Meet the Core SAIL Team Members

David is Director of the Administrative Data Research Centre (ADRC) Wales,  an £8million investment by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as part of its Big Data initiative and is Deputy Director of The Farr Institute CIPHER funded by a consortium of top UK research funders led by the Medical Research Council (MRC).

David is the lead of the SAIL Databank, an internationally recognised data linkage resource formed from a wide variety of routinely collected data from across Wales.

David is Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) and past Chairman and current Director of MediWales, a membership organisation representing the medical technology sector of Wales. David has received research grants and consultancy contracts valuing over £40million.

Ronan is Professor of Public Health at Swansea University, Honorary Consultant in Public Health with Public Health Wales NHS Trust and an adjunct professor at Monash University, Australia.

He is currently Research Director for Health Data Research UK (HDRUK), principal investigator for the Wales and Northern Ireland site and national lead for the Improving Public Health scientific programme.

The focus of Ronan’s research is the use of routine data in cohorts, trials and in the evaluation of natural experiments and complex interventions. He led the development of a number of total population electronic cohorts in Wales as platforms for the evaluation of interventions and policies across the lifecourse.

He is also involved in linking data to support a number of UK cohorts and cross cohort initiatives, including being Associate Director for the MRC’s Dementias Research Platform UK. He has a particular interest in the prevention and control of injuries, leads the All Wales Injury Surveillance System and chairs the International Collaborative Effort on Injury Statistics and Methods (US CDC).

Charlotte is one of SAIL’s Information Governance coordinators. The role consists of administering all information governance functions related to use of SAIL data in line with standard operating procedures. In addition, the coordinators ensure that all documentation relating to SAIL projects, policies and datasets are kept up to date and are held, processed and deleted in line with legal requirements. The coordinators are supported in the role by the Data Acquisitioning and Provisioning Manager.

Caroline is a health data scientist with many years’ experience in the NHS, academia and industry. Caroline joined the SAIL Databank in 2006 as a Senior Research Analyst, and her responsibilities include data quality, documentation, supporting projects and providing guidance on using the SAIL system. She works with researchers to articulate their research requirements of the SAIL Databank and supports the training and development of analysts.

Chris is Senior Systems Developer for the SAIL Databank. He is responsible for the management of the technical infrastructure supporting the SAIL Databank and associated information products and services running on the IBM AIX DB2 platform. Chris led the design, development and implementation of SAIL Info Central and the SAIL Gateway.

Chris is a member of a number of the major SAIL committees (SAIL Advisory Board, SAIL Management Board and SAIL Data Management Committee).

Kerina is a Professor of Population Data Science at Swansea University Medical School. She is the Associate Director for Information Governance and Public Engagement (IG&PE) to ensure data protection and to maximise socially-acceptable data utility across the various Swansea University-based Population Data Science initiatives, including: the SAIL Databank, Administrative Data Research Wales, the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Data Partnership and the HDRUK collaboration. Her work spans the spectrum of Ethical, Legal and Societal Implications (ELSI), recognising the importance of social acceptability. Kerina established an active Consumer Panel to advise on research and developments in Population Data Science.

The Population Data Science initiatives hosted at Swansea University are world renowned. Kerina is internationally acknowledged as having an essential and unique leadership role in these initiatives, by focusing on innovative data governance models and public engagement to enable person-based data to be used effectively and safely. This is a rapidly developing field with changes to regulatory & governance frameworks and evolving societal perceptions. Kerina leads an innovative research programme centred on IG&PE that includes work to inform cross-centre data sharing and how emerging data types, such as genetic data, and free-text data, can be used safely in conjunction with health and administrative records.

Julie Kennedy is an experienced project and business manager. She spent fifteen years as an NHS IM&T project manager, working on regional and national projects with an eHealth focus. Joining Swansea University in 2010 as a Business Development Manager, she successfully developed a number of successful University / local industry collaboration projects and secured Welsh Government funding for two spinout projects (Health Cloud CIRP and Life Science Wales KEP). Within the SAIL Databank team Julie’s role is to manage the business workflow processes, ensuring that projects progress through their lifecycles from initial scoping to final closure and post project evaluation.

Cynthia joined the SAIL Databank team in 2010. She is responsible for all aspects of governance and management of data coming into SAIL from external organisations, both in relation to managing existing data held by SAIL and negotiating new datasets to be shared. She supports and manages existing relationships with a wide range of organisations who share their data as well as actively initiating new relationships.

Cynthia is Chair of the SAIL Data Management group and is responsible for SAIL’s Information Governance Review process.

Sarah is a Senior Data Scientist for the SAIL Databank. She works with researchers to define their research requirements and provides support regarding the use of health data within research projects. She contributes analytical support to a range of research projects and also contributes to increasing knowledge and awareness about the quality of data within the datasets held by the SAIL Databank. She joined the SAIL Databank in 2014; prior to this she was employed in the NHS in England and in Wales in roles relating to Public Health and Information Management.

Luca is a Research Analyst working for the SAIL Analyst Team, and his responsibilities include: creating double encrypted views for users tailored to each project; developing reusable code using procedures, documentation and supporting projects that use the SAIL Databank. Luca’s background is in business analytics and industrial engineering.

Dan is a Senior Data Scientist, and his responsibilities include data quality, documentation, supporting projects and providing guidance on using the SAIL system. He works with researchers to articulate their research requirements of the SAIL Databank and supports the training and development of analysts. He provides the user view to all SAIL system developments. Dan’s background as a software engineer drives him to develop better tools for linked data analysis, which includes leading the International Health Data Linkage Network Technical Working Group.

Dan is a member of all of the major SAIL committees.

Simon is a systems architect with many years’ experience in the NHS and academia. He is the Chief Technology Officer of a large team of talented, diverse skilled software developers. Simon leads the innovation, design, development and implementation of all SAIL technical system developments. He is responsible for delivering the technical workstream for Swansea as part of the UK network of health e-research centres of excellence.

Simon is a member of all of the major SAIL committees.

Ting Wang has been working in health related research for almost 10 years, initially working as an experimental psychologist in which she obtained a PhD. She has bridged out into population health research since 2014, working as a research analyst in Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL), at Swansea University. Since then she has been working with multi-disciplinary teams across Welsh health boards and academics on collaborative research projects investigating various population health related issues, such as treatment procedure evaluation, service demand and evaluation. She is specialised in data analysis and linkage, and currently working towards an MSc in Health Data Science at Swansea University.

Ashley is a Senior Research Manager & Data Scientist with experience of working on a variety of data linkage and research projects. He has a background in computing and various research disciplines which have evolved over time with his experience of working with anonymised data within SAIL Databank since 2008, as well as other data from the UK nations, and collaborating and being involved as part of programmes and projects including those in the Health Data Research UK, Administrative Data Research Wales, Nuffield Family Justice Observatory Data Partnership, Dementias Research Platform UK, MS Register, IPDLN and with the NHS and others. He works with stakeholders from a wide range of domains, disciplines and organisations in both the development, pursuit and delivery of their research, and supports and delivers a range of development and training.

Lee is a Data Manager for ADRC-Wales and is responsible for data acquisition and database administration. He comes from a software development background working for both private and public sectors.

Arron has been with SAIL Databank since 2011 as a Research Analyst. He graduated from Swansea University with a BSc Physics and an MSc Computer Science. His research focus is population studies in Epilepsy and Cardiovascular risk management. Arron is a keen machine learning enthusiast and is particularly interested in applying such techniques to genetics and natural language processing. Arron is currently a PhD candidate at Swansea University Medical School where his thesis explores the analysis of big data and machine learning in Epilepsy research.

Huw has 25 years experience in various accounting roles spent, for the most part, in the Automotive industry culminating in this welcome career change. Currently working towards an MSc in Health Data Science at Swansea University.

David is a senior data analyst and software developer for the SAIL team. With skills and expertise in software development using best practices in the areas of code and database design, documentation, and testing. David is responsible for developing software and methods that will enable different approaches to research using SAIL.

David has many years’ experience as a software contractor working in the Health, Finance and Manufacturing sectors building bespoke business applications. His previous contract was with the NHS developing an application for the pharmacy team.

Muhammad is a Research Analyst for the SAIL Databank. He works on the automation process for data quality checks for SAIL datasets.

He recently received his PhD degree in electrical and electronic engineering (nanoscale device simulation) from Swansea University, UK, before which he was working in the University IT business, mainly web developing.

Geoff is a Software Developer and Senior Data Analyst for projects using the SAIL Databank. His role involves creating and improving data systems used in the SAIL Databank and assisting projects to develop data extracts that meet their specific requirements. His background is a software developer for the Welsh Government and other public and private sector organisations. He also has many years’ experience of performing data analysis of Government and Educational data using SQL queries.

Elin is the Administrator for SAIL. The purpose of the role is to assist the SAIL team to effectively manage the administrative aspects of the SAIL Databank project. A key part of the role is the management and facilitation of a variety of SAIL related groups, committees and the organisation and administration of project events such as user knowledge sharing sessions and provision of administrative support across the SAIL project.

Elin yw Gweinyddwr SAIL. Diben y rôl yw cynorthwyo tîm SAIL i reoli elfennau gweinyddol prosiect Banc Data SAIL yn effeithiol. Rhan allweddol o’r swydd yw rheoli a hwyluso amrywiaeth o grwpiau a phwyllgorau sy’n ymwneud â SAIL a threfnu a gweinyddu digwyddiadau prosiect megis sesiynau rhannu gwybodaeth ar gyfer defnyddwyr a rhoi cymorth gweinyddol ar draws prosiect SAIL.

Chris is responsible for all marketing, communication and engagement activities within the SAIL Databank team. Through marketing campaigns and events, Chris aspires to uphold and strengthen SAIL Databank’s excellent reputation as a world-class population databank. A graduate of Swansea University, Chris holds a degree in Business Studies. Chris comes from a background of marketing and events coordinator roles in health and medical research organisations such as Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie and Wales Air Ambulance.

Mae Chris yn gyfrifol am yr holl weithgareddau marchnata, cyfathrebu ac ymgysylltu yn nhîm Banc Data SAIL. Drwy ymgyrchoedd a digwyddiadau marchnata, mae Chris yn dyheu am ategu ac atgyfnerthu enw ardderchog Banc Data SAIL fel banc data poblogaethau o safon fyd-eang. Mae gan Chris, a raddodd o Brifysgol Abertawe, radd mewn Astudiaethau Busnes. Mae Chris yn dod o gefndir sy’n cynnwys rolau cydlynu marchnata a digwyddiadau mewn sefydliadau ymchwil iechyd a meddygol megis Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie ac Ambiwlans Awyr Cymru.

Kevin is one of SAIL’s Information Governance coordinators. The role consists of administering all information governance functions related to use of SAIL data in line with standard operating procedures. In addition, the coordinators ensure that all documentation relating to SAIL projects, policies and datasets are kept up to date and are held, processed and deleted in line with legal requirements. The coordinators are supported in the role by the Data Acquisitioning and Provisioning Manager.

Mae Kevin yn un o gydlynwyr Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth SAIL. Mae’r rôl yn cynnwys gweinyddu’r holl swyddogaethau llywodraethu gwybodaeth sy’n gysylltiedig â defnyddio data SAIL yn unol â gweithdrefnau gweithredu safonol. Yn ogystal â hyn mae’r cydlynwyr yn sicrhau bod yr holl ddogfennaeth sy’n ymwneud â phrosiectau, polisïau a setiau data SAIL yn cael eu diweddaru, eu cadw, eu prosesu a’u dileu yn unol â gofynion cyfreithiol. Caiff y cydlynwyr eu cefnogi yn y rôl gan y Rheolwr Caffael a Darparu Data.

Sharon is a qualified and practising solicitor who specialises in the law of data protection, health learning systems and big data. She is the specialist legal advisor to the SAIL databank providing both internal legal advice and working with data providers to draft appropriate data sharing agreements and compliance documents. With over sixteen years of post-qualification experience Sharon has worked within government, the private sector and university environments working alongside cyber security and information governance specialists to provide legal support and advice at both operational and strategic level. Sharon has worked with international companies to ensure GDPR readiness and wider compliance and developed audit and compliance systems that provide assurance and quality control. Sharon has acted as an advocate and a trainer in this specialist field and plays an active role is the SAIL’s IGRP scrutiny processes.

Mae Sharon yn gyfreithiwr cymwys a gweithredol sy’n arbenigo yng nghyfraith diogelu data, systemau dysgu iechyd a data mawr. Hi yw cynghorydd cyfreithiol arbenigol Banc Data SAIL, gan ddarparu cyngor cyfreithiol mewnol ynghyd â gweithio gyda darparwyr data i lunio cytundebau rhannu data a dogfennau cydymffurfiaeth priodol. Gyda thros un flwyddyn ar bymtheg o brofiad ar ôl iddi gymhwyso , mae Sharon wedi gweithio yn y llywodraeth, y sector preifat ac amgylcheddau prifysgol, gan gydweithio ag arbenigwyr seiberddiogelwch a llywodraethu gwybodaeth i darparu cymorth a chyngor cyfreithiol ar lefel weithredol a strategol. Mae Sharon wedi gweithio gyda chwmnïau rhyngwladol i sicrhau parodrwydd am y GDPR a chydymffurfiaeth ehangach ac mae hi wedi datblygu systemau archwilio a chydymffurfio sy’n darparu sicrwydd a rheolaeth ansawdd. Mae Sharon wedi gweithredu fel eiriolwr a hyfforddwr yn y maes arbenigol hwn ac mae’n chwarae rôl weithredol ym mhrosesau craffu Panel Adolygu Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth SAIL.

Emma is the Continuous Improvement Manager for SAIL. Emma is responsible for process improvement and leading on implementing solutions to increase productivity and effectiveness for SAIL.

Emma yw’r Rheolwr Gwella Parhaus ar gyfer SAIL. Mae Emma’n gyfrifol am wella prosesau ac arwain wrth roi atebion ar waith i gynyddu cynhyrchedd ac effeithiolrwydd ar gyfer SAIL.

An elected Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM) and awarded CIM Chartered Marketer (CMKtr) status, Stephanie brings more than 30 years of experience and knowledge in marketing, communications, engagement and internationalisation to her role as Chief Marketing Officer & Head of Marketing, Communication & Engagement Services for Population Data Science (Pop Data Sci) at Swansea University Medical School. She obtained her CIM Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Marketing in 1995 when she was residing in Singapore. She completed her MSc in International Marketing by distance learning in 2007 and, she is currently studying towards a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA, part-time).

She has been employed by Swansea University and working in the field of Health Informatics since year 2000. Her primary focus is to continually raise the profile of Population Data Sciences’s research activities, which includes SAIL Databank, and to successfully build strategic partnerships through leading a series of outreach and engagement programmes. This also includes establishing international collaborative agreements.

Mae Stephanie yn Gymrawd etholedig y Sefydliad Siartredig Marchnata (FCIM) a dyfarnwyd statws Marchnatwr Siartredig CIM (CMKtr) iddi. Mae ganddi fwy na 30 mlynedd o brofiad a gwybodaeth am farchnata, cyfathrebu, ymgysylltu a rhyngwladoli i’w gynnig yn ei swydd fel Prif Swyddog Marchnata a Phennaeth Gwasanaethau Marchnata, Cyfathrebu ac Ymgysylltu ar gyfer Data Gwyddor Poblogaeth (Pop Data Sci) yn Ysgol Feddygaeth Prifysgol Abertawe. Dyfarnwyd Diploma Ôl-raddedig CIM iddi ym 1995 pan oedd hi’n byw yn Singapôr. Cwblhaodd ei MSc mewn Marchnata Rhyngwladol drwy astudio o bell yn 2007 ac ar hyn o bryd, mae’n astudio tuag at Ddoethuriaeth mewn Gweinyddu Busnes (DBA, rhan-amser).

Mae wedi bod yn aelod o staff Prifysgol Abertawe ac yn gweithio ym maes Gwybodeg Iechyd ers 2000. Ei phrif ffocws yw codi proffil gweithgareddau ymchwil Gwyddor Data Poblogaeth yn barhaus, ac mae hyn yn cynnwys Cronfa Ddata SAIL yn ogystal â meithrin partneriaethau strategol drwy arwain cyfres o raglenni allgymorth ac ymgysylltu. Mae hyn hefyd yn cynnwys sefydlu cytundebau cydweithredol rhyngwladol.

Jon is Head of Programmes and Chief Operating Officer in Swansea University Data Science. Jon is an experienced senior manager who has successfully delivered a wide range of large strategic programmes and projects in the public, private and third sectors across the UK and internationally. Jon is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and a PRINCE2©, MSP©, and Agile© registered practitioner and SCRUM Master©. Jon’s role is to manage all aspects of delivery of Swansea University’s role in ADR Wales, and, with colleagues in Welsh Government, to input into the operations of ADR UK.

Jon yw Pennaeth Rhaglenni a Phrif Swyddog Gweithredol Gwyddor Ddata ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe. Mae Jon yn uwch-reolwr profiadol sydd wedi llwyddo i gyflwyno ystod eang o raglenni a phrosiectau strategol mawr yn y sector cyhoeddus, y sector preifat, a’r trydydd sector ar draws y Deyrnas Unedig ac yn rhyngwladol. Mae Jon yn Gymrawd y Sefydliad Rheolaeth Siartredig (FCMI) ac yn ymarferydd cofrestredig PRINCE2©, MSP©, ac Agile© ac yn SCRUM Master©. Rôl Jon yw rheoli pob agwedd ar gyflawni rôl Prifysgol Abertawe yn YDG Cymru, ac, ar y cyd â cydweithwyr yn Llywodraeth Cymru, fewnbynnu i weithrediadau ADR UK.

Anna supports SAIL analysts in providing researchers with the appropriate data and analyses to meet their research aims. Anna has recently joined the team having completed a PhD at Swansea University in molecular microbiology and with experience in producing research outputs from large datasets generated using high-throughput sequencing and analytical platforms.

Mae Anna’n cefnogi dadansoddwyr SAIL wrth ddarparu’r data a’r dadansoddiadau priodol i ymchwilwyr y mae eu hangen arnynt er mwyn iddynt gyrraedd eu nodau ymchwil. Mae Anna wedi ymuno â’r tîm yn ddiweddar, ar ôl iddi gwblhau PhD ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe mewn Microbioleg Foleciwlaidd ac mae ganddi brofiad o gynhyrchu allbynnau ymchwil o setiau data mawr a gynhyrchwyd gan ddefnyddio platfformau dilyniannu a dadansoddi mewnbwn uchel.

Patsy Pountney joined SAIL in 2020. Graduating from Swansea University in 2018 with a first class degree in Mathematics where she was awarded the Lynne Charles Prize (2017), the Senior Foulkes Prize 2018 and the IMA Graduate Prize 2018. After university she began working as a Data Scientist where the focus was modelling automotive data. Patsy is now enjoying applying the skills and knowledge she has gained along the way to SAIL's population data.

Ymunodd Patsy Pountney â SAIL yn 2020. Graddiodd o Brifysgol Abertawe yn 2018 â gradd dosbarth cyntaf mewn Mathemateg, gan ennill Gwobr Lynne Charles (2017), Gwobr Uwch Foulkes yn 2018 a Gwobr i Fyfyriwr Graddedig IMA yn 2018. Ar ôl gadael y brifysgol, dechreuodd weithio fel gwyddonydd data gan ganolbwyntio ar fodelu data modurol. Bellach, mae Patsy yn mwynhau defnyddio’r sgiliau a’r wybodaeth mae hi wedi’u meithrin ar hyd y daith gyda data iechyd SAIL.

Amy is SAIL’s Data Acquisition Officer. The role consists of assisting the Head of Data Acquisition and Provisioning with increasing the number of data supplying organisations contributing to the SAIL Databank. Amy also assists researchers, who wish to bring in their own.

Amy yw Swyddog Caffael Data SAIL.Mae’r swydd yn cynnwys cynorthwyo’r Pennaeth Caffael a Chyflenwi Data â’r gwaith o gynyddu nifer y sefydliadau sy’n cyflenwi data sy’n cyfrannu at fanc data SAIL.Mae Amy hefyd yn cynorthwyo ymchwilwyr sy’n dymuno dod â’u data eu hun i mewn.

Carys joined the SAIL Databank team in 2020. She discovered this role whilst working as part of an epilepsy research team in the university. Here she studied data connected to The Swansea Neurology Biobank. Carys graduated from the University of Manchester with a Masters of Chemistry. However, medical data science has definitely won her over.

Ymunodd Carys â thîm SAIL Databank yn 2020. Daeth o hyd i’r swydd hon wrth weithio fel rhan o dîm ymchwil epilepsi yn y brifysgol. Astudiodd ddata a oedd yn gysylltiedig â Swansea Neurology Biobank. Graddiodd Carys o Brifysgol Manceinion gan ennill gradd Meistr mewn Cemeg. Fodd bynnag, mae gwyddor data meddygol wedi ennill ei chalon.

Huda works as part of the Analytical Services team. Her responsibilities include creating performance analytics for the Scoping team as well as reviewing SAIL file out requests. Additionally, she aids with updating the Metadata Catalogue and SAIL's contributions to the HDR UK Onboarding Portal. Huda previously worked as a Population Health Data Science intern programming using HRG codes in collaboration with NHS Finance Wales. She has since graduated from Swansea University with first class honours in Biochemistry and Genetics which included a dissertation modelling an MRSA hospital outbreak simulation in R.

Mae Huda yn gweithio fel rhan o’r tîm Gwasanaethau Dadansoddeg. Mae ei chyfrifoldebau’n cynnwys creu dadansoddeg perfformiad ar gyfer y tîm Cwmpasu yn ogystal ag adolygu ceisiadau anfon ffeiliau SAIL. Yn ychwanegol at hyn, mae hi’n diweddaru’r Catalog Metadata a chyfraniadau SAIL i HDR UK Onboarding Portal. Yn flaenorol, gweithiai Huda fel intern Gwyddor Ddata Iechyd Poblogaethau yn rhaglennu gan ddefnyddio codau HRG mewn cydweithrediad â Chyllid y GIG Cymru. Ers hynny, mae hi wedi graddio o Brifysgol Abertawe gan ennill gradd anrhydedd dosbarth cyntaf mewn Biocemeg a Geneteg a oedd yn cynnwys traethawd estynedig yn modelu efelychiad achosion o MRSA mewn ysbyty gan ddefnyddio R.