The Access Board

Nick is the Director of the MRC Epidemiology Unit, Co-Director of the Institute of Metabolic Science, Honorary Consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge, England. He studied Medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School and Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Cambridge University, England. In 1992-3 he was a Harkness Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. After research fellowships at the University of Cambridge, he took up the Directorship of the MRC Epidemiology Unit when it was founded in 2003. He is principal investigator of the EPIC-Norfolk study, the EPIC-InterAct project, the Fenland cohort and the ADDITION trial. His main research interests are in understanding the aetiology of type 2 diabetes, particularly in generating understanding about the interplay between genetic, developmental and behavioural risk factors. He also researches strategies for the early detection and prevention of diabetes, including individual and societal level interventions. He is the Director of the UKCRC Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR) and the NIHR Global Health Group on Diet and Activity Research (GDAR).

Rebecca is Professor of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University. Prior to taking up the position at Loughborough in 2022, she was Professor at University College London (UCL) where she retains an Honorary position. At UCL she worked at the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing where she was Programme Leader and a senior member of the team responsible for running the MRC National Survey for Health and Development, and then at the UCL Social Research institute where she was Director of CLOSER. Rebecca’s research uses a life course epidemiological approach to study health and ageing, and the development of social inequalities in health.

John is BHF Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine; Director of the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit; and Head of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. His other roles include Faculty Member at the Wellcome Sanger Institute; Director of Health Data Research UK-Cambridge; and Professorial Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge. John has discovered and characterised multiple risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, and developed and evaluated novel strategies for disease prevention adopted worldwide. He has published 300 papers that have so far attracted 210,000 citations (h-index 165). His work has been recognised through personal accolades, including a British Heart Foundation Personal Chair, European Research Council Advanced Investigator Award, NIHR Senior Investigator Award, and election to the UK Academy of Medical Sciences. Born in Iran and committed to global public health, Professor Danesh trained in medicine in New Zealand and in epidemiology in London and Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has co-led creation of several “population bioresources” in the UK and South Asia involving a total of 200,000 study participants which serve as platforms for interdisciplinary research. Professor Danesh serves as a senior adviser to major initiatives (e.g., UK Biobank), funding agencies (e.g., Wellcome, NovoNordisk Foundation), and companies (e.g., AstraZeneca, Novartis).

Emanuele trained in cardiovascular medicine, in Italy and France, and is registered with the UK General Medical Council as a specialist in general internal medicine. After completing his specialist training, he gained an MSc in Medical Statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2005 and a PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in 2009. He was appointed as University Lecturer in Medical Screening in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care in 2010, where he is leading the Clinical Epidemiology Team in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit. In 2012, he has established and lead a new research group in blood donor health, capitalising on his appointment as Principal Investigator in Donor Health Research and Honorary Consultant for NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). Since 2015 he is a Programme Leader and Deputy Director of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Blood and Transplant Research Unit in Donor Health and Genomics in Cambridge.

Alisha is a strategic leader in public health research and evaluation, informing health policy and practice at a local and national level. Her research interests are in the prevention of poor health and inequalities, including the underlying determinants of health. She is also interested in future of digital health and innovation to maximise the value of data across sectors for health. She has over 20 years’ experience in public health across the NHS, Local Government, health policy think tanks and holds a leadership role for population health at The Alan Turing Institute, developing innovation in AI for public health. She is also an NHS Consultant in Public Health, and is the Principal Investigator for the Health Foundation funded Wales Networked Data Lab. She holds postgraduate degrees in epidemiology, demography and public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and an Honorary Professorship at Swansea University.

Stephanie is a lay member of one of the NHS Research Ethics Committee – meaning she has no medical qualifications or background. Over the past thirty-two years Stephanie has chaired several NHS Research Ethics Committees, and in 2016 was awarded the British Empire Medal for this work. Her main career was as a civil servant working on employment law combatting discrimination.

Fiona is an independent consultant helping to centre healthcare and research on what matters to patients, carers and the public. As someone living with long-term conditions, she became involved in the NHS as a patient and the rest is history. Fiona has more than 20 years of stakeholder engagement and collaboration experience. She has particular expertise in embedding meaningful patient and public involvement in data research, working with Health Data Research UK and the data analytics directorate at The Health Foundation.

Richard is a sociologist of science, technology and medicine. His current research focuses on public trust in health data collection and sharing and ethical questions associated with data-driven approaches in biomedicine. Richard completed his PhD in Science and Technology Studies at UCL in 2010 and moved to the University of Cambridge in 2013, where he led research on emerging social and ethical questions associated with the development of novel approaches to Alzheimer’s disease research. In 2018 he moved to Wellcome Connecting Science, part of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he is Head of Research and Dialogue and leads social science and ethics research and public dialogue around genomics and data science. Since 2022, he has also been the Deputy Director and Research Lead of the new Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public at the University of Cambridge.

Sheuli is a highly experienced leader in life sciences who is Chief Medical Officer and Business Unit Director, Precisia, a C2-Ai business, the Vice President of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, and Director of Actaros Consultancy Ltd. Sheuli is a member of a number of advisory groups including the Steering Group for the UKRI Multiple Long-Term Conditions Programme, the AoMRC Genomics Professional Partnerships Group and the UK Pharmacogenetics and Stratified Medicine Network Steering Group. Sheuli is also a visiting lecturer at King’s College London. Sheuli studied medicine at Cambridge and Oxford, then worked in the NHS before moving to pharmaceutical medicine. Sheuli has worked internationally in medical affairs, clinical development and life science policy. Sheuli is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a Global Fellow in Medicines Development with IFAPP.