“Big data” and “data science” are terms we hear more and more these days. The idea that we can use these vast amounts of information to understand and analyse phenomena, and find solutions to problems, is gaining prominence, both in business and academia. Cathie Sudlow, Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, has been at the forefront of enabling health-related research using ever-increasing datasets. She tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili why this type of research matters, how the COVID-19 pandemic changed attitudes towards data in healthcare, and why the NHS gives the UK a big advantage when it comes to population-wide studies. Over the course of her career, Cathie has held a variety of roles at different organisations, and she is currently Chief Scientist and Deputy Director at Health Data Research UK. She believes that there is no room for prima donnas in science, and wants her field to be open and collaborative, to have the most impact on patients’ lives. Produced by Florian Bohr.
Hello and welcome to the podcast edition of the Life Scientific.
I'm Jamal Khalili and this is the show where I talk to some of the world's leading scientists and you get to find out what drives them.
Enjoy the episode.
Big data and data science are terms we hear more and more these days.
Data sets are getting larger, analysis techniques more sophisticated, and the idea that we can use these vast amounts of information to understand and analyze phenomena, to find solutions to problems is gaining prominence both in business and academic.
Well, my guest today is at the forefront of big data in healthcare, although as she points out, big data and data science are just the terms we use nowadays, because what science could there possibly be without data?
Cathy Sudlow is Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.
For more than a decade she supported and enabled large scale population health research and has spent much of her time working with a number of organizations like UK Biobank, one of the largest and most in depth biomedical databases in the world, and Health Data Research uk, improving researchers access to the population's health records.
Kathy spent her school years in Edinburgh before studying medicine and later specializing in both neurology and epidemiology.
She believes that there's no room for prima donnas in science.
It should always be an open and collaborative process, often bringing together researchers from across different disciplines, she says.
Kathy Sadlow, welcome to the Life Scientific.
Hi.
Thank you.
As I mentioned in the intro there, you say there's no room for prima donnas in science.
What did you mean by that?
Well, particularly in my area of science, the life sciences and biomedical science, there's an intense sense of competition, which is sort of okay on one level, I mean, the race to discover things or whatever, but I think often it prevents us from working together in teams and collaborating.
And there are certain things that scientists tend to get a bit obsessed by in my field, like, you know, what order you appear in the authorship list of a publication with many, for example, or you know, how many accolades and titles you have after your name, those types of things which to me just constitute a monumental distraction.
So I just think we should dispense with the recognition stuff and focus on the outputs much more than we currently do.
And what motivates you more in your work?