Jem Rashbass
CBCU Research Director
Tel: +44 [0]1223 765 355
Email: jem@ecric.nhs.uk
Brief biograph
Jem Rashbass studied medicine at University College London and came to Cambridge in 1987 as a graduate student of Professor Sir John Gurdon. He then trained in pathology, becoming a clinical academic and consultant histopathologist in 1997 dividing his time between clinical work and the creation of Clinical and Biomedical Computing Unit at Cambridge University. From July 2000 to 2003 he divided his time further to take up the inaugural Directorship of the Cambridge University Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies, setting up the Centre and establishing its international reputation.
In 2003 he became head of the Eastern Cancer Registry and Information Centre, a post he continues to hold in conjunction with the leadership of the East of England Cancer Screening Quality Assurance Services. In early 2011 he was appointed National Director for Cancer Registry Modernisation with responsibility for creating a unified National Cancer Registration Service across England. From April 2013 this role will be extended as the National Director for Disease Registers in Public Health England.
In 1998 he founded a University spin-out company, Clinical and Biomedical Computing Ltd., which develops and delivers the online service “Medicines Complete” for the Pharmaceutical Press; this includes resources such as the British National Formulary, Martindale Drug Reference and Merck Index. In July 2011 he created new commercial social enterprise, Health Data Insight C.I.C., to act as an information intermediary and provide healthcare information to patients, public and healthcare industries while ensuring that all the value is retained for the public good.
Jem has held honorary NHS consultant contracts in public health medicine and histopathology, is a Fellow of, and the former e-learning and informatics leads for, the Royal College of Pathologists in the UK and a member of the Health Policy and Strategy Group of the British Computer Society. He is Chair of International Cancer Benchmarking Programme Linkage Module and the Linkage Advisory Board for the NHS Information Centre; he also sits on a variety of other committees and boards.
Previously Jem was a Founding Fellow of the Cambridge-MIT Institute, a member of the GE Healthcare International Scientific Advisory Board and the International Advisory Board of Informing Healthcare, Wales. He spent six years as a Non-executive Director and Vice Chairman of the NHS Information Authority and has acted as a special advisor to the Health Select Committee of the House of Commons.