Professor Simon Thompson is a preeminent leader in health informatics, serving as Professor of Health Informatics at Swansea University Medical School where he holds the critical position of Technical Informatics Lead. He currently co-directs the Secure eResearch Platform (SeRP) and the SAIL Databank, pioneering secure infrastructure for population health research across the United Kingdom. With over two decades of extensive experience spanning both the National Health Service and academic environments, Professor Thompson has established himself as a distinguished systems architect specializing in secure data management for health research. His career has been defined by innovative contributions to developing privacy-protecting research platforms that enable valuable scientific insights while maintaining rigorous security standards for sensitive health information. Professor Thompson's leadership in creating secure data environments has positioned him at the forefront of transforming how health research is conducted across national healthcare systems.
Professor Thompson's groundbreaking contributions have fundamentally reshaped health data utilization through the development of secure infrastructure that protects patient privacy while enabling critical medical discoveries. He has led the technical design and implementation of numerous national initiatives including the Administrative Data Research Centre Wales, Dementia Platform UK, and the UK Secure eResearch Platform, which collectively support hundreds of research projects across diverse health domains. His seminal 2019 publication profiling the SAIL Databank in the International Journal of Population Data Science has become a cornerstone reference for secure health data research, contributing to his substantial citation count exceeding 4,600 according to Google Scholar. The technical frameworks he pioneered have established new standards for secure data linkage and analysis, enabling researchers to explore complex health questions while maintaining the highest ethical standards for data protection across multiple national health systems.
Beyond his technical achievements, Professor Thompson has emerged as a key influencer in shaping national health informatics policy through active participation in numerous committees and national bodies dedicated to advancing health-related research. He serves as a valued member of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences Scientific Advisory Committee in Toronto and previously chaired MediWales, representing Wales' medical technology sector. His recognition as a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce underscores his broader societal impact beyond pure academia. With over forty published research articles spanning critical health domains, Professor Thompson continues to pioneer advancements in secure research platforms while mentoring the next generation of health informatics professionals. His current work focuses on enhancing capabilities for handling increasingly complex data types while maintaining the highest standards of data protection, ensuring his contributions will continue to shape the future of health research methodology for decades to come.
