Our founding director, Prof Corri Black, is leaving the University at the end of July.
Corri joined the University in 2002 as a Clinical Lecturer in Public Health and completed specialist training before being appointed as a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Public Health and Honorary NHS Consultant in 2007. Corri was awarded a personal Chair in Public Health in 2015.
Corri has been at the forefront of health data research for more than 20 years applying her methodological expertise to a wide range of clinical areas including kidney disease, musculoskeletal disease, infectious disease, and mental health. Her real passion is using data to understand disease epidemiology, how care is delivered and accessed, and to address health inequalities. An outstanding collaborative leader Corri set up the Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH) with Katie Wilde in 2012, a joint University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian facility, and established the Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science in 2018 to build networks across disciplines, organisations and sectors, leading to significant funding successes including the Industrial Centre for AI Research in Digital Diagnostics (iCAIRD) and Networked Data Lab research programmes. Nationally, Corri contributed to the success of the Scottish Health Informatics Programme and the Farr Institute, which evolved into HDR UK, and has remained an Associate Director of HDR UK Scotland. Internationally, Corri has supported cohort studies across multiple countries and is part of the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium.
As well as being a strategic leader of health data science as an emerging academic discipline Corri has been an inspirational mentor for many colleagues and championed career paths and progression for early career researchers and analysts in academia and the NHS.
As a Consultant in Public Health, Corri was re-deployed to work for NHS Grampian full time as part of the COVID pandemic response and led the local data response. Corri has been instrumental in bridging the gap between academic research and NHS application and will continue to stay involved in a number of joint research programmes.
The Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science would like to extend a huge thanks to Corri for her leadership, commitment to the team, and dedication to research that improves health and healthcare.
What is next for ACHDS?
Our aim remains the same: to deliver local and international healthcare impact, by developing innovative data science methodologies and infrastructure, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.
Dr Dimitra Blana will continue to be Interim Director in the short term. In September, Prof Lesley Anderson will take on the ACHDS Director role, as we join the new Biostatistics and Health Data Science group within the Institute of Applied Health Sciences, and develop our strategy for the next few years. Stay tuned!