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Rebecca Cannings-John   MSc BSc (Hons) PhD(Cardiff)

Dr Rebecca Cannings-John

(she/her)

MSc BSc (Hons) PhD(Cardiff)

Principal Research Fellow - Statistics

School of Medicine

cymraeg
Welsh speaking
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

I am a Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Trials Research in Cardiff University.

My background is in Medical Statistics. I have extensive expertise in the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of randomised trials and other well-designed studies. My research to date is focussed on the areas of women/maternal and child health, people experiencing homelessness, and also surrounding the use of antibiotics in primary care. I have experience in the development and evaluation of complex interventions.  I completed my PhD in 2013 on "Examining the inter-relationships between antibiotic prescribing, complications and resistance in acute respiratory tract infections".

 

Publication

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Articles

Thesis

Research

At the national level, I lead the first randomised controlled trial conducted with homeless people in the UK, examining the effect of the housing of rough sleepers on COVID-19. I am also leading a “big data” study linking Social Care Wales data to Health datasets within the SAIL Databank to examine the health impacts of COVID-19 on domiciliary care workers. I am the statistical lead for two COVID-19 rapid response study examining the impact of the UK governments pandemic response to COVID-19 on cancer related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. These studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic are important in understanding the impact of the virus and governments pandemic response. They will help inform the national response to recovering from the pandemic and planning for additional waves of infection and new pandemics.

Using routine data, I lead an evaluation examining the health impacts of nurse visits to teenage mothers (Family Nurse Partnership Programme in Scotland), and am co-investigator on several routine data based studies to examine the impact of UTIs on cardiac events and on prophylactic antibiotic use for recurrent urinary tract infection.

Teaching

I have previously supervised both undergraduate and post-graduate students in the School of Medicine, and Mathematics.

 

Biography

Education and qualifications:

2006 - 2013: Cardiff University: PhD Examining the inter-relationship between antibiotic prescribing, complications and resistance in acute respiratory tract infections.

1996 - 1997: Southampton University: MSc. Statistics with Applications in Medicine. Dissertation “Time Trends in Cancer Mortality in England and Wales 1950-94”.

1993 - 1996: University of Wales College Cardiff: BSc.(hons) Pure Mathematics – Upper 2nd class honours

Career overview: 

Aug 2021 – present: Principal Research Fellow in Statistics, Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University

Aug 2020 – July 21: Senior Research Fellow in Statistics, Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University

Jan 2011 – July 19: Research Fellow in Statistics, Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University

Jan 2006 – Mar 13: PhD Fellowship, Centre for Health Sciences Research, Cardiff University

Oct 2002 – Jan 06: Statistician, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Cardiff University

Apr 2001 – Oct 02: Assistant Statistician, Local Government Data Unit – Wales, Cardiff.

Jan 1999 - Apr 01:  Statistician, Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit and Wales Cancer Trials Network

Honours and awards

  • Finalist for a Cardiff University Celebrating Excellence Award in the category of Excellence in Research (2023)
  • Antibiotic Guardian Award. Diagnostic Stewardship - winner: Evaluation of a sore throat test and treat service in community pharmacies: a tale of two approaches (2023)
  • Nominated for a Cardiff University Celebrating Excellence Award in the category of "Rising Star" (2022)
  • Nominated for a Moondance Cancer Initiative awards in the Public Awareness & Engagement category (CABS study) (2022)
  • Certificate of appreciation awarded for teaching by Cardiff University (2019)

Committees and reviewing

External committees

  • Current Independent Trial Steering Committee / Independent Data Monitoring committee member for: FSM, NEPTUNE, DiGEST, CADET, DEFINE, CASNET2,  and ASSIST
  • Current member of the Trials Membership Research partnership (TMRP) Health Informatics Working Group
    Routine Data Topic Group
  • Current advisory board member: Evaluation of the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) in Norway 
  • Previous associate board member for NIHR HTA (2018 to 2021)
  • Previous independent member for several TSCs and IDMCs
  • Previous member of the International Expert Advisory Panel for the evaluation of the Australian Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) Program (2020-2021)
  • Previous advisory group member: Evaluation of the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) in England  

Peer reviewer

  • I peer-review submissions to The Lancet, BMJ, BMJ Open, British Journal of General Practice and the International Journal of Population Data Science. I also review funding applications and final reports for NIHR and HCRW.

Supervisions

Current

I am currently supervising three PhD projects:

  • Robert Maddison "Utilising data linkage to investigate the health impact of carrier status for common genetic disorders" (HCRW fellowship) 

I also supervise and mentor students, postgraduate fellowships and NHS research time awards. 

 

Previous PhD Students

I have seen four PhD students through to completion. 

 

Previous Intercalated BSc in Clinical Epidemiology students and outputs

Emily Buchanan, Impact of the Family Nurse Partnership and other factors on infections in infants born to teenage mothers, presenting in both a General Practice and hospital setting (Awarded 2016). Buchanan E, Cannings-John R, Lugg-Widger F, Hood K, Butler C, Robling M. Assessing predictors of respiratory tract infections in infants born to teenage mothers: secondary analysis of the Building Blocks trial data. Fam Pract. 2020 Oct 19;37(5):623-630. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmaa037. PMID: 32319514.

Emma Kirby, The influence of demographic and social factors on infant feeding practices amongst teenage mothers in England - an observational study (Awarded 2017).

Lowri Edwards, Predictors of acceptable hearing return in children with OME: secondary analysis from a randomised controlled trial (Awarded 2018). Edwards L, Cannings-John R, Butler C, Francis N. Identifying factors associated with spontaneous restoration of hearing in children with otitis media with effusion. Clin Otolaryngol. 2021 Jan;46(1):243-248. doi: 10.1111/coa.13654. Epub 2020 Oct 20. PMID: 33012126.

Alex Moore, Care for coughs and colds module (Awarded 2019). Moore A, Cannings-John R, Butler CC, McNulty CA, Francis NA. Alternative approaches to managing respiratory tract infections: a survey of public perceptions. BJGP Open. 2021 Apr 26;5(2):BJGPO.2020.0124. doi: 10.3399/BJGPO.2020.0124. PMID: 33293410; PMCID: PMC8170598.

Haf Mackey,Risk factors for UTIs in children diagnosed in general practice (Awarded 2019)

Bethan Cumins, Prevalence, management and prognosis of individuals with resolved asthma (Awarded 2020). Jones H, Cumins B, Cannings-John R, Ahmed H. Adverse respiratory outcomes amongst patients with resolved asthma: matched retrospective cohort study. Br J Gen Pract. 2024 Jan 19:BJGP.2023.0271. doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2023.0271. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38242713.

Amy ClarkValidating the NICE Traffic Light System for febrile children aged under five (Awarded 2021). Clark A, Cannings-John R, Blyth M, Hay AD, Butler CC, Hughes K. Accuracy of the NICE traffic light system in children presenting to general practice: a retrospective cohort study. Br J Gen Pract. 2022 May 26;72(719):e398-e404. doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2021.0633. PMID: 35577588; PMCID: PMC9119811. BJGP Most Read Paper of 2022.

Eddy Hughes, Experiences and beliefs relating to healthcare contacts during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK (Awarded 2022).

Bismah Kazi, How do patient characteristics impact on the pathway to cancer diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic? A data linkage study using Welsh electronic health record data and data from the CABs survey (Awarded 2023).

Rhian Cockwell, Effectiveness of urine sampling strategies in young children (Awarded 2023).

 

Contact Details

Email CanningsRL@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone +44 29206 87248
Campuses Neuadd Meirionnydd, Room 506, University Hospital of Wales, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4YS

External profiles