Dr Weiqi Liao

I joined the University of Leicester in October 2023 as a Senior Biomedical Statistician, supporting observational and interventional studies in the cardiac surgery group.

I use epidemiological and statistical methods and conduct health services research to improve health outcomes of major non-communicable diseases (such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, ageing and dementia) at the population level.

Please get in touch (email weiqi.liao@leicester.ac.uk) if you are interested in research collaboration.

This personal webpage was updated on 19 July 2024.

I lead on statistical analyses in clinical trials and observational studies using electronic health records (EHRs) from hospital episode statistics (HES) in cardiac surgery. Current active projects include:

• I am the trial statistician of the Val-CARD study (NCT03825250), a randomised controlled trial of pre-surgery sodium valproate, for the prevention of organ injury in cardiac surgery.

• Evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of novel organ injury biomarkers in adult cardiac surgery (the COPTIC study)

• Days Alive and out of Hospital (DAOH) as an Outcome Measure After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG), Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) and Heart Failure (HF) using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)

Key publications:

1. Weiqi Liao, Carol Coupland, Judith Burchardt, David Baldwin, Fergus Gleeson, Julia Hippisley-Cox. Predicting the future risk of lung cancer: development, and internal and external validation of the CanPredict (lung) model in 19·67 million people and evaluation of model performance against seven other risk prediction models. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2023 Aug;11(8):685-697. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(23)00050-4.
2. Weiqi Liao, Carol Coupland, Hamish Innes, Peter Jepsen, Philippa Matthews, Cori Campbell, Eleanor Barnes, Julia Hippisley-Cox. Disparities in care and outcomes for primary liver cancer in England during 2008-2018: a cohort study of 8.52 million primary care population using the QResearch database. eClinicalMedicine (Lancet Discovery Science). 2023 May 11:59:101969. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101969.
3. Weiqi Liao, Ashley Clift, Martina Patone, Carol Coupland, Arturo González-Izquierdo, Stephen P Pereira, Julia Hippisley-Cox. Identifying symptoms associated with diagnosis of pancreatic exocrine and neuroendocrine neoplasms: a nested case-control study of the UK primary care population. British Journal of General Practice. 2021; 71(712):e836-e845.

Other selected publications:

• Weiqi Liao, Peter Jepsen, Carol Coupland, Hamish Innes, Philippa Matthews, Cori Campbell, Eleanor Barnes, Julia Hippisley-Cox. Development and validation of personalised risk prediction models for early detection and diagnosis of primary liver cancer among the English primary care population using the QResearch® database: research protocol and statistical analysis plan. Diagnostic and Prognostic Research 6, 21 (2022) doi: 10.1186/s41512-022-00133-x.
• Weiqi Liao, Renske E.G. Hamel, Marcel G.M. Olde Rikkert, Saskia M. Oosterveld, Pauline Aalten, Frans R.J. Verhey, Philip Scheltens, Nicole Sistermans, Yolande A.L. Pijnenburg, Wiesje M. van der Flier, Inez H.G.B. Ramakers and Rene J.F. Melis. A profile of The Clinical Course of Cognition and Comorbidity in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Study (The 4C study): two complementary longitudinal, clinical cohorts in the Netherlands. BMC Neurology. 2016; 16: 242. doi: 10.1186/s12883-016-0750-9.
• Weiqi Liao, Xiaojing Long, Chunxiang Jiang, Yanjun Diao, Xin Liu, Hairong Zheng, and Lijuan Zhang. Discerning Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease from Normal Aging: Morphologic Characterization Based on Univariate and Multivariate Models. Academic Radiology. 2014 May; 21(5):597-604. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2013.12.00.
• Ash Kieran Clift, Pui San Tan, Martina Patone, Weiqi Liao, Carol Coupland, Rachael Bashford-Rogers, Shivan Sivakumar, Julia Hippisley-Cox. Predicting the risk of pancreatic cancer in adults with new-onset diabetes: development and internal-external validation of a clinical risk prediction model. British Journal of Cancer. 2024 Jun;130(12):1969-1978. doi: 10.1038/s41416-024-02693-9.
• Pui San Tan, Cesar Garriga, Ashley Clift, Weiqi Liao, Martina Patone, Carol Coupland, Rachael-Bashford Rogers, Shivan Sivakumar, Julia Hippisley-Cox. Temporality of body mass index, blood tests, comorbidities, and medication use as early markers for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC): a nested case-control study. Gut. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2021-326522.
• Martina Patone, Karen Thomas, Rob Hatch, Pui San Tan, Carol Coupland, Weiqi Liao, Paul Mouncey, David Harrison, Kathryn Rowan, Peter Horby, Peter Watkinson, Julia Hippisley-Cox. Mortality and critical care unit admission associated with the SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7 in England: an observational cohort study. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2021 Nov; 21(11):1518-1528.
• Xiaojing Long, Lijuan Zhang, Weiqi Liao, Chunxiang Jiang, Bensheng Qiu and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Distinct Laterality Alterations Distinguish Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s disease From Healthy Aging: Statistical Parametric Mapping with High Resolution MRI. Human Brain Mapping. 2013 Dec; 34 (12): 3400-3410. doi: 10.1002/hbm.22157.

Peer review for journals: BMC Medicine, BMC Public Health, British Journal of Cancer, British Journal of General Practice, Communications Medicine, Scientific Reports, International Journal of Health Planning and Management

Peer review for grant: UKRI fellowship

Education

• I was awarded a 1+3 full studentship for my MRes & PhD programmes from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC, UK, Advanced Quantitative Method Pathway for international students).
• I was awarded a full studentship for my research Master in Epidemiology and Health Statistics.
• I was awarded a scholarship for my overall academic performance in undergraduate at the graduation ceremony.

Projects

• I have a project award titled “Prediction Models for Lung Cancer in Never Smokers” as a principal investigator, funded by NIHR School for Primary Care Research (from 1 April 2023 to 30 September 2024).
• I was awarded seed funding to involve and engage patient and public contributors to develop research proposals for external funding.

Travel grants

• I was awarded seven travel grants for national/international conferences, summer schools, and short-term academic visits.

Funded internship

• I hosted a Black in Cancer summer intern as a mentor during July – September 2023 at the University of Oxford, funded by Cancer Research UK (Cambridge Institute).

Risk prediction model to predict an individual’s risk of getting lung cancer in the next 10 years

• This study was published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine (2023), with an invited commentary from two experts.
• Official press releases from the University of Oxford and the University of Nottingham. This study was promoted on the front page of both universities’ websites on 6 April 2023. 
• Mass media report from The Independent, Daily Mail, Yahoo News (UK), Wales Online, Daily Record (Scotland), Mirror, and others.

Symptoms for pancreatic cancer

• This study was highlighted at the NCRI festival in 2021, with an official conference press release. 200+ media outlets worldwide reported this study in many languages within one month of the conference press release.
• This study ranked second in the BJGP Top 10 research published in 2021.
• The findings of this study were used to increase public awareness of the signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer by Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Health Sciences

Master of Research (MRes) in Clinical & Health Research

Master of Medicine (MMed, research degree) in Epidemiology & Health Statistics

Bachelor of Management (BMgt) in Health Services Management