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Prof Harry Hemingway
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
Institute of Health Informatics
Faculty of Pop Health Sciences
- Joined UCL
- 23rd May 1997
Research summary
The central focus of Harry’s research is to develop
underpinning methods to exploit the scale and phenotypic resolution of
electronic health records (EHR) to accelerate early and late phase
translational research. Harry has an H index of 71 with 28,000 citations, over
350 publications and over 20 years’ experience in Science Leadership using
electronic health record data across early and late phases of translational
research. His research is cited in seven major clinical guidelines and public
health policies with implications for the health of millions.
Harry is currently an Investigator on 20 active grants which
collectively total more than £25 million. Of these, Harry is Principle
Investigator on 8 grants including two HDR UK awards totally £8.1 million and
£75,000 NIHR Senior Investigator grant.
Harry’s research exploiting clinical record linkages has had
impacted 3 areas: public health policy; international clinical practice impacting
millions of patients with, or at risk of, cardiovascular diseases; and national
policy on data and informatics.
1. Public Health Policy
Harry’s research is cited in recommendations to address
social inequalities in health (Independent inquiry into inequalities in health
(the Acheson Report 1998, White Paper Public Health Strategy in England, Saving
Lives: Our healthier nation 1999) informing development of WHO’s European
policy on social inequalities in health.
2. International
clinical practice
Harry co-authored the European guidelines on cardiovascular
disease prevention in clinical practice which included citations to his
research on depression (e.g. Nicholson EHJ, 2006), and practice changing
recommendations on assessment of depression. Additionally, Harry’s research
into this is cited in multiple NICE guidelines: CG95 2010 and CG126 2011 as well as
in the European Society of Cardiology Guidelines on the management of atrial
fibrillation 2016. In these guidelines Harry’s research directly led to change
in recommendations so that women would receive safer, targeted
anti-coagulation.
3. National
Policy on data and informatics
For example, Harry has contributed to the House of Commons
Science and Technology Committee ‘Algorithms in decision making’ 2018, the
Watcher Report on NHS IT in 2016 and the UK Government’s Department for
Digital, Culture, Media & Sport ‘National Data Strategy’.
Teaching summary
As Director of the UCL Institute of Health Informatics (2014-) Harry has grown the largest training programme in health informatics. There are now 160 current postgraduate students on 3 MSc and PhD programmes, two new MScs in Data Science in Health (2015) and Health Data Analytics (2017) have been launched. IHI also hosts an NHS Graduate Management Trainee Programme and 13 short courses which reaches 350 students. The Institute also delivers a new inter-related Doctoral Training Programmes in Health Informatics, securing funding for 20 PhDs.
Additionally, Harry has contributed to the national training
strategy. For example, in 2016 Harry gave evidence to the Wachter NHS IT Review
2016, informing national NHS training policy, leading to the establishment of
the £6m NHS Digital Academy and Global Digital Exemplars. In 2018 HDR UK began
funding a training lead (Chelala) to develop national strategy, including
networking 15 UKRI Rutherford fellows.
Harry is committed to supporting new career paths and has
done so through tools development; recognising the importance of this he
recruited (2009, on Wellcome Trust grant) and mentored Spiros Denaxas, who has
now been promoted to full Professor of Biomedical Informatics in 2019.
Additionally Harry appointed and mentored the UK’s first full time Chief
Clinical Research Informatics Officer (CCRIO)
(Wong, 2017-), and the first NHS Clinical Research Informatics Unit
Director, UCLH (Dr Asselbergs). Harry
is/has been primary supervisor for 12 clinical academics and three Early Career
Fellowships.
Harry has engaged in international teaching for example at a
10 day Cardiovascular seminar in Grenada, West Indies 2016 and at the Summer
School in Data and Informatics UCL/ Utrecht, NL 2016-. As PI of MRC PROGRESS
Harry advanced the discipline of prognosis research using clinical data
(>1000 citations for article series, popular teaching course internationally
(Erasmus, Rotterdam, Netherlands and Keele > 2010- > 500 students, new
journal (‘Diagnosis and Prognosis Research’ and authored 3 chapters in
accompanying textbook (OUP, 2019).
Education
- Royal College of Physicians
- Doctorate, Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health | 2005
- Royal College of Physicians
- Doctorate, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians | 2005
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- Other higher degree, Master of Science | 1995
- University of Cambridge
- Doctorate, Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery | 1988
- University of Cambridge
- First Degree, Bachelor of Arts | 1985
Biography
As a clinician
scientist with over 25 years of leadership in using rapidly changing patient
and population data resources for research, Harry has contributed to
establishing, growing and critically evaluating the field of data science for
health nationally and internationally.
In recognition of his
contribution to advancing medical science and translating developments into
benefits for patients and wider society, Harry was elected a Fellow of the
Academy of Medical Sciences in 2019.
Harry’s aim is to
mobilize insights gained from increasing scale and detail of data for health
and healthcare within a framework of public trust. He seeks to execute science
and innovation, develop tools and infrastructure and develop new careers,
disciplines and talent in data science for health.
Harry is currently
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Institute Director at the UCL Institute
of Health Informatics. Since 2018, Harry is also Research Director at Health
Data Research UK (HDR UK) London, bringing together 5 London universities (UCL,
Imperial College London, Kings College London, Queen Mary University London and
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) in partnerships for data
science for health.