Guy’s Cancer cohort
Consultancy and analytics
According to the Office for National Statistics, cancer accounts for some 25% of mortality in the UK. Real-world evidence (RWE) can play a pivotal role in the development of new technologies that can diagnose cancer earlier and treat it more effectively and less invasively.
To provide an efficient and robust framework for the generation and exploitation of RWE, Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College London have established a Research Ethics Committee - approved research database: Guy's Cancer cohort. This permits the use of routinely collected, anonymised data from patients with a confirmed or potential diagnosis of cancer to answer a variety of research questions of a clinical, mechanistic and supportive care nature.
Our Cancer Cohort committee, which is attended by patient representatives, clinical academics, data scientists and commercial experts, rapidly assesses and, if appropriate, approves applications from internal and external researchers to access our data. Our RWE team will then curate and share the dataset required, and can offer advanced analytics as a service.
Clinical research using this database will accelerate evidence generation through observational studies and has already been demonstrated to result in improved patient safety and experience.
The diagram outlines the process we follow after we receive your application.
Cancer data request process
If it is an eligible project, the RWE team will ask for more information to carry out a full feasibility assessment.
If it is not eligible, the RWE team will redirect you to an alternative pathway.
Once the RWE team receives all the requested information from you, they will complete a full feasibility assessment.
If it is a non-complex request, the RWE team will share a summary of data availability with CITI.
If it is a complex request, the RWE team will undertake significant feasibility work to determine if we have the requested data.
If we are unable to progress your request, you will be redirected to an alternative pathway.
If your request is non-complex, the RWE team shares a summary of data availability with CITI.
CITI will then provide a quote and contract to you. If it is a non-research request, contracts will be signed and the project starts.
If it is a research request, the cancer cohort committee will review before contracts are signed.
If your request is complex, the RWE team will need to undertake significant feasibility work to determine if we have the requested data.
To comply with principles of subsidy control, you will need to cover the costs of ths work.
CITI will provide a quote, terms and conditions and timescales for the feasibility study.
If you choose to continue, contracts will be signed for the feasibility work.
The RWE team will complete the feasibility work. Once completed, they will share a summary of data availability with CITI.
CITI will provide a quote and contract to you. If it is a non- research request, contracts will be signed and the project starts.
If it is a research request, the cancer cohort committee will review before contracts are signed.
The team
We are a multidisciplinary team with experts working across Guy's and St Thomas' and King's College London.
The RWE team is jointly led by Professor Mieke Van Hemelrijck and Anne Rigg. The team includes epidemiologists, analysts, database managers, as well as a patient and public involvement/engagement manager:
- Eleni Josephides, clinical database manager, lung cancer
- Gincy George, research fellow, pharmaco-epidemiology
- Beth Russell, research fellow, Real World Evidence
- Charlotte Moss, research fellow, implementation science, and clinical database manager
- Jasmine Handford, clinical database manager, head and neck cancer
- Saran Green, patient and public involvement manager
