Professor Sara MacLennan

Biography

I am a psychosocial oncologist and a health psychologist with expertise in qualitative research methodology. I pursue an interdisciplinary approach building multi-stakeholder working in cancer care and have established global partnerships of academics, patients, non-profit organisations, professional organisations and policy makers.

Aberdeen Applied Cancer Research Group (ICANTREAT):

I lead the Aberdeen Applied Cancer Research Group (ICANTREAT)

https://icantreat.org/

The group's research strategy focuses on understanding the impact of cancer and treatment on individual’s lives and methods for involving different stakeholder groups, particularly patients, in the design and delivery of care.

I am Deputy Director of the Academic Urology Unit, Director of Operations for UCAN (Urological CANcer charity) and hold an honorary contract with NHS Grampian. I am an Honorary Research Fellow, Birkbeck University of London. I am a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a registered health psychologist (Health & Care Professions Council).

 Current projects include:

Stakeholder engagement in the design and implementation of cancer care:

ICANBE – Managing Fear of Cancer Recurrence

EVOLVE – Giving cancer patients a meaningful voice within the design and delivery of clinical practice guidelines

ICANTREATNEPAL / ICANTREATINDIA – Increasing participation in cancer screening and treatment in India & Nepal (International Global Health Network)

PARTNER –Men’s prostate cancer treatment preferences

OPTIMA – Optimal treatments for patients with solid tumours in Europe through AI

PIONEER – Enhancing prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment through the power of big data in Europe

Example of Impact:

 I am to keen to supervise PhD students interested in working in cancer survivorship and supportive care.

Research Overview

I am a psychosocial oncologist and a health psychologist with expertise in qualitative research methodology. I pursue an interdisciplinary approach building multi-stakeholder working in cancer care and have established global partnerships of academics, patients, non-profit organisations, professional organisations and policy makers. Key to this is an understanding of processes within the delivery of routine clinical care. My research expertise includes process evaluation.

My research strategy focuses on understanding the impact of cancer and treatment on individual’s lives and methods for involving different stakeholder groups, particularly patients, in the design and delivery of care.

Current Research

I currently have eleven funded projects (total awards £5,644,624) across three themes:

Stakeholder engagement in the design and implementation of cancer care (Developed and Lead Projects):

1. ICANBE – Fear of Cancer Recurrence
2. EVOLVE – Giving cancer patient’s a meaningful voice within the design and delivery of clinical practice guidelines across Europe
3. PIONEER – Enhancing prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment through the power of big data in Europe; €12,000,000 EU grant (Lead for Aberdeen)
4. ICANTREAT – Increasing participation in breast cancer screening and treatment in Nepal and in Uganda; screening and treatment inequalities in India (International Global Health Research Group)

The design and implementation of better cancer care (Co-applicant):

5. OPTIMA – Optimal treatments for patients with solid tumours in Europe through AI
6. PARTNER – Men’s prostate cancer treatment preferences
7. ICAN – Improving understanding of Urological cancer (Cancer Research Group)
8. RCOS – Kidney Cancer core outcome set

The design and delivery of care and after care - Urology and other long-term conditions (Co-applicant)

9. SIMS LTFU – Surgical management of female stress urinary incontinence
10. CATHETER II – Understanding the patient experience of care; embedded qualitative study within a clinical trial to look at Catheter washout policies
11. PACFIND – Patient-centred care for Fibromyalgia

Funding and Grants

£1,185,670 Arthritis UK (2019 – 2024). Patient-centred Care for Fibromyalgia: New pathway Design (PACFIND). MacFarlane, G [PI], Maclennan SJ et al. [co-applicants]

£24,537 NHS Grampian. (2018-2019). Achieving Self-Directed Integrated Cancer Aftercare (ASICA): developing digitally supported cancer aftercare to achieve high quality, equitable care for diverse populations. Murchie, P [PI], Maclennan SJ et al. [co-applicants]

£9,805 GCRF-IPPF3 (2018). Increasing participation in breast cancer screening and treatment within Manipal, India (CANTREAT). MacLennan, SJ., & Poobalan, A.

£5,341,011 EU IMI (2018-2023). Prostate Cancer Diagnosis and TreatmeNt Enhancement through the Power of Big Data in EuRope – PIONEER (2018 – 2023). PIONEER Consortium – MacLennan SJ – lead applicant for University of Aberdeen group.

£2,271,424 NIHR HTA (2018-2023) Randomised Controlled Trial CompAring THE Clinical And CosT- Effectiveness Of Various Washout Policies Versus No Washout Policy In Preventing Catheter Associated Complications In Adults Living With Long-Term Catheters (CATHETER II Study). Abdel-Fattah, M. [PI], Maclennan SJ et al. [co-applicants]

£175,000 NHS Grampian Endowments (via UCAN) (2018-2021). EVOLVE: Giving Patients a Meaningful Voice in the Design and Delivery of Care. S J MacLennan

£50,000 European Association of Urology (2017-2018). Review of Renal Cell Carcinoma: Muscle-invasive & Metastatic Bladder Cancer (Lymph node Dissection) & Penile Cancer. N’Dow, J., & MacLennan, S.J.

£123,357 UCAN (2017- 2019). Meeting the Needs of Patients: Developing Core outcome Sets for Urological Cancer. MacLennan, S.J.

€1,070    EU COST action STSM-IS1211-35195 (2016). Cancer and Work Participation: Research visit to Dr Angela de Boer, Coronel Institute for Occupational Health, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam. MacLennan, SJ.

 £11,548   NHS Grampian Endowments Award (2015 – 2016). Understanding the hard choices made by working women with breast cancer between treatment compliance and working on: clinical vs economic survival. Improving the Role of the NHS in Grampian. MacLennan SJ., Cox T., N’Dow, J & Heys, S.

 £750    Santander Mobility Award (2015), University of Aberdeen. Developing the METIS Collaboration: Cancer Survivorship, Work & Working Life. MacLennan SJ.

 £29,500   ESRC (2014 – 2017) Social Science Perspectives on the Working Lives of Those with Cancer: Psychosocial, Organisational and Economic Perspectives. Cox, T., MacLennan, SJ., Hassard, J., & Brown, H.

 £25,000 Birkbeck University of London (2014) The Metis Collaboration: Cancer Survivorship, Work & Working Life. MacLennan, SJ.

 £109,646    Macmillan Cancer Support (2013 – 2015) Cancer Survivorship: The Patient Journey, Work & Working Life.   MacLennan, SJ., Cox, T., & N’Dow, J.

 £1,426,755  Health Technology Assessment Programme (HTA) (2013 – 2017)Therapeutic Interventions for Stones of the Ureter (TISU): a multicentre randomised controlled trial of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy, as first treatment option, compared with direct progression to ureteroscopic retrieval, for ureteric stones. (McClinton,S., N’Dow, J., MacLennan, GS., Kilonzo, M., Keeley, F., Anson, K., Clark, C., Pickard, R., Norrie, J., MacLennan, SJ., Thomas, R., Starr, K., Burgess, N., Lam, T., Kurban, L.)

£292,253  Health Technology Assessment Programme (HTA) (2012 – 2015) Ablative therapy for men with localised prostate cancer (Ramsay, C., Pickard, R., Vale, L., Lam, T., Mowatt, G., MacLennan, SJ., Rushton, S., N’Dow, J., Merseburger, A., Shirley, M., & Heidenreich, A. )

 £176,903 Cancer Research Aberdeen & North East Scotland (CRANES) (2012 – 2015) Development of core outcomes for surgical management of localised prostate cancer to support decision-making by patients, clinicians and policy makers (Lam, T., N’Dow, J., MacLennan, SJ., Ramsay, C., & Campbell, M)

£24,680 The Prostate Cancer Charity Scotland (2011 – 2012) Support groups for men who have prostate cancer, their families and friends: identifying best practice models (MacLennan, SJ., Skea, Z, N’Dow, J & McCann, S)

£14,042 Scottish Cancer Research Network (2011 – 2012) Information for choice in urological cancer: What people need, prefer and use (MacLennan, SJ., & Skea, Z)

£10,317 Scottish Cancer Research Network (2010 – 2011) Delivering Peer Support Interventions in Urological Cancer (Employing a research nurse) (MacLennan, SJ., & N’Dow, J)

£150,700UCAN (Urological Cancer Charity) (2008 – 2013) Addressing the gaps in evidence for treatment of urological cancers (Employing a systematic reviewer) (N’Dow, J., MacLennan, SJ., & Imamura, M)

£165,975 The Scottish Government – CSO (2009 – 2012) Postdoctoral Training Fellowship in Health Services and Health of Public Research – The Acceptability and Usefulness of a Trial Participation Decision Aid: A Mixed Methods Study of Patients and Clinicians in the UK (Schumm, K., Campbell, M., Ramsay, C., N’Dow, J., Skea, Z., & MacLennan, SJ)

£245,482 UCAN (Urological Cancer Charity) (2009 – 2013) Information needs of those living with urological cancer (MacLennan, SJ)

£147,000 Macmillan in partnership with UCAN (2009 – 2012) Making life better for those living with urological cancer (MacLennan, SJ)