Clinician: epidemiologist and leader in applied population health research

Professor John Wright is a doctor and epidemiologist with a background in hospital medicine and public health in the UK and Africa. He established and leads the Bradford Institute for Health Research and the Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research and is Director of the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Applied Research Collaboration. He is also a Visiting Professor in Clinical Epidemiology at the Universities of York, Bristol, Leeds, and Bradford.

In 2007, John founded the Born in Bradford cohort study, and in 2016 established the world’s first interventional birth cohort, Born in Bradford’s Better Start. He leads Connected Bradford, one of the UK’s richest whole-system datasets, and founded ActEarly to develop a city-wide, whole-systems collaboratory approach to improving health and life chances for children in deprived communities across London and Yorkshire. He has worked for over 30 years to develop sustainable public health programmes in Africa and has reported for the BBC on Born in Bradford, Ebola, and The NHS Frontline.

Contribution to BrainWaves
As Director of Research, John provides strategic leadership in population health, epidemiology, and large-scale cohort studies, supporting BrainWaves’ mission through expertise in whole-systems research, data-driven public health innovation, and improving outcomes for children and communities.