Paul Burton BSc (Hons), MB ChB, MD, PhD, MSc, MRCP(UK), CStat, FFPH

Paul Burton is Professor of Infrastructural Epidemiology at the University of Bristol. With Madeleine Murtagh (Professor of Social Studies of Health Science) he co-leads the transdisciplinary D2K (Data to Knowledge) Research Group. Historically, his own research has subsumed three major themes: (1) methods research in biostatistics and genetic epidemiology – particularly generalized linear models (GLMs) and generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), with a focus on using Bayesian approaches to model fitting and statistical inference; (2) applied research in genetic epidemiology and complex disease epidemiology; and, most recently, (3) infrastructural development in contemporary bioscience, including theory and practice pertaining to the design, set up and harmonization of major biobanks, and the challenges and opportunities presented by the need to ensure secure, streamlined access to national and international repositories of data and biosamples.

Prof. Burton is an international leader in the conception, design, harmonisation and integration of the large epidemiological projects that are a central pillar of contemporary progress in bioscience. He chair the steering committee of the global consortium P3G (Public Population Project in Genomics), and the Access Committee for CLS Cohorts that oversees access to several of the UK’s most notable population-based resources (e.g. the 1958 Birth Cohort). His diverse research program encompasses methods research in biostatistics and genetic epidemiology and applied research in genetic and complex disease epidemiology. Much of his current work focuses on developing methods, tools and infrastructures to promote secure but liberal access to harmonised biobanks and large-scale epidemiological studies across the world. Both within the University and externally this work program is truly multidisciplinary with direct involvement of population scientists, bioinformaticians, ethico-legal experts, clinicians and genome scientists.