Jonathan Sterne to be Chief Scientist of Health Data Research UK

Jonathan Sterne is to be the new Chief Scientist of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), taking up this role from June 2026.

He will be seconded from the University of Bristol, where he is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS).

“I’m very excited to become HDR UK Chief Scientist at time of unprecedented opportunity for health data research,” Jonathan says. “I hope to contribute to HDR UK’s pivotal role at the interface between those developing new data infrastructures, particularly the new Health Data Research Service established by the government, and those using them for cutting-edge, impactful research.”

Alongside his position at the University of Bristol, Jonathan is Director of the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Bristol and Co-Director of HDR UK South-West. He is Principal Investigator of the ART Cohort Collaboration of HIV cohort studies, which works closely with the HIV-CAUSAL collaboration based at the Harvard School of Public Health. Jonathan also co-led development of widely used tools to assess the risk of bias in randomized and non-randomized studies included in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Professor Andrew Morris says, “We are delighted to welcome Jonathan to the team. I have no doubt that given the breadth of his skills and experience, Jonathan will enhance our mission at HDR UK to transform lives through health data.”