Linda Bauld
Linda Bauld
Professor
Chief Social Policy Adviser, Scottish Government

Professor Linda Bauld OBE FMedSci FRSE FRCPE FAcSS FFPH is the Bruce and John Usher Chair in Public Health in the Usher Institute, College of Medicine, University of Edinburgh and Chief Social Policy Adviser to the Scottish Government. For the past 25 years she has led studies to prevent or treat the main modifiable risk factors for non-communicable Diseases including cancer, diabetes and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases with a particular focus on tobacco, alcohol, diet and inequalities in health. She leads two research consortia: SPECTRUM - funded by the UK Prevention Research Partnership that focuses on the commercial determinants of health; and Behavioural Research UK (BR-UK) - funded by the ESRC as a leadership hub for behavioural research across topics and disciplines. She is a former Scientific Adviser to the UK Department of Health, the World Health Organisation and Cancer Research UK on prevention and public health.
"I’m delighted to join the ADR UK Ambassador Programme. I’ve seen the value of administrative data and data linkage, in both my academic and government roles. In my own research on non-communicable disease prevention, administrative data collected by the NHS and other public services allows us to understand the prevalence of risk factors across entire populations and then linking that to service use helps us better understand outcomes and how to improve them. In my government role, we rely on Scotland and the UK’s trustworthy data system to identify needs in our population, which is essential for planning evidence-based policy responses to address them. ADR UK’s work across all four nations is transforming how researchers within government and in academia and other sectors access and use data to address societal and economic challenges. I look forward to working even more closely with the ADR UK team in the future."