Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Emily has a degree in Biochemistry, a PhD in Bioinformatics and was employed as a post-doctoral researcher in Bioinformatics following her PhD. She then left academia to work in the finance sector. In industry she gained extensive experience of using “Big Data” and leading the delivery of large software and hardware projects. Emily then took a career break to solo cycle from New Zealand to the UK over 1 year.
Emily chose to return to work in an area she feels passionate about. She now works to combine an understanding of medical research and academia with industry standard IT project management and software development experience and apply these skills to the field of Health Informatics and Data Science.
Emily was the academic lead and Director of the Health Informatics Centre (HIC) at the University of Dundee from 2013-2022, leading a team of ~60 people providing services to hundreds of different research projects providing expertise in health informatics, data science, data management, governance, and machine learning. She was responsible for an ISO27001 certified infrastructure, and a Scottish Government accredited Safe Haven.
Since November 2022, Emily has been on secondment from Dundee to Health Data Research (HDR) UK, working as their CTO. She is also Interim Director of DARE UK.
As a Professor of Health Data Science, Emily is involved with a range of projects in the fields of Trusted Research Environments (TREs), data science, software engineering, clinical imaging, data linkage and machine learning.
Her main research interest is in the development of technical innovations to Trusted Research Environments (TREs) and sensitive data linkage which meet the needs of the research community but also meet data governance requirements and maintain public trust.
Research
As a Professor of Health Data Science, Emily is involved with a range of projects in the fields of Trusted Research Environments (TREs), data science, software engineering, clinical imaging, data linkage and machine learning.
Her main research interest is in the development of technical innovations to Trusted Research Environments (TREs) and sensitive data linkage which meet the needs of the research community but also meet data governance requirements and maintain public trust.
Emily has been PI or Co-I on >38 grants, totaling > £120M (responsible for delivery >£28M), since returning to an academic role in 2014.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Science, PhD Bioinformatics, University of Dundee
1 Oct 2003 → 1 Oct 2006
Award Date: 1 Jun 2007
Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry, University of St Andrews
1 Sept 2000 → 1 Jul 2003
Award Date: 1 Jul 2003
External positions
Interim Director DARE UK
22 Jan 2024 → …
CTO Health Data Research (HDR) UK
14 Nov 2022 → …
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Improving treatment efficacy in hypertension by biomarker-guided personalised decision support (HT-ADVANCE) (Joint with INSERM (lead), Radboud UMC, University Hospital Zurich, Dresden University Hospital and University of Glasgow and 8 other organisations)
Cole, C. (Investigator) & Jefferson, E. (Investigator)
1/03/23 → 28/02/29
Project: Research
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Alleviate: Hub for Pain (Pain Research Data Hub - UKRI and Versus Arthritis Strategic Priority Fund (SPF) Advanced Pain Discovery Platform) (Joint with University of Oxford, University of Bath, King's College London, Imperial College London and University of Nottingham)
Cole, C. (Investigator), Colvin, L. (Investigator), Hales, T. (Investigator), Jefferson, E. (Investigator), Smith, B. (Investigator) & Walls, R. (Investigator)
1/07/21 → 31/12/25
Project: Research
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Enabling Research through the Innovative Storage, Management and Manipulation of NHS Fife Data Sets by HIC Services
Jefferson, E. (Investigator)
Project: Research
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Green Paper: Disclosure Control Of Al Algorithms From TREs (GRAIMATTER) lead: University of Dundee other instns: National Services Scotland, University of the West England UWE - Bristol, University of Edinburgh, URV (Spain)
Daly, A. (Investigator), Jefferson, E. (Investigator) & Malone, M. (Investigator)
4/01/22 → 31/08/22
Project: Research
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TRE In A Box For The AWS Environment (TREEHOOSE)
Cole, C. (Investigator) & Jefferson, E. (Investigator)
4/01/22 → 31/08/22
Project: Research
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A Digital Tool for Clinical Evidence-Driven Guideline Development by Studying Properties of Trial Eligible and Ineligible Populations: Development and Usability Study
Mumtaz, S., McMinn, M., Cole, C., Gao, C., Hall, C., Guignard-Duff, M., Huang, H., McAllister, D. A., Morales, D. R., Jefferson, E. (Lead / Corresponding author) & Guthrie, B., 16 Jan 2025, In: Journal of Medical Internet Research. 27, e52385.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile26 Downloads (Pure) -
An end-to-end workflow for routine clinical MRI brain scans and linked prospective electronic medical records to predict future dementia using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) based Machine Learning Approach: A Feasibility Study
Reel, P. S., Al-Wasity, S., Edwards, C., Reel, S., Mansouri-Benssassi, E., Suveges, S., Krueger, S., Jefferson, E., Doney, A. & Steele, D., 25 Feb 2025.Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review
Open AccessFile26 Downloads (Pure) -
A pipeline for harmonising NHS Scotland laboratory data to enable national-level analyses
Gao, C., Mumtaz, S., McCall, S., O'Sullivan, K., McGilchrist, M., Morales, D. R., Hall, C., Wilde, K., Mayor, C., Linksted, P., Harrison, K., Cole, C. (Lead / Corresponding author) & Jefferson, E. (Lead / Corresponding author), Feb 2025, In: Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 162, 12 p., 104771.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Conversion of Sensitive Data to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership Common Data Model: Protocol for the Development and Use of Carrot
Cox, S., Masood, E., Panagi, V., Macdonald, C., Milligan, G., Horban, S., Santos, R., Hall, C., Lea, D., Tarr, S., Mumtaz, S., Akashili, E., Rae, A., Urwin, E., Cole, C., Sheikh, A., Jefferson, E. & Quinlan, P. R. (Lead / Corresponding author), 2 Apr 2025, In: JMIR Research Protocols. 14, p. 1-10 10 p., e60917.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Downloads (Pure) -
Identification of hypertension subtypes using microRNA profiles and machine learning
Reel, S., Reel, P. S., Van Kralingen, J., Larsen, C. K., Robertson, S., MacKenzie, S. M., Riddell, A., McClure, J. D., Lamprou, S., Connell, J. M. C., Amar, L., Pecori, A., Tetti, M., Pamporaki, C., Kabat, M., Ceccato, F., Kroiss, M., Dennedy, M. C., Stell, A. & Deinum, J. & 11 others, , Mar 2025, In: European Journal of Endocrinology. 192, 4, p. 418-428 11 p., lvaf052.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Covid-19 Tests
Health Informatics Centre, A. C. (Creator), NHS Fife, A. C. (Creator), NHS Tayside, A. C. (Creator), Cole, C. (Other), Jefferson, E. (Other) & Johnston, J. (Other), University of Dundee, 18 May 2022
DOI: 10.15132/10000225, https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/53585c9c-f588-41f8-b493-3d271a2794a8
Dataset
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SHARE
Health Informatics Centre, A. C. (Creator), NHS Scotland, A. C. (Creator), Cole, C. (Other), Jefferson, E. (Other) & Johnston, J. (Other), University of Dundee, 19 May 2022
DOI: 10.15132/10000216, https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/232c528c-48b5-4ff5-8119-5e9340bdc167
Dataset
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CRIS
Health Informatics Centre, A. C. (Creator), NHS Scotland, A. C. (Creator), Cole, C. (Other), Jefferson, E. (Other) & Johnston, J. (Other), University of Dundee, 25 May 2022
DOI: 10.15132/10000229, https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/35808620-ea01-410a-8948-cee412f1fe23
Dataset
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NHS Tayside A&E, Diagnosis During A&E visit
Health Informatics Centre, A. C. (Creator), NHS Tayside, A. C. (Creator), Cole, C. (Other), Jefferson, E. (Other) & Johnston, J. (Other), University of Dundee, 27 Sept 2021
DOI: 10.15132/10000222, https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/14a39e96-8ac3-4df3-b42b-07718121c585
Dataset
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NHS Tayside - A&E drugs given during an A&E visit
Health Informatics Centre, A. C. (Creator), NHS Tayside, A. C. (Creator), Cole, C. (Other), Jefferson, E. (Other) & Johnston, J. (Other), University of Dundee, 10 Sept 2021
DOI: 10.15132/10000213, https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/acfbef89-344c-49a5-8079-7344f4316e0f
Dataset
Prizes
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Swansea University (External organisation)
Jefferson, E. (Chair)
1 Oct 2023 → …Activity: Membership types › Membership of board
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Evaluation of solutions for data-driven health research networks
Cole, C. (Contributor), Gao, C. (Speaker), McGilchrist, M. (Contributor), Mumtaz, S. (Contributor) & Jefferson, E. (Contributor)
5 Sept 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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University of Birmingham (External organisation)
Jefferson, E. (Chair)
15 Oct 2023 → …Activity: Membership types › Membership of board
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The Power of DRI, a health data perspective
Jefferson, E. (Speaker)
6 Mar 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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European Molecular Biology Laboratory - European Bioinformatics Institute (External organisation)
Jefferson, E. (Chair)
1 Oct 2023 → …Activity: Membership types › Membership of committee
Press/Media
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Researchers develop new system to classify endocrine hypertension
Reel, P., Reel, S. & Jefferson, E.
12/10/22
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Announcing the launch of the HDRUK Phenotype Library
4/11/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Desiderata for the development of next-generation electronic health record phenotype libraries
14/09/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Major funding success for research into chronic pain
27/05/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research