trial: a pilot randomised controlled trial of low-dose computed tomography screening for the early detection of lung cancer. Health Technology Assessment 20(40), pp. 1. (10.3310/hta20400)