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Cathie Sudlow

Cathie Sudlow

 Director of the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh

Professor Cathie Sudlow is Director of the Usher Institute and School of Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.  She is also Director of the UKRI Adolescent Health Study (AHS). 

Until 2024, Cathie was Chief Scientist and Deputy Director of Health Data Research UK, and Director of the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre.  She was also the first Research Director for HDR UK in Scotland. 

Cathie’s research interests have always been firmly embedded in the world of big data.  Over the last 15 years, her focus has been on leading large-scale, collaborative, open-science initiatives that enable a better understanding of the causes and consequences of health and disease across the life course, leading to new and improved approaches to prevention, diagnosis and treatment. 

In 2023, Prof Sudlow was commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer for England, the UK National Statistician and NHS England to undertake an independent review of the UK-wide health data landscape.  “Uniting the UK’s Health Data: A Huge Opportunity for Society” was published in November 2024, it sets out a bold vision for how the barriers and inefficiencies that currently delay the safe and secure use of health data to improve lives can be overcome, with key recommendations to transform the health data ecosystem.   

From 2011 to 2019, as Chief Scientist for UK Biobank, she led efforts to follow the health of UK Biobank participants through linkage to national health datasets.  From 2020, she worked with NHS Digital (and then NHS England) to develop NHS England’s first secure data environment, to hold and enable access for research, to linked health data from multiple sources, for the whole population of England. 

As a neurology specialist doctor with over 30 years working in the NHS, Prof Sudlow’s clinical work has focused mainly on the assessment and treatment of patients with suspected stroke. 

Cathie is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is an Honorary Fellow to Health Data Research UK (HDR UK).  She was awarded an OBE for services to medical research in 2020”. 

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