Catherine Sudlow
Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epidemiology, Director of Usher Institute
- Usher Institute
- College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Centre for Medical Informatics
Usher Institute, Usher Building
The University of Edinburgh
5-7 Little France Road
Edinburgh BioQuarter ‒ Gate 3 - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH16 4UX
Background
Professor Cathie Sudlow is Director of the Usher Institute at the University of Edinburgh. She is also Director of the UKRI Adolescent Health Study (AHS) and Strategic Advisor to HDR UK.
Until 2024, she 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.
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.
Prof Sudlow’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.
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.
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.
Cathie is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She was awarded an OBE for services to medical research in 2020.
Research summary
My group’s main interests are in classical and genetic epidemiological approaches to understanding different subtypes of stroke, and - through my involvement with UK Biobank and collaboration with other very large cohorts (including Million Women Study and China Kadoorie Biobank) - large scale prospective observational epidemiology. Our work will evolve over the years ahead to encompass prospective studies of neurodegenerative disorders as well as of stroke and related phenotypes.