About Us

Professor Cathie Sudlow - Principal Investigator 

Professor Cathie Sudlow is a neurologist and clinical epidemiologist based at the University of Edinburgh and the Director of Generation Scotland. She is also Chief Scientist and Deputy Director of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), the UK’s national institute for health data science, and is Director of the British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre at HDR UK.

Professor David Porteous - Co-Principal Investigator 

Professor David Porteous is a recently retired geneticist and medical researcher who set up and led Generation Scotland from the start.  He continues in an advisory role, and is a fully signed up volunteer for Generation Scotland.

Professor Andrew McIntosh - Co-Principal Investigator  

Andrew McIntosh is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Division of Psychiatry, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences. He leads the Generation Scotland Expert Working Group for Psychiatric Disorders and co-chairs the Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC).

Professor Riccardo Marioni - Co-Principal Investigator 

Riccardo is a co-investigator of GS and Professor of Molecular Epidemiology of Ageing. His group links information from DNA samples and blood markers to better understand the biology that underlies disease and to improve risk prediction.

Professor Caroline Hayward - Co-Principal Investigator 

Professor Caroline Hayward was PI of the MRC research programme "Quantitative Traits in Health and Disease" before retiring in 2023. She has worked with genetic and health-related data from the Generation Scotland project for over 10 years. She has a particular interest in kidney-related diseases but has studied many other clinically important traits.

Professor Heather Whalley - Chief Scientist  

Heather is Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She has an interest in linking neuroimaging data with genetic and environmental risk factors and clinical phenotypes, across and between disorders, to provide a more integrated and mechanistic understanding of mental illness. She has a particular interest in adolescent mental health, links between physical and mental health, the use of AI approaches in psychiatric/neuroimaging research, and integrating neuroimaging data with linked healthcare data. 

Archie Campbell - Chief Technology Officer  

I have been working for Generation Scotland since 2007 in various IT and management roles.

I am now in charge of technology and looking after the extensive datasets, and I co-manage the team with Robin Flaig.

Robin Flaig - Chief Operations Officer 

I am Chief Operations Officer, overseeing Generation Scotland’s administration, access, recruitment, finance, HR, communications and engagement.

Anne Richmond - Bioinformatics Analyst

I am a bioinformatics analyst working in both data management and analysis in Generation Scotland. My primary roles involve managing the cohort's large omics resources for other researchers and contributing to analyses for larger consortia. 

Liz Kirby - Research Support Officer

I am the Research Support Officer for Generation Scotland and the Loneliness in the Digital World project. I help with participant communication and public engagement as well as supporting the team with administration and finance tracking. I also help with ethics submissions and manage the researcher access system.

Alex Wood - Data Analyst / Developer 

I’m a web developer and analyst within the team.  I’m responsible for building and updating the online portal our volunteers interact with, and looking after the data we manage within the study.

Sarah Robertson - Youth Engagement Lead

I have over 25 years’ experience in public engagement and partnership working in the field of Community Learning and Development and Youth Work. I have led on national programmes around health, equalities, participation approaches, participatory democracy, active citizenship, training development and delivery to NHS Scotland, Public Health, Scottish Government, Scottish Fire Service and Police Scotland on rights based approaches.

Rosie Tatham - Research & Communications Assistant

My role involves communicating with our volunteers, creating research summaries, handling publications and managing and creating content for our social media. Primarily, to help with recruitment of Next Generation Scotland. Part of my role also involves working on a STRADL-based fMRI research project for Generation Scotland.

Zhuoni Xiao - Research Fellow

I am a postdoctoral researcher working on the 'Loneliness in the Digital World' project, utilising the Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) approach. My role involves designing the study, recruiting participants, and collecting and analysing data. I am particularly interested in exploring the impact of early adversity on lifelong mental health.

Hannah Milbourn - Health Data Scientist

I am a Health Data Scientist working with complex, confidential, multisource health data linked to Generation Scotland participants. I process, document and conduct analyses to interrogate and resolve issues within these datasets.

Mark Adams -  Senior Bioinformatician

I am a Senior Research Fellow in Psychiatry and oversee the genetics and 'omics data management and bioinformatics analysis for Generation Scotland. 

My research is in large-scale genomic studies of mood disorders. I have a background in theoretical biology and quantitative genetics and have previously studied personality in monkeys and apes, intelligence in dogs, and cooperative behaviour in birds.  

David Buchanan - Data Manager

I am the data manager for Generation Scotland. I help the team with any data-related tasks, and manage day-to-day data for Generation Scotland. 

I have a background in software development and data management, collaborating on several high impact clinical research projects. 

When not working I like playing the guitar and walking my dog, Flash.

Fiona Clark - Research & Communications Manager

I am the Generation Scotland Research and Communications Manager. I support the team, particularly dealing with finance and social media,  since joining the team in 2023.

Arlene Casey - Principal NLP Data Scientist

Arlene currently has responsibility for the NLP programme within DataLoch where she works closely with IG specialists to understand the privacy risks in clinical free-text and how these can be shared with researchers safely. 

Arlene also works on the AMBER project researching how treatment response to depression can be found in GP records. 

Arlene will share her expertise in both these areas with the GS team to implement algorithms that can support GS work in these areas enhancing the GS data collection.