The research suggested that providing a break in treatment to patients with advanced bowel cancer could benefit their quality of life and could also help save £1.2 billion for the National Health Service (NHS) in England. 

The winning research was based on Dr Raymond Henderson’s PhD, which was jointly supervised by Professor Declan French from Queen’s Business School and Professor Mark Lawler, Professor of Digital Health from the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s and Scientific Director of DATA-CAN, the UK’s Health Data Research Hub for Cancer.

Dr Henderson was awarded his PhD from Queen’s Business School in 2019. He then took up a role as a Senior Health Economist at Diaceutics, in a Queen’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership, and he is now Senior Health Technology Assessment Manager at Salutem Insights.

Speaking about the award, Dr Henderson said: “Delighted to be the lead author on the project which won the HDR UK Impact of the Year Award. Through the deep relationships I forged at Queen’s, I have been able to develop high quality research that delivers impact.”

Professor French commented: “This study highlights how Queen’s University’s interdisciplinary research, which builds on expertise in very disparate areas, can successfully address issues of significant social relevance.”

Professor Lawler, senior author on the paper said: “This is a brilliant example of how turning data into intelligence can underpin a new approach to treatment for bowel cancer, the second biggest cancer killer in the UK, while also making substantial savings for the NHS. It highlights how our work can help deliver health, economic and societal benefit.”

This award looks at work performed in the last 12 months that has delivered impact to clinical practice or policy through algorithms, software or research publications.  

The HDR UK’s ‘Impact of the Year’ award panel said: “Using a combination of a health economic modelling and in-depth data analysis, this research indicated that providing a break in treatment to patients with advanced bowel cancer could not only benefit a patient’s response to treatment and their quality-of-life, but could also help save £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in England.

“The panel applaud the work’s translation into policy in a short time frame, which is often very difficult, alongside its focus on patient quality of life. The panel found the study presents a strong analysis and strongly demonstrates the potential of using health data for health economics.”

For more information about the award, please visit: https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/news/winners-announced-for-hdr-uks-annual-awards/

The work, performed in collaboration with Bowel Cancer UK, was supported by funding from Health Data Research UK, DATA-CAN, the UK’s Health Data Research Hub for Cancer and Cancer Focus Northern Ireland.

To read the entire winning paper from the Journal of Cancer Policy, please visit: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213538322000212