Dr Juliet Usher-SmithAcademic

Biography

Dr Juliet Usher-Smith is an Associate Professor in General Practice and Head of the Primary Care Unit in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. She graduated from Cambridge in 2007 with an MA MB BChir and a PhD in skeletal muscle physiology, joining the Primary Care Unit in 2009, and prior to her current appointment held personal Fellowships as a Clinical Lecturer, a Cancer Research UK Prevention Fellow, and an NIHR Advanced Fellow. She continues to practise as a General Practitioner in Cambridge and is a Fellow and Director of Studies for Clinical Medicine at Emmanuel College. Her research focuses on optimising the implementation of risk-stratified medicine to promote prevention and early detection of cancer and cardiovascular disease, spanning the development and validation of risk models through to societal, psychological and system-level aspects of implementation. She has argued publicly that current NICE criteria used in general practice miss the great majority of women under 50 who will go on to develop breast cancer, and has led calls for proactive, risk-based screening approaches in primary care.

References

1. 1.Dr Juliet Usher-Smith | Department of Public Health and Primary Care (PHPC) — Current role as Associate Professor in General Practice, career history, research focus, current projects, and departmental education leadership roles
2. 2.Dr Juliet Usher-Smith | Cambridge Cardiovascular — Confirms Associate Professor title, GP practice continuation, Fellowship at Emmanuel College, and research focus on risk-stratified medicine for cancer and cardiovascular disease
3. 3.National media spotlight on Cambridge-led breast cancer risk research | PHPC — Establishes her as lead/senior author on high-profile breast cancer risk research covered by ITV News, and her public commentary on NICE criteria gaps
4. 4.NIHR awards for Dr Hannah Harrison and Dr Juliet Usher-Smith - Primary Care Unit — Evidences NIHR Advanced Fellowship award and her programme on risk stratification in bowel cancer screening

Expertise

Cited on

• Cancer

Stated areas of expertise

• Cancer risk stratification
• Risk-based cancer screening
• Primary care research
• Cancer prevention
• Cardiovascular disease risk
• Bowel cancer screening policy

Notable achievements

• Awarded an NIHR Advanced Fellowship (NIHR300861) to develop a strategy for implementation of risk stratification into bowel cancer screening. Source ↗
• Awarded a grant of almost £65,000 from Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer to investigate risk-stratified invitations to the national bowel cancer screening programme. Source ↗
• Lead/senior author on research finding that NICE criteria for GP breast cancer referral miss up to 95% of women under 50 who will go on to develop the disease, covered by ITV News and specialist medical press. Source ↗
• Appointed Head of the Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge (confirmed on the PCU staff directory). Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “We need to get better at identifying women at highest risk of breast cancer so that we can intervene early, when there are more options for treating, or even preventing, their disease. The current Nice criteria used in general practice are missing up to 95% of women under 50 who will go on to develop breast cancer.”

  University of Cambridge · Cancer · 12 Aug 2026 · GPs’ breast cancer guidelines ‘miss’ 95% of young women who will develop disease ↗

Source references

1. GPs’ breast cancer guidelines ‘miss’ 95% of young women who will develop diseasetheguardian.com · 12 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.phpc.cam.ac.uk/staff/dr-juliet-usher-smith
• Xhttps://x.com/julietu_spublished here ↗
• ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8501-2531
• Press office emailPCU-Communications@medschl.cam.ac.ukpublished here ↗

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