He will be seconded from the University of Bristol, where he is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS).
As Chief Scientist, Jonathan will lead HDR UK’s scientific and research programmes and help create a flourishing and dynamic health data research ecosystem for the UK. Jonathan inherits this role from Professor Cathie Sudlow, who authored the influential Sudlow Review report in 2024.
Jonathan said: “I’m very excited to become HDR UK Chief Scientist at time of unprecedented opportunity for health data research.
“I hope to contribute to HDR UK’s pivotal role at the interface between those developing new data infrastructures, particularly the new Health Data Research Service established by the government, and those using them for cutting-edge, impactful research.”
Alongside his position at Bristol, Jonathan is Director of the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Bristol and Co-Director of HDR UK South-West. He is Principal Investigator of the ART Cohort Collaboration of HIV cohort studies, which works closely with the HIV-CAUSAL collaboration based at the Harvard School of Public Health. Jonathan also co-led development of widely used tools to assess the risk of bias in randomised and non-randomised studies included in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Professor Andrew Morris, Director at Health Data Research UK, added: “We are delighted to welcome Jonathan to the team. I have no doubt that given the breadth of his skills and experience, Jonathan will enhance our mission at HDR UK to transform lives through health data.”