Professor Steffen Petersen has been appointed as interim Director of the BHF Data Science Centre

2 August 2024

We are delighted to share that Professor Steffen Petersen has been appointed as the interim Director of the BHF Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK. Steffen Petersen, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and a Consultant Cardiologist at Barts Health NHS Trust, succeeds founding Director Professor Cathie Sudlow.

The BHF Data Science Centre is a partnership between Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and the British Heart Foundation (BHF), and sits within HDR UK. The Centre works with a wide range of partners including patients, public, clinicians, researchers and NHS organisations to help them carry out research using health data into the causes, prevention and treatment of all diseases of the heart and circulation (such heart attacks, stroke and vascular dementia).

Professor Petersen has been Deputy Director of the BHF Data Science Centre since July 2023. He steps into his new role as Professor Sudlow moves to lead a major new Adolescent Health Study, funded by the Medical Research Council. 
  
Professor Petersen said: "I am delighted to take up the interim director role of the BHF Data Science Centre and its fantastic team. I have big shoes to fill, but I look forward to continuing to enable ground-breaking cardiovascular health data science and working on our strategy for the next five years." 
 
Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We’re delighted to announce Professor Steffen Petersen as the interim Director of the BHF Data Science Centre.
 
"Health data research will be critical to transform healthcare and reignite progress to reduce the number of people developing and dying from cardiovascular disease. We look forward to working with Professor Petersen to continue to drive forward this crucial work.”