Dr Melanie de Lange, BA, MRes, PhD

Profile

I am an applied epidemiologist working in the Cancer Early Detection Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health. I have an MRes in Health and Wellbeing, and a PhD in Epidemiology, both from the University of Bristol. The final project of my PhD, looking at the effects of the daylight saving time clock changes on health, was published in The BMJ.

I specialise in the analysis of electronic health records to improve population health. I work with linked GP, hospital and cancer registry data. My current research focuses on developing risk prediction models for prostate and upper gastrointestinal cancers to aid earlier detection in primary care. I have a particular interest in metastatic (secondary) breast cancer following my sister's diagnosis at an early age.

My work has been featured in the media, including articles in The Conversation, the Daily Mirror, The Daily Mail and the i newspaper. I have also been interviewed on the BMJ science&medicine podcast and BBC Radio Bristol.

Prior to returning to academia I spent 15 years writing market intelligence reports for clients including Mintel and YouGov. I also have experience of working in academic publishing, in both editorial and marketing roles.

Research

Research Interests:

My research interests include metastatic (secondary) breast cancer, cancer early detection, health inequalities and cancer survivorship.

Publications

Full list of publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4541-1877

Acute effects of daylight saving time clock changes on mental and physical health in England: population based retrospective cohort study. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2025-085962

The effects of daylight saving time clock changes on accelerometer-measured sleep duration in the UK Biobank https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14335

Insomnia symptom prevalence in England: a comparison of cross-sectional self-reported data and primary care records in the UK Biobank https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-080479