Mr Paul Affleck

Profile

I manage Professor Eva Morris' Cancer Research UK programme, which is establishing a UK bowel cancer intelligence hub. Bowel cancer is a major public health problem. Each year in the UK over 41,000 people are diagnosed with the disease and 16,000 die from it. Despite huge investment in care and research there remains major variations in diagnosis, treatment and outcome. There are existing datasets covering all aspects of care, which could be used to improve cancer outcomes. However, access for researchers to link and exploit this data is limited. The COloRECTal cancer data Repository (CORECT-R) research programme is robustly linking multiple electronic data sources. This data will be available to all researchers who hold the necessary ethical and regulatory approvals. Our main aims are to support earlier diagnosis, tackle inequalities and optimise cancer research. Please visit the Bowel Cancer Intelligence UK website for more details.

I originally trained as a nurse and worked as a research nurse before becoming involved in research management. I also have an interest in ethics. I am a specialist member of the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD), a lay member of the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee and a Data Champion for the Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St. James's. I have written extensively for both journals and websites. This includes articles for academic journals (such as Nurse Researcher and the Journal of Medical Ethics) and professional journals (such as the British Dental Journal and the Nursing Standard). I have also written plain language summaries of research papers for the GenoMEL international research consortium and the CORECT-R programme.

Qualifications

• MA with distinction in Healthcare Ethics
• DipHE in Nursing Studies

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's
• Cancer Epidemiology Group