Sarah Darby

Last updated
Sarah Darby
FRS
Born
Sarah C. Darby
Education Imperial College London (BSc)
University of Birmingham (MSc)
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields Epidemiology
Statistics
Cancer
Institutions University of Oxford
Radcliffe Infirmary
St Thomas's Hospital Medical School
National Radiological Protection Board
Radiation Effects Research Foundation
Thesis A Bayesian Approach to Parallel Line Bioassay  (1977)
Doctoral students Helen Weiss
Website www.ndph.ox.ac.uk/team/sarah-darby

Sarah C. Darby FRS is professor of medical statistics at the University of Oxford. [1] Her research has focused the beneficial effects of smoking cessation, the risk of lung cancer from residential radon, [2] and treatments for early breast cancer. [3] She is also a principal scientist with the Cancer Research UK in the Clinical Trial Service Unit (CTSU) and Epidemiological Studies Unit at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. [4] [5]

Contents

Education

Darby studied mathematics at Imperial College London (BSc) and mathematical statistics at the University of Birmingham (MSc). [6] She completed her PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1977, where her research investigated Bayesian approaches to analysing bioassays. [7]

Career and research

After her PhD, she worked at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, the National Radiological Protection Board, and the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, before moving to the University of Oxford in 1984. Her major funder since then has been Cancer Research UK. [6]

Darby and her team have demonstrated that there is a linear relationship between the dose of radiation delivered incidentally to the heart during breast cancer radiotherapy and the subsequent risk of ischaemic heart disease, and that the absolute size of the radiation-related risk is bigger for women already at increased risk of heart disease. [6] [8]

She and her team have also estimated the absolute size of the benefit of radiotherapy to breast cancer patients and their work is enabling comparison of the likely absolute benefit of radiotherapy with its likely absolute risk for individual patients. [6] Therefore, it is now becoming possible to assess which patients can receive standard radiotherapy, which should be considered for advanced techniques, and which should avoid radiotherapy altogether. [6] [9]

Other topics that Darby has worked on include estimating the risk of lung cancer from residential radon, the risk of invasive breast cancer after a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ , and the risk of cancer after computerised tomography (CT) scans in young people. [6] [10]

Awards and honours

Darby was awarded the Guy Medal in Bronze in 1988 by the Royal Statistical Society. [11] She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2019. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lung cancer</span> Malignant tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in lung tissue

Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged airway cells gain the ability to multiply unchecked, causing the growth of a tumor. Without treatment, tumors spread throughout the lung, damaging lung function. Eventually lung tumors metastasize, spreading to other parts of the body.

Radon is a chemical element; it has symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive noble gas and is colorless and odorless. Of the three naturally occurring radon isotopes, only 222Rn has a sufficiently long half-life for it to be released from the soil and rock where it is generated. Radon isotopes are the immediate decay products of radium isotopes. The instability of 222Rn, its most stable isotope, makes radon one of the rarest elements. Radon will be present on Earth for several billion more years despite its short half-life, because it is constantly being produced as a step in the decay chains of 238U and 232Th, both of which are abundant radioactive nuclides with half-lives of at least several billion years. The decay of radon produces many other short-lived nuclides, known as "radon daughters", ending at stable isotopes of lead. 222Rn occurs in significant quantities as a step in the normal radioactive decay chain of 238U, also known as the uranium series, which slowly decays into a variety of radioactive nuclides and eventually decays into stable 206Pb. 220Rn occurs in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the decay chain of 232Th, also known as the thorium series, which eventually decays into stable 208Pb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancer</span> Group of diseases involving cell growth

Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, and a change in bowel movements. While these symptoms may indicate cancer, they can also have other causes. Over 100 types of cancers affect humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brachytherapy</span> Type of radiation therapy

Brachytherapy is a form of radiation therapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment. The word "brachytherapy" comes from the Greek word βραχύς, brachys, meaning "short-distance" or "short". Brachytherapy is commonly used as an effective treatment for cervical, prostate, breast, esophageal and skin cancer and can also be used to treat tumours in many other body sites. Treatment results have demonstrated that the cancer-cure rates of brachytherapy are either comparable to surgery and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or are improved when used in combination with these techniques. Brachytherapy can be used alone or in combination with other therapies such as surgery, EBRT and chemotherapy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passive smoking</span> Inhalation of tobacco smoke by persons other than the intended active smoker

Passive smoking is the inhalation of tobacco smoke, called passive smoke, secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), by individuals other than the active smoker. It occurs when tobacco smoke diffuses into the surrounding atmosphere as an aerosol pollutant, which leads to its inhalation by nearby bystanders within the same environment. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes many of the same health effects caused by active smoking, although at a lower prevalence due to the reduced concentration of smoke that enters the airway.

In epidemiology, a risk factor or determinant is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Health Initiative</span> Long-term U.S. health study

The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) was a series of clinical studies initiated by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1991, to address major health issues causing morbidity and mortality in postmenopausal women. It consisted of three clinical trials (CT) and an observational study (OS). In particular, randomized controlled trials were designed and funded that addressed cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis.

Sir Richard Peto is an English statistician and epidemiologist who is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, England.

Adjuvant therapy, also known as adjunct therapy, adjuvant care, or augmentation therapy, is a therapy that is given in addition to the primary or initial therapy to maximize its effectiveness. The surgeries and complex treatment regimens used in cancer therapy have led the term to be used mainly to describe adjuvant cancer treatments. An example of such adjuvant therapy is the additional treatment usually given after surgery where all detectable disease has been removed, but where there remains a statistical risk of relapse due to the presence of undetected disease. If known disease is left behind following surgery, then further treatment is not technically adjuvant.

Overdiagnosis is the diagnosis of disease that will never cause symptoms or death during a patient's ordinarily expected lifetime and thus presents no practical threat regardless of being pathologic. Overdiagnosis is a side effect of screening for early forms of disease. Although screening saves lives in some cases, in others it may turn people into patients unnecessarily and may lead to treatments that do no good and perhaps do harm. Given the tremendous variability that is normal in biology, it is inherent that the more one screens, the more incidental findings will generally be found. For a large percentage of them, the most appropriate medical response is to recognize them as something that does not require intervention; but determining which action a particular finding warrants can be very difficult, whether because the differential diagnosis is uncertain or because the risk ratio is uncertain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health effects of tobacco</span> Circumstances, mechanisms, and factors of tobacco consumption on human health

Tobacco products, especially when smoked or used orally, have serious negative effects on human health. Smoking and smokeless tobacco use are the single greatest causes of preventable death globally. Half of tobacco users die from complications related to such use. Current smokers are estimated to die an average of 10 years earlier than non-smokers. The World Health Organization estimates that, in total, about 8 million people die from tobacco-related causes, including 1.3 million non-smokers due to secondhand smoke. It is further estimated to have caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radium and radon in the environment</span> Significant contributors to environmental radioactivity

Radium and radon are important contributors to environmental radioactivity. Radon occurs naturally as a result of decay of radioactive elements in soil and it can accumulate in houses built on areas where such decay occurs. Radon is a major cause of cancer; it is estimated to contribute to ~2% of all cancer related deaths in Europe.

The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study is a Europe-wide prospective cohort study of the relationships between diet and cancer, as well as other chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease. With over half a million participants, it is the largest study of diet and disease to be undertaken.

Ductal carcinoma <i>in situ</i> Pre-cancerous breast lesion

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as intraductal carcinoma, is a pre-cancerous or non-invasive cancerous lesion of the breast. DCIS is classified as Stage 0. It rarely produces symptoms or a breast lump that can be felt, typically being detected through screening mammography. It has been diagnosed in a significant percentage of men.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also known as menopausal hormone therapy or postmenopausal hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms associated with female menopause. Effects of menopause can include symptoms such as hot flashes, accelerated skin aging, vaginal dryness, decreased muscle mass, and complications such as osteoporosis, sexual dysfunction, and vaginal atrophy. They are mostly caused by low levels of female sex hormones that occur during menopause.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Targeted intra-operative radiotherapy</span> Method of targeted radiotherapy after surgical removal of tumours

Targeted intra-operative radiotherapy, also known as targeted IORT, is a technique of giving radiotherapy to the tissues surrounding a cancer after its surgical removal, a form of intraoperative radiation therapy. The technique was designed in 1998 at the University College London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemiology of breast cancer</span>

Worldwide, breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in women. Breast cancer comprises 22.9% of invasive cancers in women and 16% of all female cancers.

The association between obesity, as defined by a body mass index of 30 or higher, and risk of a variety of types of cancer has received a considerable amount of attention in recent years. Obesity has been associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer, liver cancer and gallbladder cancer. Obesity may also lead to increased cancer-related mortality. Obesity has also been described as the fat tissue disease version of cancer, where common features between the two diseases were suggested for the first time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roel Vermeulen</span> Dutch epidemiologist

Roel Vermeulen is a Dutch scientist and professor of Environmental epidemiology and Exposome Science at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University and the Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care at the University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. In 2024 Prof. Vermeulen was appointed as Distinguished University Professor of Utrecht University in which role he will focus on the theme of planetary and preventive health.

Francine Laden is an American epidemiologist who is Professor of Environmental Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research has investigated the environmental epidemiology of chronic disease. She serves as co-director of the Harvard University and Boston University center for research on environmental and social stressors in housing across the life course. Laden has also served on the United States Environmental Protection Agency advisory board.

References

  1. "UK Health Protection Agency entry". hpa.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2006-11-27.
  2. Darby, S. C.; Whitely, E.; Howe, G. R.; Hutchings, S. J.; Kusiak, R. A.; Lubin, J. H.; Morrison, H. I.; Tirmarche, M.; Tomasek, L.; Radford, E. P.; Roscoe, R. J.; Samet, J. M.; Yao, S. X. (1995). "Radon and Cancers Other Than Lung Cancer in Underground Miners: a Collaborative Analysis of 11 Studies". JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 87 (5): 378–384. doi:10.1093/jnci/87.5.378. ISSN   0027-8874. PMID   7853419.
  3. Sarah Darby publications from Europe PubMed Central
  4. Darby, Sarah C; Ewart, David W; Giangrande, Paul LF; Spooner, Rosemary JD; Rizza, Charles R; Dusheiko, Geoffrey M; Lee, Christine A; Ludlam, Christopher A; Preston, F Eric (1997). "Mortality from liver cancer and liver disease in haemophilic men and boys in UK given blood products contaminated with hepatitis C". The Lancet. 350 (9089): 1425–1431. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)05413-5. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   9371165. S2CID   20692603.
  5. Darby, Sarah C.; Kan, Sau Wan; Spooner, Rosemary J.; Giangrande, Paul L. F.; Hill, Frank G. H.; Hay, Charles R. M.; Lee, Christine A.; Ludlam, Christopher A.; Williams, Michael (2007). "Mortality rates, life expectancy, and causes of death in people with hemophilia A or B in the United Kingdom who were not infected with HIV". Blood. 110 (3): 815–825. doi: 10.1182/blood-2006-10-050435 . ISSN   0006-4971. PMID   17446349.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Anon (2019). "Sarah Darby". royalsociety.org. London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2019-04-24. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
    “All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.” --Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies at the Wayback Machine (archived 2016-11-11)
  7. Darby, Sarah C. (1977). A Bayesian Approach to Parallel Line Bioassay. jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London). OCLC   1124248683. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.452976.
  8. Darby, Sarah C.; Ewertz, Marianne; McGale, Paul; Bennet, Anna M.; Blom-Goldman, Ulla; Brønnum, Dorthe; Correa, Candace; Cutter, David; Gagliardi, Giovanna; Gigante, Bruna; Jensen, Maj-Britt; Nisbet, Andrew; Peto, Richard; Rahimi, Kazem; Taylor, Carolyn; Hall, Per (2013). "Risk of Ischemic Heart Disease in Women after Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer" (PDF). New England Journal of Medicine. 368 (11): 987–998. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1209825. hdl:10616/41712. ISSN   0028-4793. PMID   23484825. S2CID   31409740.
  9. Darby, Sarah C; McGale, Paul; Taylor, Carolyn W; Peto, Richard (2005). "Long-term mortality from heart disease and lung cancer after radiotherapy for early breast cancer: prospective cohort study of about 300 000 women in US SEER cancer registries". The Lancet Oncology. 6 (8): 557–565. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(05)70251-5. ISSN   1470-2045. PMID   16054566.
  10. Mathews, J. D.; Forsythe, A. V.; Brady, Z.; Butler, M. W.; Goergen, S. K.; Byrnes, G. B.; Giles, G. G.; Wallace, A. B.; Anderson, P. R.; Guiver, T. A.; McGale, P.; Cain, T. M.; Dowty, J. G.; Bickerstaffe, A. C.; Darby, S. C. (2013). "Cancer risk in 680 000 people exposed to computed tomography scans in childhood or adolescence: data linkage study of 11 million Australians". BMJ. 346 (1): f2360. doi:10.1136/bmj.f2360. ISSN   1756-1833. PMC   3660619 . PMID   23694687.
  11. Royal Statistical Society Guy Medal in Bronze, MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive