Cambridge Population Health Sciences

Bradford Hill Seminar - The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020
2025-05-07 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/London) | Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge, CB2 0SR
All are invited to the Bradford Hill Seminar:
The SIREN study at five years: Tracking SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory infections in UK healthcare workers since 2020
Victoria Hall
Consultant Epidemiologist, Antimicrobial Resistance & Healthcare Associated Infections Division of the UK Health Security Agency (UK HSA)
Register to attend
Please note this will be a free hybrid seminar, with the option to attend in-person (Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0SR) or virtually (via Zoom).
No registration is required to attend in person.
Register in advance to attend this seminar online at:

https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/CoavXVmNQtWN8j8TOFv-rg#/registration

Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation (SIREN) study is a prospective cohort study of hospital-based healthcare workers across the UK. It was established in 2020 as a pandemic response study, with over 44,000 healthcare workers recruited from 135 NHS trusts/health boards. The study initially investigated SARS-CoV-2 reinfections and the durability of immunity following infection, and subsequently COVID-19 vaccination. It has expanded its scope to evaluate Winter Pressures on the healthcare workforce, and questions related to immunity more broadly.
SIREN+ has been running since 2024. This has involved collecting data on symptoms and absence from time off work trends in around 5000 participants recruited from the original SIREN cohort. In addition to investigating Winter Pressures, SIREN+ provides an opportunity to address new research questions of public health importance that impact healthcare workers, including the emergence of multidrug resistant organisms and risk factors for healthcare associated infections.
More details on the study and publications from the study can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/siren-study
About Victoria Hall
Victoria Hall is a Consultant Epidemiologist in the Antimicrobial Resistance & Healthcare Associated Infections Division of the UK Health Security Agency and has been leading the SIREN study team since 2020. She completed public health speciality training in the East of England and the UK Field Epidemiology Training Programme based in South East and London Regional Field Epidemiology Service. She holds a part-time position at the Institute for Health Informatics, UCL working on research on infections and AMR in care homes with the VIVALDI study.
About the Bradford Hill seminars
The Bradford Hill seminar series is the principal series of The Cambridge Population Health Sciences Partnership, in collaboration with the PHG Foundation. This comprises the Departments of Public Health & Primary Care, MRC Biostatistics Unit and MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, bringing together a multi-disciplinary partnership of academics and public health professionals. The Bradford Hill seminar programme of internationally recognised speakers covers topics of broad interest to our public health research community. It aims to transcend as well as connect the activities of our individual partners.
All are welcome at our Bradford Hill seminars.

Bradford Hill Seminar - The Cancer Loyalty Card Study (CLOCS), aiming to help reduce the delays in cancer diagnosis using transaction data
2025-07-02 13:00 - 14:00 | Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge, CB2 0SR
All are invited to the Bradford Hill Seminar:
The Cancer Loyalty Card Study (CLOCS), aiming to help reduce the delays in cancer diagnosis using transaction data
Professor James Flanagan
Professor of Cancer Informatics at Imperial College London
Register to attend
Please note this will be a free hybrid seminar, with the option to attend in-person (Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0SR) or virtually (via Teams).
No registration is required to attend in person.
Register in advance to attend this seminar online at:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/9d02ab32-b2e7-4bdb-9b33-ad126d573679@49a50445-bdfa-4b79-ade3-547b4f3986e9

Abstract
The first Cancer Loyalty Card Study (CLOCS) project revealed that ovarian cancer patients begin buying over-the-counter medications months before seeing a doctor, suggesting a missed opportunity for earlier diagnosis. This research opens new conversations about how everyday data might support earlier cancer detection, and what it takes for the public to feel comfortable sharing that data.
About Professor Flanagan
Dr James Flanagan, completed his PhD in 2002 at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia, and has pursued postdoctoral work in Cancer Genetics, Epigenetics and Cancer Epigenetics. He was awarded a Breast Cancer Campaign Scientific Fellowship (Imperial, 2009-2014) and Senior Lecturer (2014-2019) and is now Reader in Epigenetics (2019-present) in the Division of Cancer, Dept. of Surgery and Cancer, Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London.
He was awarded the British Association of Cancer Research Translational Researcher Award in 2011 and the prestigious DataIQ award in 2023 for his work using Shopping Loyalty Cards for early detection of ovarian cancer.
He is the principal investigator (PI) for the OCA funded programme “Risk and Prevention” and PI of the CRUK funded project “Cancer Loyalty Card Study (CLOCS)” In 2021 he was appointed as the Director of the MRes Cancer Biology.
About the Bradford Hill seminars
The Bradford Hill seminar series is the principal series of The Cambridge Population Health Sciences Partnership, in collaboration with the PHG Foundation. This comprises the Departments of Public Health & Primary Care, MRC Biostatistics Unit and MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, bringing together a multi-disciplinary partnership of academics and public health professionals. The Bradford Hill seminar programme of internationally recognised speakers covers topics of broad interest to our public health research community. It aims to transcend as well as connect the activities of our individual partners.
All are welcome at our Bradford Hill seminars.

Bradford Hill Seminar - The politics of epidemiology and public health in the UK
2025-10-15 13:00 - 14:00 | Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge, CB2 0SR
All are invited to the Bradford Hill Seminar:
The politics of epidemiology and public health in the UK
Professor Danny Dorling
1971 Professor of Geography at the University of Oxford
Register to attend
Please note this will be a free hybrid seminar, with the option to attend in-person (Large Seminar Room, East Forvie Building, Forvie Site, Robinson Way, Cambridge CB2 0SR) or virtually (via Zoom).
No registration is required to attend in person, and we strongly engourage you to attend in person if possible.
Register in advance to attend this seminar online at:

https://mrc-epid.zoom.us/meeting/register/Xt6c2C_hR7a2xOFqlKb5Dg

Abstract
We like to present epidemiology as politically neutral, and public health as the science of supporting the health of the population as a whole. This is not necessarily so.
There are always choices to be made. Different academic disciplines have implicit biases and underlying beliefs, which can change over time and differ greatly between contexts. Some of the most obvious examples are between people who prefer individualistic explanations and those who see this as victim blaming.
A lack of attention to certain topics is another form of political bias. Why, for instance, are we in the UK not more concerned about how many people choose and can afford to use private health care and dentistry? Why are we not talking about how life expectancy fell in the UK after 2014? And, to what extent is our epidemiology and public health in the UK in the 2020s a reflection of UK politics?
About Professor Dorling
Danny Dorling works at the University of Oxford. His most recent three books are: “Seven Children”, “Peak Injustice”, and “The Next Crisis”. He works with road crash charity RoadPeace, Heeley City Farm in Sheffield, and the educational campaign group Comprehensive Future
About the Bradford Hill seminars
The Bradford Hill seminar series is the principal series of The Cambridge Population Health Sciences Partnership, in collaboration with the PHG Foundation. This comprises the Departments of Public Health & Primary Care, MRC Biostatistics Unit and MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, bringing together a multi-disciplinary partnership of academics and public health professionals. The Bradford Hill seminar programme of internationally recognised speakers covers topics of broad interest to our public health research community. It aims to transcend as well as connect the activities of our individual partners.
All are welcome at our Bradford Hill seminars.

Postponed - Bradford Hill Seminar - Diagnostic and predictive journeys: Finding the right balance in genomic medicine
2025-10-29 13:00 - 14:00 | Online
This Bradford Hill seminar had been postponed. We will update this when we have arranged a new date and time.

All are invited to the Bradford Hill Seminar:
Diagnostic and predictive journeys: Finding the right balance in genomic medicine
Professor Anneke Lucassen
Professor of Genomic Medicine, University of Oxford
Register to attend
Please note this will be a free online seminar,
Registration information will be displayed here when the new date and time for this seminar have been decided.
Abstract
The growing use of genomic data in healthcare aims to balance predictive and diagnostic needs by supporting both disease prevention and clinical decision-making. Yet, the predictive potential of genomic information is frequently overstated, with the genome too often portrayed as a complete “blueprint” for health. Achieving an effective balance remains challenging, as genomic applications in public health prediction and clinical diagnosis continue to operate largely in isolation.
About Professor Lucassen
Professor Anneke Lucassen is Director of the Centre for Personalised Medicine, and a physician who specializes in clinical genetics. She is Professor of Genomic Medicine and consultant in clinical genetics at the University of Oxford (since 2021). She leads a research group at the University of Oxford that explores the clinical ethical, legal and societal issues (CELS) involved in developments in genomics and big data within medicine.
In Oxford, she directs the Centre for Personalised Medicine, an interdisciplinary environment, driving forward a more integrated and personalised approach to medicine and healthcare. Having served as chair of the British Society for Genetic Medicine (BSGM) from 2016 to 2020, Anneke now chairs the ethics advisory committee of UK Biobank and the Joint Committee on Genomics in Medicine (JCGM).
About the Bradford Hill seminars
The Bradford Hill seminar series is the principal series of The Cambridge Population Health Sciences Partnership, in collaboration with the PHG Foundation. This comprises the Departments of Public Health & Primary Care, MRC Biostatistics Unit and MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, bringing together a multi-disciplinary partnership of academics and public health professionals. The Bradford Hill seminar programme of internationally recognised speakers covers topics of broad interest to our public health research community. It aims to transcend as well as connect the activities of our individual partners.
All are welcome at our Bradford Hill seminars.
