Rate My Professor Penny Whiting

Professor Penny Whiting is Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in Bristol Medical School's Population Health Sciences at the University of Bristol. She holds a B.A. from the University of Oxford, an M.Sc. from the University of London, and a Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam. With 25 years of experience in evidence synthesis across a broad range of clinical areas, Whiting is Co-Director of the Bristol Technology Assessment Group (Bristol TAG) and Co-Director of the NIHR Bristol Evidence Synthesis for Screening (BESS) Group, both research groups within the Bristol Evidence Synthesis, Appraisal and Modelling (BEAM) Centre. Her methodological research interests include risk of bias assessment in non-randomised studies, diagnostic accuracy studies, prediction models, and overviews of reviews. She contributes to the leadership of the BEAM Centre and is involved in NIHR-funded projects such as the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Group and Bristol TAG.

Whiting has authored or co-authored 181 research outputs, including highly influential tools and reviews in evidence-based medicine. Key publications include QUADAS-2: a revised tool for the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (BMJ, 2011), ROBIS: a new tool to assess risk of bias in systematic reviews (BMJ, 2016), Cannabinoids for Medical Use: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (JAMA, 2015), PROBAST: a tool to assess the risk of bias and applicability of prediction model studies (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2019), and contributions to the PRISMA 2020 statement (BMJ, 2021). Recent works encompass QUADAS-3: A Revised Tool for the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2026), Evidence-based blood tests for monitoring adults with chronic kidney disease stage G3 in primary care (The Lancet Primary Care, 2026), and Evidence-based blood tests for monitoring adults with hypertension in primary care (British Journal of General Practice, 2026). Recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2024 and 2025, her tools such as QUADAS and ROBIS are standard in systematic reviews worldwide, enhancing the reliability of health research evidence.