Meet the Team

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.

Robin Flaig- Chief Operations Officer 

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

Daniel McCartney - Senior 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. 

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.

Liz Kirby - Research Support Officer

I am the Generation Scotland Research Support Officer and my work is mainly centred around keeping track of our publications and access requests, coordinating meetings, and managing enquiries from the general public.

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.

Isla Mitchell- Communication and Recruitment Co-ordinator 

I am the Communication & Recruitment Coordinator. And my role is to support the future growth of Generation Scotland, from a cross-sectional, adult-only study, into a longitudinal, multi-generational, life course study. This will help researchers investigate how genetic factors and environmental exposures can influence people’s risk of disease, resilience and outcomes.

Sarah Robertson- Young Person Engagement & Recruitment Co-ordinator

I am the Young Person Engagement and Recruitment Co-ordinator With 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.

Leah Young- Research Support Officer 

I am the Generation Scotland research support officer and my role  supports comms and also admin in addition to looking after the finances of GS, helping with website updates and aiding with ethics applications. Currently on maternity leave.

Rosie Tatham - Administrator

I am Generation Scotland’s Administrator. My role involves managing and creating content for our social media, creating summaries of our research publications and communicating with our volunteers, helping specifically with recruitment of the next generation.

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.