Jayne Tierney, Professor of Evidence Synthesis

Jayne co-leads the Meta-analysis Programme, and for more than 20 years, she has been responsible for designing and conducting systematic reviews and meta-analysis to rigorously re-evaluate the effectiveness of therapies. Jayne has been part of the MRC Clinical Trials Unit since it was formed in 1999, and prior to that, the Cancer Trials Office in Cambridge.

Her team has published international, collaborative, individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses in bladder, cervix, lung, oesophageal, and soft-tissue cancer, and has advised on projects in pregnancy and wound care. These projects have influenced practice guidelines and the treatment of patients worldwide. In addition, she has been involved in systematic reviews of aggregate data in stroke, HIV, and fertility medicine, as well as in cancer. Currently, she is focused on the evaluation of the effects of therapies for prostate cancer, TB and COVID-19.

The Meta-analysis Programme combines systematic review, meta-analysis and statistical methodology expertise to improve how systematic reviews and meta-analyses are conducted and analysed. Jayne’s current methodological interests include how to do timely and reliable aggregate data meta-analyses, and how best to evaluate treatment-covariate interactions in meta-analysis. She also provides advice and training on systematic review and meta-analysis methods, particularly in relation to IPD.

Jayne has been involved in the Cochrane Collaboration since its beginnings, providing peer review for Cochrane Review Groups, contributing to the Cochrane Handbook, and presenting workshops at annual meetings and colloquia. She is one of the co-convenors of the IPD Meta-analysis Methods Group.

 


Selected publications

Burdett S, Fisher DJ... Tierney JF. Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data from Randomised Controlled Trials. Eur Urol 2022;81:50-61.

Godolphin PJ, White IR, Tierney JF et al. Estimating interactions and subgroup-specific treatment effects in meta-analysis without aggregation bias: A within-trial framework. Res Synth Meth 2023;14:68-78.

Rydzewska LHM, Stewart, LA, Tierney JF. Sharing individual participant data: through a systematic reviewer lens. Trials 2022; 23:167.

Riley RD, Tierney JF, Stewart LA (Eds). Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis: A Handbook for Healthcare Research. Wiley 2021. ISBN: 978-1-119-33372-2.

Tierney JF, Fisher DR, Vale CL…Parmar MKB. A framework for prospective, adaptive meta-analysis (FAME) of aggregate data from randomised trials. PLoS Med 2021;18: e1003629.

WHO Rapid Evidence Appraisal for COVID-19 Therapies (REACT) Working Group(2021). Association Between Administration of IL-6 Antagonists and Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Meta-analysis. JAMA. 2021;326(6):499-518.

Vale CL, Fisher D, Kneebone A, …Tierney JF. Adjuvant or early salvage radiotherapy for the treatment of localised and locally advanced prostate cancer: a prospectively planned systematic review and meta-analysis of aggregate data. Lancet 2020; 396:1422-31.





Research Interests

  • Cancer
  • Systematic reviews, particularly those based on IPD
  • Improving systematic review conduct and analysis
  • Involving users in research


Research Areas



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