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Staff Profile

Dr Ruth Norris

Research Associate

  • Telephone: 0191 208 2271
Background

Ruth is a researcher within the Population Health Sciences Institute (PHSI) at Newcastle University. She is also a registered pharmacist.


Ruth completed her MPharm degree at Durham University before moving to Newcastle University to undertake a PhD in pharmacoepidemiology (socio-economic inequalities in the utilisation of novel anti-cancer therapies). 


In 2022, Ruth took up the role of Research Associate and now works on several research projects centred around cancer epidemiology and patient safety.


Ruth is Co-Deputy Lead for the NUPHSI Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) committee and a NU Women Steering Group Committee member.


Research

Ruth’s research to date has included: cancer treatment inequalities, medication adherence, routes to diagnosis, and survival outcomes. Primarily this work has focused on lung, breast, and head and neck cancers through statistical analyses of national cancer registration data. Additional quantitative work has involved using GP primary care data. Ruth has a real interest in understanding and reducing inequalities in cancer care.


Currently Ruth is based within Newcastle's Patient Safety Research Collaboration (PSRC) which aims to undertake research with the goal of improving healthcare safety where there are inequalities for those from disadvantaged communities. Investigating and explaining contemporary patterns and trends in inequalities (by region and deprivation) across the head and neck cancer pathway is an initial focus of Ruth's PSRC work.


Ruth also works on the Supporting Women with adhErence to hormonE Therapy following breast cancer (SWEET) project. This aims to assess a whether a theoretically-informed intervention can help reduce poor adherence, improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and reduce long-term recurrence in women prescribed hormone therapy for oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer.

Teaching

Ruth is a qualified teacher (PGCE, Durham University) and has previously worked for several years as an educator. She has helped with both Masters of Public Health and summer intern (methodology epidemiology) student supervision. Ruth has also supported the supervision of Academic Clinical Fellows in Medical Oncology.

Publications