Dr Jacqueline Dinnes MA, MSc, PhD

• PhD in Public Health and Medical Statistics, University of Southampton, 2009
• MSc (Res) in Public Health and Health Services Research, University of Aberdeen, 2001
• PG Dipl in Information Analysis, Robert Gordon University, 1994
• MA (Hons) Economic Science, University of Aberdeen, 1993

Jac Dinnes qualified with an MA (Hons) in Economic Science from the University of Aberdeen in 1993. She then completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Information Analysis and went on to work as a systematic reviewer for the NHS in Scotland, advising Health Boards on major purchasing decisions. Since 1998 she has held academic positions at the University of York (UK) and the University of Southampton (UK) before taking on her role at the University of Birmingham in 2009. She has completed a Masters degree in Public Health and a PhD concerned with the investigation of spectrum effects in diagnostic test accuracy systematic reviews.

Jac is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Birmingham. She is a methodologist with a large and sustained portfolio of systematic reviews and publications from methodological projects related to the evaluation of medical tests for diagnosis and screening. She is a deputy theme lead for the Data, Diagnostics and Decision Tools theme at the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Centre and a project lead for the NIHR West Midlands Evidence Synthesis Group (WM-ESG) and NIHR Warwick-Birmingham Screening Evidence Synthesis Group (WeBS-ESG).

Jac’s current research topics of interest include methods for the evaluation of newborn bloodspot screening programmes and the development of practical tools to guide the efficient development and evaluation of diagnostic tests, with a particular emphasis on early identification of ways in which a test might create benefit in a defined clinical pathway.

• MBChB (3^rd year) - Health Improvement Evidence Review (HIER) module advisor
• MPH – Systematic reviews and evidence synthesis module
• CPD - Systematic Reviews and meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy
• CPD – Evaluating medical tests

• Trystan MacDonald. Diabetic eye screening using machine learning enabled automated retinal imaging analysis software, a target product profile for England (DART). Started 2022. Co-supervisor
• Konstantinos Tryposkiadis. Evaluating whether biomarkers are fit for use as outcome measures (BRC PhD studentship). PhD Completed 2023. Co-supervisor.
• Alice Sitch. Modelling optimal use of tests for monitoring disease progression and recurrence. PhD Completed 2019. Co-supervisor. 

Jac is a methodologist with a large and sustained portfolio of systematic reviews and publications from methodological projects related to the evaluation of medical tests for diagnosis and screening.

Evidence synthesis

Jac is a project lead for the NIHR West Midlands Evidence Synthesis Group (WM-ESG) and co-applicant NIHR Warwick-Birmingham Screening Evidence Synthesis Group (WeBS-ESG). Recent projects focus on methods for the evaluation of newborn screening, including whole genome sequencing of newborns and more traditional approaches to newborn bloodspot screening.

Jac is a deputy theme lead for the Data, Diagnostics and Decision Tools theme for the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre, advising clinicians on appropriate methodology for conducting systematic reviews. She co-led the international Cochrane COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Accuracy Group which included representatives from WHO and FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics). A suite of eight systematic reviews to cover the roles of tests and characteristics in the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 were produced along with a total of 10 review updates.  Prior to this Jac was chief investigator on an NIHR funded suite of Cochrane Reviews on the diagnosis and staging of skin cancer in collaboration with the Centre for Evidence Based Dermatology at the University of Nottingham. This consisted of a total of 13 reviews of over 400 diagnostic test accuracy studies. These reviews informed the decision by NICE to update the guideline on the management of melanoma in 2022 (previously last updated in 2015).

Methods for test evaluation

Jac’s current research topics of interest include methods for the evaluation of newborn bloodspot screening programmes and the development of practical tools to guide the efficient development and evaluation of diagnostic tests, with a particular emphasis on early identification of ways in which a test might create benefit in a defined clinical pathway. She also co-leads a CR-UK funded project evaluating the use of target profile profiles as a means of focusing innovation and research in early cancer diagnostics.

Jac is a steering group member for FIND-DC (Establishing the Framework for INforming Development of Diagnostic Criteria) and has contributed to the development of a number of international reporting guidelines and quality assessment tools for test evaluation studies. She co-authored two chapters in the recently published Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Test Accuracy and is an Editor for Cochrane Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews of the Cochrane Library and an Associate Editor for Diagnostic and Prognostic Research. 

Research groups and centres

• Biostatistics, Evidence Synthesis, Test Evaluation and prediction Models, Department of Applied Health Sciences, University of Birmingham
• NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre
• NIHR Warwick-Birmingham Screening Evidence Synthesis Group (WeBS-ESG)
• NIHR West Midlands Evidence Synthesis Group (WM-ESG)
• Cochrane
• Cochrane Methods, Screening and Diagnostic Tests
• Amsterdam University Medical Centres
• University of Adelaide

• Editor, Cochrane Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews of the Cochrane Library (2020-)
• Member, Cochrane Screening and Diagnostic Test Methods Group. The Methods Group brings together expertise in study identification, risk of bias assessment, meta-analysis and interpretation of diagnostic accuracy reviews.
• Advisory group member for international reporting guidelines and quality assessment tools for test accuracy studies, most recently including the Standards for Reporting Diagnostic accuracy studies (STARD)
• ReLabel project to improve the reporting and communication of diagnostic accuracy studies, STARD Artificial Intelligence (STARD-AI) reporting guidelines and an expansion of the quality assessment tool for diagnostic accuracy studies to the assessment of studies comparing two or more tests (QUADAS-C).