The Respiratory Data Science Catalyst Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) provides strategic direction, independent scientific oversight, and expert support to the Catalyst team. It reviews progress, fosters collaboration with key partners, and helps connect the Catalyst with the wider respiratory research community.

Find out more – Respiratory Data Science Catalyst Scientific Advisory Group Terms of Reference

Professor Elizabeth Sapey (chair)

Liz is a Consultant in Respiratory and Acute medicine, the Head of the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Birmingham,  founding Director of PIONEER, the HDRUK Data Hub in acute care and has an active research group aiming to improve the care of patients through data-driven and translational insights.

“Respiratory diseases remain some of the most debilitating conditions that our population faces, and we still don’t have the tools we need to tackle them.  The Respiratory Data Science Catalyst is a vital step towards changing this; providing the data, tools and expertise to make a real difference.  As Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, I am very proud to be part of this important infrastructure.”

Professor Jennifer Quint

Jennifer Quint is a Professor of Respiratory Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at Imperial College London. She is an Honorary Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at both the Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College London NHS Foundation Trust. Prof Quint leads the Respiratory Electronic Health Record group, a clinical epidemiology research group whose interests centre on using various sources of de-identified, routinely collected electronic healthcare records to study a number of respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, interstitial lung disease, bronchiectasis and most recently COVID-19. Work centres on maximising the quality, linkage and usage of these data for clinical and research purposes. Research topics include understanding the relationship between  cardiovascular and respiratory disease, respiratory disease prevention, diagnosis, natural history and management. Many of the outputs are used for informing policy, and in the planning and allocation of resources. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal College of Physicians. She leads NHS England’s Respiratory Data Strategy and is the Associate Director for the HDR UK A+LUK Respiratory Data Catalyst. She partners with the Royal College of Physicians where she is the Analysis Lead for the National Respiratory Audit Programme and is co-lead of the HDR UK Inflammation and Immunity Driver Program. She currently serves as joint Editor-in-chief of the journal Thorax.

Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh

Aziz is Nuffield Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences and Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.  He is Professorial Fellow at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant with the UK Health Security Agency and Public Health Scotland.  Aziz has worked for over 20 years on digitising health systems, securely linking health and cross-sectoral data and then using these data to inform and influence health policy, improve the safety and quality of care, and develop personalised risk assessments using respiratory medicine as an exemplar.

“Respiratory disorders are very common and are responsible for considerable avoidable morbidity and mortality.  The respiratory data catalyst offers the potential to harness the UK’s outstanding data assets to improve respiratory outcomes for the UK’s population and as such I am delighted to support this important, potentially transformative effort.”

Mark Juniper

Mark has been a consultant in respiratory medicine at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon since 2000. He is Medical Director at Health Innovation West of England and chairs the Respiratory Working Group for the national Health Innovation Network. This was set up to identify innovations suitable for national implementation.

“Extracting, organising and linking national respiratory data is a key step needed to facilitate research and to evaluate the impact of innovations. The Respiratory Data Science Catalyst is a key step towards improving respiratory care in the future. I am excited to be part of the conversation about how we can use data in the future for the benefit of our patients.”

Steffen Petersen

Steffen Petersen is a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London and a Consultant Cardiologist at Barts Heart Centre, Barts Health NHS Trust. He is the Director of the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre (interim). He is Immediate Past President of the European Society of Cardiology’s (ESC) European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI). He holds an MBCHB and MDRES equivalent (Dr med.) from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, a DPHIL (OXON) from the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, an MPH from Harvard School of Public Health and an MSc from the London School of Economics. He is level 3 certified for cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). He has been actively involved in cardiovascular magnetic resonance since 1998 and he reports over 1000 cardiac adult MRI scans each year. His research interests include clinical trials using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), cost-effectiveness analysis related to cardiac imaging and primary prevention, large scale population-based studies using CMR including AI approaches (UK Biobank cardiac imaging lead) and electronic health record research that incorporates cardiac imaging data.

Sam Walker

Samantha is Director of Research & Innovation (R&I) at Asthma + Lung UK. She leads the R&I Directorate who work towards:
1. Advancing knowledge about asthma, COPD and other lung conditions through direct grant funding based on unmet patient need
2. Securing more R&I funding at a national and international level to bridge the substantial gap between the burden of respiratory disease and current R&I investment
3. Giving a voice to people who live with a lung condition to drive research that is most relevant and most beneficial to them.

Tom Wilkinson

Tom is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the University of Southampton and a Consultant in Respiratory and General Medicine at University Hospitals Southampton. He is senior clinical lead at the National Respiratory Audit Programme (NRAP) hosted by the Royal College of Physicians which seeks to improve the quality of care and outcomes for people with respiratory conditions across England and Wales.

Victor Cholij

Victor’s academic qualifications are in Engineering (MA, St Catharine’s College, Cambridge) and Finance (MBA, Imperial College, London). Trained by the Ministry of Defence, Victor spent five years as an international consultant with Bowaters Paper before moving to Michelin Tyres. Ten years were spent in the UK (leading to UK Commercial Administration Manager) before moving to the French HQ to contribute, and often lead, various European and Group finance projects and networks, over the following twenty years. Now retired, Victor is the chairperson of the Breathe Easy North Staffs support group for people with lung conditions and a Trustee at Asthma + Lung UK. He has COPD, diagnosed in 2020.

“I feel that there is so much more that we can do to improve the lives of people with lung conditions and to prevent these illnesses in the first place. Initiatives such as this Respiratory Data Catalyst are so important for us to help break down obstacles to scientists making a real difference.”