Prof Richard Neal
Associate Director

Richard leads the University of Leeds hub of CanTest. He is a part-time GP in Leeds and Professor of Primary Care Oncology at the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences. His research focuses around the interface of primary care and cancer, especially around the diagnosis of cancer in general practice.
Richard also leads the Leeds hub of the DHSE Policy Research Unit of Cancer Awareness Screening and Early Diagnois. He is Co-Chief Investigator of the WICKED programme (Wales Interventions Cancer Knowledge Early Diagnosis), funded by Cancer Research Wales, and is co-investigator on the Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial, funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research. He works closely with the Leeds Centre for Personalised Medicine and Health. He chairs the RCGP Scientific Foundation Board and is past Chair of the NCRI Primary Care Clinical Studies Group.
Twitter: @richarddneal
+44 (0)113 343 6905
University of Leeds, UK
Early diagnosis and primary care trials
- The role of imaging in the diagnosis of symptomatic lung cancer
- Aids to cancer diagnosis in primary care
- Development of a primary care head and neck risk assessment tool
- Risk of lung cancer in symptomatic patients with negative chest x-ray results
- What factors influence GPs’ decision to request imaging for possible lung cancer?
- Development of a risk assessment tool for ruling out cancer in patients being referred for possible cancer diagnosis
- Is General Practice chest x-ray rate associated with lung cancer outcomes?
- Wales Interventions and Cancer Knowledge about Early Diagnosis
- Examination of Diagnostic Pathways of People with Lung Cancer (PhD)
- Investigation of potential for using point of care tests for early cancer diagnosis in primary care (PhD)
- Development and pilot testing of measurement tool for diagnosis of lung cancer
- Factors influencing the patient/practitioner decision to investigate or refer older adults with symptoms potentially indicating cancer
- A review of clinical guidelines on the diagnosis of cancer in older adults
- CanImpact: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer detection in primary care
- Experiences along the diagnostic pathway for patients with advanced lung cancer
- Cancer referral in younger patients – do age threshold guidelines need updating?
- Investigating the use of routine blood tests and reflex testing to improve the early diagnosis of myeloma
- Stanciu MA, Law R-J, Nafees S, Hendry M, Yeo ST, Hiscock J, Lewis R, Edwards RT, Williams NH, Brain K, Brocklehurst P, Carson-Stevens A, Dolwani S, Emery J, Hamilton W, Hoare Z, Lyratzopoulos G, Rubin G, Smits S, Vedsted P, Walter FM, Wilkinson C, Neal RD. Development of an intervention to expedite cancer diagnosis through primary care: Protocol. BJGP Open 4 September 2018; bjgpopen18X101595
- Bradley SH, Kennedy MPT, Neal R. Recognising Lung Cancer in Primary Care. Avances in Therapy 2018; 1-12
- Neal RD, Sun F, Emery JD, Callister ME. Lung Cancer. BMJ, 2019, 365:I1725
- 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
- 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
- Jones D, Neal RD, Duffy SRG, Scott SE, Whitaker KL, Brain K. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the symptomatic diagnosis of cancer: the view from primary care. The Lancet Oncology, 2020. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(20)30242-4
- di Martino E, Andersen AC, Mengel-Jørgensen T, Jensen MB, Bradley S, Neal RD. Is there a place for point-of-care ultrasound in UK primary care? British Journal of General Practice, 2020; 70 (696): 323-324. doi: 10.3399/bjgp20X710801
- Atkin C, Iqbal G, Planche T, Pratt G, Yong K, Wood J, Raynes K, Low E, Higgins H, Neal RD, Dunn J, Drayson MT, Bowcock S. Diagnostic pathways in multiple myeloma and their relationship to end organ damage: an analysis from the Tackling Early Morbidity and Mortality in Myeloma (TEAMM) trial. British Journal of Haematology, 2020, doi: 10.1111/bjh.17044
- di Martino E, Ayaz-Shah A, Shinkins B, Jain S, Neal RD. A urine test for bladder cancer: available soon in primary care? Trends in Urology & Men’s Health, 2020, 11(4), doi: 10.1002/tre.760
- Bradley SH, Hatton NLF, Aslam R, Bhartia B, Callister MEJ, Kennedy MPT, Mounce L, Shinkins B, Hamilton WT, Neal RD. Estimating lung cancer risk from chest x-ray and symptoms: a prospective cohort study. British Journal of General Practice, 2020, doi: 10.3399/bjgp20X713993