Director of Health and Social Care Data-Driven Innovation programme announced
Dr Marcus Harrison, formerly Chief Operating Officer at the Medicines Discovery Catapult, will lead the Health and Social Care Data-Driven Innovation (HSCDDI) programme at the University of Edinburgh as it seeks to drive advances in health and social care through the application of data science.
The programme is hosted by the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, a centre of academic excellence in the use and application of data within population health.
Marcus brings a wealth of life science sector expertise, ranging from industry to research organisations. As Director of the HSCDDI programme, he will play a vital role in establishing an Usher Innovation Community, centred on the new Usher building currently under construction at Edinburgh BioQuarter.
Due to open in early 2024, the new Usher building will bring together academics, service professionals and industry from across Scotland and the UK, focused on transforming health and social care through data. Its construction forms a key component of Edinburgh BioQuarter’s wider development over the coming years – creating Edinburgh’s health innovation district.
An initial online Usher Innovation Community will be launched on 16th November, in advance of the building’s completion, to begin to integrate the activities of service professionals, academics and industry to identify new, co-produced data-driven insights and solutions to our most pressing health and care challenges.
Supporting innovation and collaboration across the community, Marcus will also oversee the DataLoch service and Talent programme, which together provide a strong foundation for the Innovation Community. DataLoch is a unique and secure data service developed in partnership by the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian to transform access to routine health and care data involving nearly 1 million people across Edinburgh and South-East Scotland.
The Talent programme incorporates education and training packages that are designed to support a future health and care workforce with the knowledge and skills to drive the use of data and digital technologies.
“Putting data at the centre of responses to health and social care system challenges is crucial to improving services and treatment through research, innovation and planning. I’m particularly excited by the opportunity to stimulate data-driven collaboration across sectors, working together to identify, evaluate and adopt new solutions to transform the health and wellbeing of the population.”
Dr Marcus Harrison, Director, Health and Social Care Data-Driven Innovation
The Data-Driven Innovation initiative has helped establish five hubs at the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University – creating a regional power-house for collaboration with industry partners. The hubs house expertise and facilities to help 10 industrial sectors become more innovative through data.
Located at Edinburgh BioQuarter, the new Usher building will become a world-leading hub where health and social care research teams collaborate with colleagues from public, private and third sector organisations to deliver data-driven advances in health and social care.
