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Catherine Ross
Catherine Ross is the Chief Scientific Officer at Scottish Government.

Current role
As the Chief Scientific Officer for Scottish Government and Head of Profession for the scientific workforce across NHS Scotland, Catherine is Scottish Governments most senior advisor for Health Science and leads the development of government policy pertaining to the NHS Scotland scientific workforce and clinical services.

Catherine is the co-chair of the largest strategic network in Scotland - The Diagnostics Strategic Network and is the co-chair of the Genomics Strategy Group for Scotland.

Early career
Catherine began her career in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast as a cardiac physiologist, a specialism within the professional group known as Healthcare science.

Catherine specialised in non-invasive cardiac imaging - cardiac ultrasound.

She later was appointed as the Head of Clinical Leadership within the CSO office in NHS England, then became the Scientific Lead for NHS England before moving into her current post as Chief Scientific Officer for Scottish Government.

European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
In 2022 Catherine was elected as Secretary/Treasurer of the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions (ACNAP) within the ESC for the 2022 - 2024 mandate. She is also a member of the ACNAP Scientific Programme Committee and the ACNAP Education Committee.

In the 2020 - 2022 mandate Catherine previously held the roles of Chair of the ACNAP Membership Committee, Co-Chair of the Communication Committee and member of the Scientific Programme Committee. She has also been a member of the ESC Taskforce on Allied Professions since it was established in 2018.

Catherine is a co-author on the first Core Curriculum for Cardiovascular Nurses and Allied Professionals published by ESC.

Science Council
Catherine was elected as Vice-Chair of the Science Council in 2021, and is a member of the Board of Trustees. She also holds the roles of Chair of the Science Council Policy Advisory Committee and is a member of the nominations committee.

The Society for Cardiological Science and Technology (SCST)
Catherine first joined the Professional Body for Cardiac Scientists https://scst.org.uk/ in 1995 as a member of the Northern Ireland Committee, she held a number of roles on that committee before becoming President of the branch in 2002.

In 2006 Catherine was nominated as the Northern Ireland representative to the UK Council and was elected as the Secretary of SCST Council in 2007. She was elected as President of SCST Council in 2014, and took up the role in 2015.

In her role as President of SCST she overseen the publication of the Societys first Strategic Plan.

She was co-author on the Clinical Guidelines for Recording a Standard 12-Lead Electrocardiogram as well as the development of the SCST Certificate of Proficiency in Healthcare Science (Cardiac Physiology) Preceptorship Programme

Awards and Recognitions
Catherine has received a number of awards for her contribution to the development of the profession of Healthcare Science.

In 2015 Catherine was awarded Fellowship of The Society for Cardiological Science and Technology.

She became a Chartered Scientist in 2018, was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Biology in 2021, and was awarded Chartered Biologist in 2021.

In 2022 was awarded dual Fellowship of the Academy for Healthcare Science for her contribution to the development of the profession of healthcare science and for her contribution to the development of Healthcare Science education.

She was recognised by the Science Council on International Womens Day in 2023

Recognising her contribution to supporting women in science she was a member of the UK UN Women delegation at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Science Engagement
Catherine has been involved in a number of projects supporting widening participation in Science, particularly focusing on encouraging more females and children from lower socio-economic areas.

She is a STEM Ambassador and has developed a short film with the Royal Institution and GirlGuiding Ulster to support families to enjoy science activities at home together.