Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh starts in the role of Head of Department of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences (NDPCHS), the University of Oxford from today, 1 October 2024, taking over from Professor Richard Hobbs CBE.
Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh, said: ‘It’s a real privilege to succeed Professor Richard Hobbs as the Head of the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, which is internationally respected for its excellence in primary care research and teaching. At a time when there is a desperate need of effective, sustainable primary care-led health systems in the UK and globally, I greatly look forward to working with outstanding colleagues across the department, and the Medical Sciences Division who will play an important role in creating and leading the health systems of the future and improving patient care.’
Professor Richard Hobbs, Mercian Professor, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, said: ‘It’s been an honour to lead NDPCHS and work with so many brilliant people here; over the past decade we have created one of the world’s leading centres for academic primary care and digital health in research, teaching and training. I’m delighted to hand over the reins to Aziz and am confident he will continue the success of the department and help accelerate our global impact.’
Professor Gavin Screaton, Head of Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, added: ‘On behalf of the Medical Sciences Division, I am pleased to welcome Aziz to the University and wish him every success in the post. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Richard Hobbs for his exceptional leadership over thirteen years as Head of Department.’
Background
Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh OBE, was previously Professor of Primary Care Research & Development, Director of the Usher Institute and Dean of Data for The University of Edinburgh.
In addition to his new roles as Head of Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and Professorial Fellow at Harris Manchester College, he also serves as Director of the 17-university Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research, as a Research Director of Health Data Research UK and as Honorary Consultant with the UK Health Security Agency.
A leading primary care academic and epidemiologist, Aziz has substantial research interests in asthma, allergy and in leveraging the potential of health information technology and data science to transform the delivery of care and improve health. He has worked for over 20 years on digitising health systems, securely linking health and cross-sectoral data and then using these data to inform and evaluate health policy deliberations, improve the safety and quality of care, and to deliver personalised medicine. This work recently culminated in the world’s first 67M person study in which the entire UK population was turned into a linked, near real-time longitudinal cohort.
Aziz enjoys collaborations with academic colleagues across the globe and works closely with policymakers both in the UK and internationally. He has played important advisory roles to a number of governments, inter-governmental bodies, including the World Bank, World Health Organization and the World Innovation Summit for Health, and leading scientific bodies including the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society.
He is a highly cited author, is a fellow of nine learned societies, including the Academy of Medical Sciences, the American College of Medical Informatics and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and he has been awarded numerous UK and international awards for his work.
Aziz was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for ‘Services to Medicine and Health Care’ in 2014 and a Knight Bachelor in 2022 for ‘Services to COVID-19 Research and Policy’.