Professor Andrew Morris, inaugural Director of Health Data Research UK, has today been awarded the Cameron Award for Population Health.

The award recognises Professor Morris’ life-long commitment to promoting data and informatics in population health.

He is the second recipient of the award which was established to honour the legacy of Sir Charles A Cameron who was a former president of RCSI and a leading public health doctor in Victorian Dublin. The inaugural award was presented to Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme, in 2021.

Throughout his career, Cameron created opportunities to influence on behalf of those with the least means across society. In 1879, he personally inspected every tenement house in Dublin, an experience which highlighted to him the link between living conditions and health. He became a leading voice on the need to demolish slums, build houses and construct sanitation and water supply systems. In his roles, he oversaw a seven-fold reduction in deaths among the people of Dublin and was awarded Freedom of the City of Dublin for his contribution to the health of the city's population.

Professor Morris became the inaugural director of Health Data Research UK, the UK’s national institute for health data science, when it was established in 2017. He also convenes the International COVID -19 Data Alliance (ICODA) supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Minderoo Foundation. He is seconded from his position as Professor of Medicine, and Vice Principal of Data Science at the University of Edinburgh, having taken up position in August 2014.

Prior to this Professor Morris was Dean of Medicine at the University of Dundee and served as Chief Scientist at the Scottish Government Health Directorate between 2012 and 2017. He was previously Governor of the Health Foundation (2009-2017), a leading UK charity that supports quality improvement in health care, and chaired the Informatics Board at UCLPartners, London (2014-2017). In 2007 he co-founded Aridhia Informatics, which uses high performance computing and analytics in health care. His research interests span informatics and chronic diseases and he has published over 350 original papers.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Professor Cathal Kelly, Vice-Chancellor, RCSI said: "We are proud to present the Cameron Award for Population Health to Professor Andrew Morris. Through this award, we acknowledge the criticality of the science and practice of population health. Our new School of Population Health builds on Sir Cameron’s legacy and is working across disciplines to leverage big data in order to reduce health inequalities as part of the global effort towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 – Good Health and Well-being.”

Population health data science is a core focus of the School of Population Health, drawing upon multiple and novel sources of data to better examine risk factors, positively impact social determinants of health and improve patient outcomes. The School is home to the Data Science Centre, which supports high-impact collaborative research.