Dr Lavinia Ferrante di Ruffano

Lavinia Ferrante di Ruffano

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Honorary Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7691
Email
l.ferrantediruffano@bham.ac.uk
Address
Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Institute of Applied Health Research
Public Health Building
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Lavinia Ferrante di Ruffano is a methodologist working in the Medical Test and Biomarker Evaluation Research Group, led by Professor Jon Deeks. Her main research focus is developing the methods for evaluating the clinical effectiveness of diagnostic tests.

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. University 麻豆精选, 2012
  • M.Sc. Palaeoecology, UCL, 2003
  • B.Sc. (Hons) Archaeology, UCL, 2001

Biography

My background is in palaeoepidemiology and palaeopathology, the analysis of human skeletal remains and reconstruction of ancient patterns of disease. I qualified as an archaeologist in 2001, and after a year in commercial archaeology specialised as human osteologist at UCL. After a few years of working as an independent specialist, I decided to commit my skills to the world of the living and took up a research position with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. There I contributed to the clinical guideline publication The Physical Signs of Child Sexual Abuse, the result of a comprehensive, expert-led systematic review.

In 2007 I joined the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology & Biostatistics to develop the methods used to evaluate diagnostic tests under Prof. Jon Deeks and funded by the MRC Methodology Programme.

I am particularly interested in developing the theory that underpins our understanding of how patients' health may be changed by the tests they receive in healthcare, and how clinicians’ behaviour responds to different testing strategies.

Teaching

  • Epidemiological Methods to third year medical students,
  • Clinical epidemiology SGT sessions, Year 1 medical students
  • HTA+Evidence Synthesis MSc

Doctoral research

PhD title
Using randomised controlled trials to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of diagnostic tests: How useful are test-treatment RCTs?

Research

I recently finished a methodological analysis of Test-Treatment RCTs aiming to investigate how reliable and informative these designs are for evaluating the clinical effectiveness of diagnostic tests.

In work as a methodologist on several prospective primary evaluations of diagnostic test performance and effectiveness.

Other activities

As a member of the Medical Test and Biomarker Evaluation Research Group, I help to organise the biennial international symposium: Methods for Evaluating Tests and Biomarkers. This is a two-day research conference to promote and discuss the challenging methodological issues surrounding medical test evaluation.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Martindale, APL, Ng, B, Ngai, V, Kale, AU, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Golub, RM, Collins, GS, Moher, D, McCradden, MD, Oakden-Rayner, L, Rivera, SC, Calvert, M, Kelly, CJ, Lee, CS, Yau, C, Chan, A-W, Keane, PA, Beam, AL, Denniston, AK & Liu, X 2024, '', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 1619.

Grazadio, S, Gregg, E, Allen, AJ, Neveux, P, Monz, BU, Davenport, C, Mealing, S, Holmes, H & Ferrante di Ruffano, L 2024, '', Value in Health, vol. 27, no. 5, pp. 585-597.

Ferrante di ruffano, L, Harris, IM, Zhelev, Z, Davenport, C, Mallett, S, Peters, J, Takwoingi, Y, Deeks, J & Hyde, C 2023, '', International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, vol. 39, no. 1, e14.

Cochrane COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Accuracy Group 2021, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 2021, no. 3, CD013705.

Cochrane COVID-19 Diagnostic Test Accuracy Group, Dinnes, J, Deeks, J, Adriano, A, Berhane, S, Davenport, C, Dittrich, S, Emperador, D, Takwoingi, Y, Cunningham , J, Beese, S, Dretzke, J, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Harris, I, Price, M, Taylor-Phillips, S, Hooft, L, Leeflang, MMG, Spijker, R & Van De Bruel, A 2020, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 8, CD013705.

Taylor-Phillips, S, Stinton, C, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Seedat, F, Clarke, A & Deeks, J 2018, '', BMJ, vol. 361, k1612.

Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Takwoingi, Y, Dinnes, J, Chuchu, N, Bayliss, S, Davenport, C, Matin, RN, Godfrey, K, O'Sullivan, C, Gulati, A, Chan, SA, Durack, A, O'Connell, S, Gardiner, MD, Bamber, J, Deeks, J & Williams, HC 2018, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 12, CD013186.

Cochrane Skin Cancer Diagnostic Test Accuracy Group 2018, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 2018, no. 12, CD011902.

Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Dinnes, J, Chuchu, N, Bayliss, S, Takwoingi, Y, Davenport, C, Matin, RN, O'Sullivan, C, Roskell, D, Deeks, J & Williams, HC 2018, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 12, CD013187.

Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Dinnes, J, Deeks, J, Chuchu, N, Bayliss, S, Davenport, C, Takwoingi, Y, Godfrey, K, O'Sullivan, C, Matin, RN, Tehrani, H & Williams, HC 2018, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 12, CD013189.

Dinnes, J, Deeks, J, Grainge, MJ, Chuchu, N, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Matin, RN, Thomson, DR, Wong, KY, Aldridge, RB, Abbott, R, Fawzy, M, Bayliss, S, Takwoingi, Y, Davenport, C, Godfrey, K, Walter, FM & Williams, HC 2018, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, no. 12, CD013194.

Comment/debate

CONSORT-AI steering group & SPIRIT-AI Steering Group 2019, '', Nature Medicine, vol. 25, no. 10, pp. 1467-1468.

Review article

Aiyegbusi, OL, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Retzer, A, Newsome, P, Buckley, C & Calvert, M 2022, '', Trials, vol. 23, no. 1, 42.

Deeks, J, Dinnes, J, Takwoingi, Y, Davenport, C, Spijker, R, Taylor-Phillips, S, Adriano, A, Beese, S, Dretzke, J, Ferrante di Ruffano, L, Harris, I, Price, M, Dittrich, S, Emperador, D, Hooft, L, Leeflang, MMG, Van De Bruel, A, McInnes, MDF, Stuyf, T, Domen, J, Horn, S, Yang, B, Langendam, M, Ochodo, E, Guleid, F, Holtman, G, Verbakel, J, Stegeman, I, Salameh , JP, McGrath , TA, van der Pol , CB, Frank , RA, Prager , R, Hare , SS, Dennie , C, Jenniskens, K, Korevaar , DA, Cohen , JF, van de Wijgert, J, Damen , JAAG, Agarwal, R, Baldwin, S, Berhane, S, Herd, C, Kristunas, C, Quinn, L & Scholefield, B 2020, '', Cochrane Library, vol. 2020, no. 6, CD013652.

Cochrane Skin Cancer Diagnostic Test Accuracy Group 2019, '', Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, vol. 2019, no. 7, CD012806.