Researchers from the University of Stirling have won a share of a £1million funding boost for lung cancer research.
The pilot research project will investigate if people who present themselves to pharmacies for help in quitting smoking would benefit from early lung cancer screening.
The research is being led by Josie Evans, Senior Lecturer in Public Health at the University and Andrew Radley, a pharmacist and consultant in Public Health in NHS Tayside.
Dr Josie Evans said: “We are using routinely collected data in Tayside to determine whether it might be worth screening certain people for lung cancer in community pharmacies, thereby leading to earlier diagnosis of lung cancer. We are very grateful to the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation for supporting this pilot project in its early stages.”
The research project is one of nine studies across the UK to receive funding from the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
Consultant oncologist David Gilligan, who is head of the charity’s grants committee, said: “Considering the fact it kills more people than any other cancer, lung cancer research is shockingly underfunded. We are delighted to be able to announce these new projects, which we hope will eventually make a real difference to how lung cancer is diagnosed and how patients are treated. None of this would be possible without the generous donations from the public and, in particular, the legacies we have received which fund one in three of all our research projects.”