Professor Will Whiteley is the BHF Data Science Centre Associate Director and Theme Lead for the Stroke Catalyst.
The focus of Will’s theme is to enable approved research teams to use data from real-world settings, including hospitals, GPs, and pharmacies, to improve our understanding of the care and prevention of stroke and open the door to better prevention and treatment.
Will is a clinical epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh and a consultant neurologist at NHS Lothian.
His work is to elucidate the causes, treatments, and consequences of cerebrovascular diseases. With colleagues at Imperial College London, University of Oxford, and Population Health Research Institute, McMaster University, Will has led the long-term follow-up of large, randomised trials of vascular preventative treatment to new outcomes (particularly dementia) measured in electronic records.
With colleagues in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, he has helped to develop natural language processing algorithms to code brain imaging reports in Scotland, which he hopes to use for national-level epidemiology, quality improvement and recruitment to clinical trials.
Will is developing trials recruiting patients based on electronic record algorithms, and automated means of delivering therapy and measuring outcomes.
