Prof Colin McCowan
Professor in Health Data Science
Biography
Colin McCowan was appointed as Professor in Health Data Science from January 2019 at the University of St Andrews and is an Honorary Professor within the Institute of Health & Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow.
Colin was at the University of Glasgow between November 2012 and December 2018, most recently as Professor of Health Informatics in the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics. He has research interests in the use of existing routine data within epidemiological studies and in the support of clinical trials and other research methods. His work spans a number of clinical conditions including cancer, healthcare acquired infections, cardiovascular disease, multimorbidity and care of the elderly. He has been involved in developing services to provision routinely collected clinical data for research both at the Robertson Centre, jointly running the West of Scotland Safe Haven with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and before that at the Health Informatics Centre in Dundee.
He led the capacity building work stream of the Farr Institute, is one of the Scottish leads for training within HDR UK and has published widely in the epidemiological and data science literature.
PhD supervision
- Elbina Avdich
- Boyang Lin
- Thu Nguyen
Selected publications
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Open access
Abnormal plasma/serum magnesium, copper and zinc concentrations associate with the future development of cardiovascular diseases
Lin, B., Alexander, R., Fritzen, R., Mills, S., Stewart, A. J. & McCowan, C., 25 Apr 2025, In: Nutrients. 17, 9, p. 1-14 14 p., 1447.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Addressing methodological challenges in multiple long-term conditions research: a stakeholder workshop using a nominal group technique method
Dambha-Miller, H., Simpson, G., Smith, L., Finney, J., Zghebi, S. S., Hughes, S. E., Keevil, V. L., Yu, G., MacRae, C., Khunti, K., McCowan, C. & NIHR MLTC Cross-NIHR Collaboration Methodologies workstream, 2025, In: Journal of Multimorbidity and Comorbidity. 15, p. 1-9 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Analysing disease trajectories of multimorbidity through process mining techniques: a case study
Petrov, D., Nguyen, T., Manataki, A. & McCowan, C., 28 Mar 2025, Process mining workshops: ICPM 2024 international workshops, Lyngby, Denmark, October 14–18, 2024, revised selected papers. Delgado, A. & Slaats, T. (eds.). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, p. 460-472 13 p. (Lecture notes in business information processing; vol. 533).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
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Open access
Behavioural interventions to increase uptake of FIT colorectal screening in Scotland (TEMPO): a nationwide, eight-arm, factorial, randomised controlled trial
Robb, K. A., Young, B., Murphy, M. K., Duklas, P., McConnachie, A., Hollands, G. J., McCowan, C., Macdonald, S., O'Carroll, R. E., O'Connor, R. C. & Steele, R. J. C., 29 Mar 2025, In: The Lancet. 405, 10484, p. 1081-1092 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Development and validation of a postpartum cardiovascular disease risk prediction model in women incorporating reproductive and pregnancy-related predictors
Wambua, S., Crowe, F. L., Thangaratinam, S., O'Reilly, D., McCowan, C., Brophy, S., Yau, C., Nirantharakumar, K., Riley, R. D., Snell, K. I. E. & MuM-PreDiCT Group, 29 Aug 2025, In: BMC Medicine. 21, p. 1-16 16 p., 508.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Effect modification and interaction between ethnicity and socioeconomic factors in severe COVID-19: analyses of linked national data for Scotland
McCabe, R., Kibuchi, E., Amele, S., Irizar, P., Sheikh, A., Jeffrey, K., Ruden, I., Simpson, C. R., McCowan, C., Ritchie, L., Robertson, C., Leyland, A. H., Demou, E., Pearce, A. & Katikireddi, S. V., 14 Apr 2025, In: BMJ Open. 15, 4, p. e092727Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Effect of caesarean birth on perinatal mortality for singleton breech presentation in spontaneous preterm labour – a target trial emulation using Scottish health record data
Alexander, R., Bhaskar, S., Azcoaga-Lorenzo, A., Fagbamigbe, A. F., Chow, C. Y. C., Kuan, K. K. W., Stock, S. J., Unger, S. A., Swallow, B., McCowan, C. & Unger, H. W., 21 Jul 2025, In: PLoS One. 20, 7, 17 p., e0326001.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Five year mortality in an RCT of a lung cancer biomarker to select people for low dose CT screening
Sullivan, F. M., Mair, F. S., Anderson, W., Chew, C., Dorward, A., Haughney, J., Hogarth, F., Kendrick, D., Littleford, R., McConnachie, A., McCowan, C., McMeekin, N., Patel, M., Rauchhaus, P., Daly, F., Ritchie, L., Robertson, J., Sarvesvaran, J., Sewell, H. & Taylor, T. & 3 others, , 8 Jan 2025, In: PLoS ONE. 20, 1, 14 p., e0306163.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Identifying clusters of multimorbid disease and differences by age, sex, and socioeconomic status: a systematic review
Mikula-Noble, N., Cormie, V., McCowan, R. E. & McCowan, C., 22 Aug 2025, In: PLoS One. 20, 8, p. 1-14 14 p., e0329794.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Investigating the contribution of socioeconomic position to ethnic inequalities in severe COVID-19 outcomes: population-based mediation analyses of national linked Scottish data
Amele, S., Kibuchi, E., McCabe, R., Demou, E., Leyland, A. H., Hainey, K., Rudan, I., Kurdi, A., Simpson, C. R., Ritchie, L. D., McCowan, C., Shi, T., Irizar, P., Becares, L., Sheikh, A., Pearce, A. & Katikireddi, S. V., Aug 2025, In: European Journal of Public Health. 35, 4, p. 788–794 7 p., ckaf078.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review