Prof Gary Abel
Senior Faculty

Gary is a senior lecturer and Statistician working in Primary Care research at the University of Exeter where he has been since early 2016. Prior to taking up his post in Exeter he worked as a statistician in the Primary Care Unit at the University of Cambridge. Before this he had a career as a researcher with the British Antarctic Survey studying the near Earth space environment.
As a statistician, Gary works across a broad range of health and healthcare areas but has a particular interest in the early diagnosis of cancer. His research has often focussed on the use of routinely collected data and he will be bringing this expertise to the CanTest programme. His previous research has brought the power of cancer registry data, primary and secondary care data, and patient experience data to bear on the examination of cancer diagnosis. In his role as lead statistician for CanTest he will provide methodological advice across the programme supporting the full range of activities.
+44 (0)1392 726154
University of Exeter, UK
Statistics, early diagnosis
- What is the clinical-effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of embedded risk-of-cancer assessment of patients in primary care; the ERICA trial
- Tests and tools for the detection of ovarian cancer in primary care
- Are patients with high normal platelet counts at increased risk of cancer?
- Guideline discordant diagnostic care: when do referrals not reflect guidelines for suspected cancer?
- Impact of decision tools for early cancer diagnosis in general practice on GP workload and patient ‘flow’ during consulting sessions (PhD)
- Safer Dx e-Measures for Reducing Preventable Delays in Cancer Diagnosis
- Comorbidities among patients diagnosed with cancer & how they influence the diagnostic process in primary care
- Examining methodology to identify patterns of consulting in primary care for different groups of patients before a diagnosis of cancer: a matched retrospective cohort study
- 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
- 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
- Herbert A, Abel GA, Winters S, McPhail S, Elliss-Brookes L, Lyratzopoulos G. Are inequalities in cancer diagnosis through emergency presentation narrowing, widening or remaining unchanged? Longitudinal analysis of English population-based data 2006-2013. J Epidemiol Community Health, 2019, 73(1): 3-10
- Mendonca SC, Abel GA, Gildea C, McPhail S, Peake MD, Rubin G, Singh H, Hamilton W, Walter FM, Roland MO, Lyratzopoulos G. Associations between general practice characteristics with use of urgent referrals for suspected cancer and endoscopies: a cross-sectional ecological study. Family Practice, 2018, cmy118
- Herbert A, Koo MM, Barclay ME, Greenberg DC, Abel GA, Levell NJ, Lyratzopoulos G. Stage-specific incidence trends of melanoma in an English region, 1996–2015: longitudinal analyses of population-based data. Melanoma Research, 2018. doi: 10.1097/CMR.0000000000000489
- Walter FM, Thompson MJ, Wellwood I, Abel GA, Hamilton W, Johnson M, Lyratzopoulos G, Messenger MP, Neal RD, Rubin G, Singh H, Spencer A, Sutton S, Vedstead P, Emery JD. Evaluating diagnostic strategies for early detection of cancer: the CanTest framework. BMC Cancer, 2019, 19:586
- Herbert A, Abel GA, Winters S, McPhail S, Elliss-Brookes L, Lyratzopoulos G. Cancer diagnoses after emergency GP referral or A&E attendance in England: Determinants and time trends in Routes to Diagnosis data, 2006–2015. BJGP, 2019, bjgp19X705473
- Herbert A, Winters S, McPhail S, Elliss-Brookes L, Lyratzopoulos G, Abel G. Population trends in emergency cancer diagnoses: The role of changing patient case-mix. Cancer Epidemiology, 63, doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2019.101574
- Koo MM, Swann R, McPhail S, Abel GA, Elliss-Brookes L, Rubin GP, Lyratzopoulos G. Presenting symptoms of cancer and stage at diagnosis: evidence from a cross-sectional, population-based study. The Lancet Oncology, 2019, doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30595-9
- Round T, Abel G. Seeing the wood and the trees: the impact of the healthcare system on variation in primary care referrals. BMJ Quality & Safety, 2019, 0:1-3, doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2019-010356
- Zhou Y, Abel GA, Hamilton W, Singh H, Walter FM, Lyratzopoulos G. Imaging activity possibly signalling missed diagnostic opportunities in bladder and kidney cancer: A longitudinal data-linkage study using primary care electronic health records. Cancer Epidemiology, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2020.101703
- Koo MM, Lyratzopoulos G, Herbert A, Abel GA, Taylor RM, Barber JA, Gibson F, Whelan J, Fern LA. Association of Self-reported Presenting Symptoms With Timeliness of Help-Seeking Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer in the BRIGHTLIGHT Study. JAMA Netw Open. 2020 Sep 1;3(9):e2015437. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.15437
- Funston G, Hamilton W, Abel G, Crosbie EJ, Rous B, Walter FM (2020) The diagnostic performance of CA125 for the detection of ovarian and non-ovarian cancer in primary care: A population-based cohort study. PLoS Med 17(10): e1003295. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003295
- 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
- Funston G, Hardy V, Abel, G, Crosbie EJ, Emery J, Hamilton W, Walter FM. Identifying Ovarian Cancer in Symptomatic Women: A Systematic Review of Clinical Tools. Cancers 2020, 12, 3686. doi: 10.3390/cancers12123686