Data Science
Meet our Team
Clinicians
Professor Cathie Sudlow OBE is the inaugural director of the BHF Data Science Centre, whose vision is to improve the public's cardiovascular health through the power of large-scale data and advanced analytics across the UK. She is also Chair of Neurology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.
Cathie is a clinical neurologist and epidemiologist. Her clinical work involves assessing and treating patients with suspected acute stroke in the hospital emergency department.
Her research interests have always been firmly embedded in the world of big data with a focus on large scale collaborative open-science efforts to determine the causes (genetic, environment and lifestyle) of - and the effects of treatment on – common diseases of middle and older age. She has played a major role in initiatives: to establish the role of antithrombotic therapy in preventing heart disease and stroke; to investigate differences between stroke subtypes; and to discover genes that influence stroke.
Cathie was previously Head of the Centre for Medical Informatics at the Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. From 2011 until November 2019 she was Chief Scientist of UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database and research resource, containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK adults, which is globally accessible to approved researchers undertaking vital research into the most common and life-threatening diseases.
Patient and Public Representative
Mark Lewis works for NHS Digital, the national information and technology partner to the health and care system. He has lived with Aortic Dissections since 2012 and has been an active member of the patient support group Aortic Dissection Awareness (UK and Ireland) following emergency surgery for a type A dissection in July 2018. In the last two years he has had a number of major and minor operations and is a strong believer in the ‘voice of the patient’ in medical interventions and contributing to National health care Standards/Policy. He has previously contributed to research aimed at designing a targeted UK wide screening programme that will hopefully prevent Aortic Dissections before they happen, and is keen to contribute to wider research across the broad spectrum of cardiovascular disease. He has recently joined CCP(UK). In terms of CSGs his particular interests are around Prehabilitation and Data Science.
Cardiothoracic Interdisciplinary Research Network Representative
David Bleetman is a trainee in cardiothoracic surgery, based at King’s College Hospital, London. He has acted as a local lead for the Cardiothoracic Interdisciplinary Research Network since its inception.