Dr Gurdeep Mannu wins ONS Research Excellence Award 2020

Alumnus Dr Gurdeep Mannu (MRCSEd, DPhil Population Health, 2014) has won the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Research Excellence Award 2020.

Dr Mannu received the award for a research paper examining the long-term risks of developing invasive breast cancer and of dying from breast cancer in women diagnosed with pre-invasive cancer through breast screening.

The study showed that, despite treatment, women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) through screening have higher risks than the general population of developing invasive breast cancer and of dying from breast cancer.

Dr Mannu said: “I am absolutely delighted that our work has received this award. This project has been highly collaborative from its outset, bringing together data from the National Breast Screening Service, the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, and the Office for National Statistics.

“This paper is the first to arise from our project and we are currently working on several other aspects of pre-invasive disease. Receiving this award has reinforced my enthusiasm for using the population-based data that Public Health England are able to collate in order to help those diagnosed with cancer.”

The research, published in the British Medical Journal, examined the data on 35,024 women in England diagnosed with DCIS through the NHS Breast Screening Programme between its initiation in 1988 and March 2014. It combined ONS mortality data with Hospital Episode Statistics from NHS Digital to show the rate at which women went on to develop invasive breast cancer was more than double the rate expected from the general population. The mortality rates were 70 per cent higher than expected. The increased risks lasted for at least 20 years.

Governing Body Fellow Professor Sarah C Darby, who supervised Dr Mannu during his time at Green Templeton, led the research. She said: “This is the first time we have been able to describe long term outcomes following a diagnosis of DCIS through the screening program and to show that the risks remain higher than those of women in the general population even with treatment.

“While this is concerning, understanding more about these risks puts us in a better position to make informed decisions about how to treat and monitor women with DCIS to give them the best possible care and save lives.”

In conferring the honour, the ONS said the project will have important future implications for the treatment of patients with this kind of early stage breast cancer.

The UK’s National Statistician Sir Ian Diamond said: “These awards recognise and celebrate outstanding, innovative research carried out using ONS secure data or data managed by ONS on behalf of others. Dr Mannu’s research was selected as the worthy winner in a year that has seen an exceptional standard of entries. The potential impact of this work highlights the vital importance of sharing and linking data.”

Dr Mannu is an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in General Surgery and a Research Fellow in Cancer Surgery in the University.