Science
Professor Cathie Sudlow appointed Chief Scientist of Health Data Research UK
Professor Cathie Sudlow, the Director of the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre, has been named as the first Chief Scientist of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).
Professor Sudlow is a stroke neurologist and epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh. She is internationally recognised for her long-standing expertise in leading major health data science projects of global relevance. She was awarded an OBE for services to medical research in 2020.
Professor Sudlow was appointed to her new role with HDR UK based on her vision for its science led focus, enabling impactful health data research to improve people’s lives. Some of her responsibilities as Chief Scientist will include overseeing the science that supports HDR UK’s plans to build on its research expertise, working to build public trust and ensuring that HDR UK continues to enable science that is meaningful, ethical and in the public interest.
Professor Sudlow will continue to lead the BHF Data Science Centre, a flagship collaboration between us and HDR UK. The Centre was established in 2020 to accelerate research in cardiovascular disease, with Professor Sudlow as its founding Director.
An extraordinary time for health data science
Professor Sudlow said: “This is an extraordinary time for health data science. The COVID-19 pandemic was a tipping-point in demonstrating the value of big data – insights from hospital and general practice records, ethnicity data and vaccine uptake, for example, fed into policy at speed and transformed our understanding of, and response to, the pandemic. It is imperative that we build on this momentum.
“I am delighted to begin this new role as Chief Scientist for HDR UK, and to continue to build on the successes of the BHF Data Science Centre. Data scientists are at the coalface of some of the biggest medical challenges that the world faces, but we are only just starting to tap into the potential that data has in transforming lives.”
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, our Medical Director, said: “I am pleased and proud to see Cathie appointed as HDR UK’s first Chief Scientist. I am sure that this new position will complement and bolster the ongoing, ground-breaking work of the Data Science Centre. The BHF continues to partner closely with HDR UK to harness the enormous potential of data science at scale on routinely collected healthcare data to improve the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.”