Professor Richard Martin
B.Med.Sci., B.M.,B.S.(Nott.), M.Sc.(Lond.), M.R.C.G.P., PhD
Current positions
Associate Pro Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation) & Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
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Research interests
My current principal areas of research are: i) prostate cancer aetiology (with a focus on metabolic factors such as the IGF system), predicting its progression and secondary and tertiary prevention of the disease via population-based screening and low-toxicity nutritional and lifestyle interventions; ii) the short- and long-term child and adult health effects of breastfeeding and early growth; and iii) uncovering unexpected beneficial and adverse effects of commonly prescribed drugs through pharmaco-epidemiological studies based on automated clinical databases such as the UK GPRD. I am lead principal investigator (with Jenny Donovan, Freddie Hamdy and David Neal) on a population-based cluster randomised controlled trial of PSA testing for prostate cancer (the CAP trial) that involves over 410,000 UK men and co-principal investigator (with Mike Kramer and Emily Oken) on the long-term follow-up of a cluster randomised controlled trial of a breastfeeding promotion intervention that involves over 17,000 children in the Republic of Belarus (the PROBIT trial). I am lead principal investigator (with Professor Caroline Relton) on a £4.1 million CRUK programme grant in Integrative Cancer Epidemiology, combining genetic, metabolomic and epigenetic technologies to understand causal risk factors, mechanistic targets and predictive biomarkers in a variety of cancers. In was co-PI with Dr Sarah Lewis on the WCRF funded project to develop systematic review methodology for mechanistic studies. I lead a cancer work-stream within the Bristol NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. I am interested in robustly assessing the causality of observational associations using instrumental variables analysis, working in collaboration with Frank Windmeijer, George Davey Smith, Tom Palmer and Neil Davies. With Willie Hamilton, Mike Stevens, Rachel Dommet and Theresa Redaniel, I have a developing interest in the presentation and diagnosis of childhood, teenage and young adult cancers in primary care.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
BRC2 - Diet and Physical Activity Theme
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/12/2022 to 30/11/2027
8074 (C18281/A29019) ICEP2 - Programme Award: Towards improved casual evidence and enhanced prediction of cancer risk and survival
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/10/2020 to 30/09/2025
MRC (EBI) Proximity to Discovery Award - Venexia Walker
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/03/2017 to 31/08/2017
Costs for Richard Martin (Cranfield University)
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/09/2013 to 01/09/2016
IEU - UWA 2
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/06/2013 to 31/03/2018
Publications
Recent publications
31/01/2024Association between circulating inflammatory markers and adult cancer risk
EBioMedicine
Body size and risk of colorectal cancer molecular defined subtypes and pathways
EBioMedicine
Causal estimation of long-term intervention cost-effectiveness using genetic instrumental variables
Medical Decision Making
Exploring the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adolescent cancer risk behaviours in the ALSPAC cohort
BMC Public Health
Genome-wide association studies and Mendelian randomization analyses provide insights into the causes of early-onset colorectal cancer
Annals of Oncology