Summary
Melody Ni joined Imperial College in 2007. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Dept of Surgery & Cancer. She has carried out a wide range of research in decision making, statistics, Bayesian networks, behavioural sciences and health technology assessments, with the overall aim of improving the quality of decision making in the contexts of surgical quality, patient safety and healthcare innovations.
Innovation and health technology assessments: Melody is a senior methodologist within the NIHR-London In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative, which comprises of a highly multi-disciplinary team working at the interface of research, clinical environments and technologies. Melody leads the HTA research theme, developing methods to enable more efficient translation of innovative technologies for the community, patients and clinicians.
Surgical quality and patient outcomes: Melody worked within the National Training Programme in Laparoscopic Colorectal Cancer Surgeries (Lapco), which trained 144 consultant colorectal surgeons in England between 2009 and 2013. Formative and summative assessment tools (GAS, CAT, mini-STTAR) have been developed and validated. Most recent research using HES data showed that Lapco delegates had better uptake of laparoscopic colorectal cancer surgeries as well as better clinical outcomes post-training. Lapco model has been adopted nationally and internationally for implementing emerging surgical techniques and technologies.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Savva K-V, Kawka M, Vadhwana B, et al., 2023, The Biomarker Toolkit - an evidence-based guideline to predict cancer biomarker success and guide development, BMC Medicine, Vol:21, ISSN:1741-7015
Manetti S, Lettieri E, Ni M, 2023, Development of Medical Device Key Evidence Tool ('MEDKET'): an evidence-based framework to explain success in selected European and US companies, PLOS One, Vol:18, ISSN:1932-6203
Banerjee J, McLister A, Gourin B, et al., 2023, Tributyrin ester-impregnated pH strips for confirming neonatal feeding tube placement: a diagnostic test accuracy study, Archives of Disease in Childhood-Fetal and Neonatal Edition, Vol:108, ISSN:1359-2998, Pages:433-434
Ni M, Adam ME, Akbar F, et al., 2021, Development and validation of ester impregnated pH strips for locating nasogastric feeding tubes in the stomach-a multicentre prospective diagnostic performance study., Diagnostic and Prognostic Research, Vol:5, ISSN:2397-7523, Pages:1-10
Vijayasingam A, Frost E, Wilkins J, et al., 2020, Tablet and web-based audiometry to screen for hearing loss in adults with cystic fibrosis, Thorax, Vol:75, ISSN:0040-6376, Pages:632-639
Markar SR, Ni M, Gisbertz SS, et al., 2020, Implementation of Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy From a Randomized Controlled Trial Setting to National Practice, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol:38, ISSN:0732-183X, Pages:2130-+
Markar SR, Ni M, Mackenzie H, et al., 2020, The effect of time between procedures upon the proficiency gain period for minimally invasive esophagectomy, Surgical Endoscopy and Other Interventional Techniques, Vol:34, ISSN:0930-2794, Pages:2703-2708
Harris A, Butterworth J, Boshier PR, et al., 2020, Development of a Reliable Surgical Quality Assurance System for 2-stage Esophagectomy in Randomized Controlled Trials., Ann Surg
Ni M, Borsci S, Walne S, et al., 2020, The Lean and Agile Multi-dimensional Process (LAMP) - a new framework for rapid and iterative evidence generation to support health-care technology design and development, Expert Review of Medical Devices, Vol:17, ISSN:1743-4440, Pages:277-288
Subbe CP, Bannard-Smith J, Bunch J, et al., 2019, Quality metrics for the evaluation of Rapid Response Systems: Proceedings from the third international consensus conference on Rapid Response Systems, Resuscitation, Vol:141, ISSN:0300-9572, Pages:1-12
Huddy JR, Ni M, Misra S, et al., 2019, Development of the Point-of-Care Key Evidence Tool (POCKET): a checklist for multi-dimensional evidence generation in point-of-care tests, Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Vol:57, ISSN:1434-6621, Pages:845-855
Borsci S, Uchegbu I, Buckle P, et al., 2017, Designing medical technology for resilience: Integrating health economics and human factors approaches, Expert Review of Medical Devices, Vol:15, ISSN:1743-4440, Pages:15-26
Ni MZ, Huddy JR, Priest OH, et al., 2017, Selecting pH cut-offs for the safe verification of nasogastric feeding tube placement: a decision analytical modelling approach., Bmj Open, Vol:7, ISSN:2044-6055
Markar S, Mackenzie H, Ni Z, et al., 2017, The influence of procedural volume and proficiency gain on mortality from upper GI endoscopic mucosal resection, Gut, Vol:67, ISSN:1468-3288, Pages:79-85
Acharya A, Markar SR, Matar M, et al., 2016, Use of Tumor Markers in Gastrointestinal Cancers: Surgeon Perceptions and Cost-Benefit Trade-Off Analysis, Annals of Surgical Oncology, Vol:24, ISSN:1068-9265, Pages:1165-1173
Mamidanna R, Ni Z, Anderson O, et al., 2016, Surgeon Volume and Cancer Esophagectomy, Gastrectomy, and Pancreatectomy: A Population-based Study in England, Annals of Surgery, Vol:263, ISSN:1528-1140, Pages:727-732
Huddy JR, Ni MZ, Barlow J, et al., 2016, Point-of-care C reactive protein for the diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infection in NHS primary care: a qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to adoption, Bmj Open, Vol:6, ISSN:2044-6055
Ni M, Mackenzie H, Widdison A, et al., 2016, What errors make a laparoscopic cancer surgery unsafe? An ad hoc analysis of competency assessment in the National Training Programme for laparoscopic colorectal surgery in England, Surgical Endoscopy and Other Interventional Techniques, Vol:30, ISSN:0930-2794, Pages:1020-1027
Markar SR, Wiggins T, Ni M, et al., 2015, Assessment of the quality of surgery within randomised controlled trials for the treatment of gastro-oesophageal cancer: a systematic review, The Lancet Oncology, Vol:16, ISSN:1213-9432, Pages:E23-E31
Miskovic D, Ni M, Wyles SM, et al., 2013, Is Competency Assessment at the Specialist Level Achievable? <i>A Study for the National Training Programme in Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery in England</i>, Annals of Surgery, Vol:257, ISSN:0003-4932, Pages:476-482