Elizabeth Ford is Associate Professor in Health Data Science. Her research focuses on data science, data governance and public engagement. Her expertise is in analysing primary care (general practice) and mental health NHS patient data, and her projects focus on mental health, dementia and long-term conditions. Elizabeth works with NHS, public health, and public stakeholders across Sussex, Kent and Surrey to support the use of routinely collected health and care data in research. She is Lead for Data Science in the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex (ARC KSS). She was recognised as a Future Leader in Health Data Science in 2016 by the Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research.

Background: After studying for an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Oxford University, Elizabeth came to the University of Sussex in 2004 to take up an MRC funded DPhil in clinical health psychology investigating the influences on women’s perceptions of childbirth and their development of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of traumatic birth. Elizabeth held postdoctoral positions at University of Sussex, Barts and the London Medical School, and at SHORE-C in BSMS. She worked as Research Fellow in Primary Care Epidemiology in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health at BSMS until 2016, as Lecturer in Research Methodology from 2016 to 2018, and Senior Lecturer in Primary Care Research from 2019 to 2022.