Dr Cristina Renzi
Faculty

Cristina is a public health physician and clinical epidemiologist with a specific research interest in the evaluation of diagnostic pathways and factors influencing the timely diagnosis of cancer. Cristina has dedicated increasing attention to studying the complex links between pre-existing chronic diseases and the diagnosis of cancer. In her role as principal investigator of a Cancer Research UK Early Diagnosis Advisory Group grant her work has focused in particular on evaluating opportunities for reducing emergency cancer diagnosis.
Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, she has also evaluated possible unintended consequences of an ‘all-clear’ diagnosis, highlighting the importance of safety-netting and ongoing vigilance by both patients and doctors after diagnostic investigations. She has been awarded a BMA TP Gunton award for her research in public health relating to cancer.
University College London, UK
Early diagnosis, epidemiology, public health, chronic conditions.
- Conceptualising and measuring patient experience in the diagnosis of cancer
- Diagnostic processes and use of investigations before a cancer diagnosis in patients with comorbidities
- Comorbidities among patients diagnosed with cancer & how they influence the diagnostic process in primary care
- Cancer referral in younger patients – do age threshold guidelines need updating?
- Patterns of clinical investigation before cancer diagnosis in primary care
- SPOtting Cancer among Comorbidities (SPOCC) programme: Supporting clinical decision making in patients with symptoms of cancer and pre-existing conditions
- Changing healthcare utilisation patterns in cancer patients prior to their diagnosis: A literature review to help determine the length of potential diagnostic windows
- Renzi C, Kaushal A, Emery J, Hamilton W, Neal RD, Rachet B, Rubin G, Singh H, Walter FM, de Wit NJ, Lyratzopoulos G. Comorbid chronic diseases and cancer diagnosis: disease-specific effects and underlying mechanisms. Nature Reviews: Clinical Oncology, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-019-0249-6
- Renzi C, Lyratzopoulos G, Hamilton W, Maringe C, Bernard R. Contrasting effects of comorbidities on emergency colon cancer diagnosis: a longitudinal data-linkage study in England. BMC Health Services Research, 2019; 19:311
- Renzi C, Lyratzopoulos G, Hamilton W, Rachet B. Opportunities for reducing emergency diagnoses of colon cancer in women and men: a data-linkage study on pre-diagnostic symptomatic presentations and benign diagnoses. Eur Journal Cancer Care. 2019. e13000. doi: 10.1111/ecc.13000
- Forster AS, Renzi C, Lyratzopoulos G. Diagnosing cancer in patients with ‘non-alarm’ symptoms: Learning from diagnostic care innovations in Denmark. Cancer Epidemiology, 2018; 54, 101-103
- Salika T, Abel GA, Mendonca SC, von Wagner C, Renzi C, Herbert A, McPhail S, Lyratzopoulos G. Associations between diagnostic pathways and care experience in colorectal cancer: evidence from patient-reported data. Frontline Gastroenterology 2018;9:241-248
- Kaushal A, Waller J, von Wagner C, Kummer S, Whitaker K, Puri A, Lyratzopoulos G, Renzi C. The role of chronic conditions in influencing symptom attribution and anticipated help-seeking for potential lung cancer symptoms: a vignette-based study. BJGP Open, 2020, doi: 10.3399/bjgpopen20X101086
- Renzi C, Lyratzopoulos G. Comorbidity and the diagnosis of symptomatic-but-as-yet-undiagnosed cancer. Br J Gen Pract. 2020;70(698):e598-e599
- Koo MM, Swann R, McPhail S, Abel GA, Renzi C, Rubin GP, Lyratzopoulos G. The prevalence of chronic conditions in patients diagnosed with one of 29 common and rarer cancers: A cross-sectional study using primary care data. Cancer Epidemiology, 2020, 69: 101845, doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2020.101845