Dr Amy Downing
- Position: Senior Research Fellow
- Areas of expertise: Cancer epidemiology; data analysis; use of routine health data; patient-reported outcomes; survivorship; late effects
- Email: A.Downing@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 0308
- Location: Level 11 Worsley Building
- Website: Researchgate | ORCID
Profile
I studied Human Biology at Loughborough University and undertook my PhD at the University of Birmingham.
I joined the University of Leeds in 2005 as a Research Fellow and have been a Senior Research Fellow since 2014. I work in the Cancer Epidemiology Group and my research focuses on the analysis of large, population-level, routinely collected datasets, such as cancer registration, hospital admissions and radiotherapy data. When linked together these datasets offer huge potential to study the care and outcomes of cancer patients.
I also have an interest in the collection and use of Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) data, particularly large-scale surveys of cancer survivors. Linkage of such PRO data with other datasets unlocks a wealth of information which can be used to inform and improve practice and, ultimately, improve outcomes.
Research interests
My work has covered a range of cancers but has focused particularly on colorectal cancer, with an emphasis on applying appropriate statistical methods to account for the complexities in routine data.
I am currently working on several research studies:
CORECT-R – funded by Cancer Research UK, this programme aims to bring together existing and novel datasets to create a UK colorectal cancer intelligence hub;
Life After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis - a Prostate Cancer UK and Movember Foundation funded study to comprehensively evaluate the physical, emotional and social well-being of men living with prostate cancer;
Life And Bladder Cancer – funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research, this study involves cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys of patients with bladder cancer, in order to further understand and ultimately improve their quality of life.
Qualifications
- PhD in Public Health & Epidemiology
- BSc (Hons) Human Biology (2:1)
Professional memberships
- Society for Social Medicine
Student education
I currently supervise PhD students and MSc student projects.
Research groups and institutes
- Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's
- Cancer Epidemiology Group
- Cancer Survivor Intelligence Group