Health Tech Conference 2024 – The Tilt Towards Technology: Transforming Greater Manchester Healthcare

Professor Alejandro Frangi works at the University of Manchester, UK, where he holds the Bicentennial Turing Chair in Computational Medicine. His research focuses on using advanced computer models to improve healthcare and medical device testing. Prof Frangi leads the Christabel Pankhurst Institute, which develops new health technologies. He also directs the InSilicoUK Network, which promotes the use of computer simulations in medical research and regulation. His work spans computer science and health science, aiming to make medical innovations safer and more effective.

Alistair Williamson is Managing Director of Lucid Innovation, a team of UX and industrial design, electronics, software and regulatory specialists based in Manchester Science Park.

Collaborating with commercial, NHS and academic organisations, Lucid has a 20+ year history designing and manufacturing over 200 digital and physical medical devices, wellness and safety products.

Alistair’s team believe in putting patients and healthcare professionals first. Developing sustainable technology solutions that fit healthcare pathways and reimbursement models.

Andrea Winders is the Head of Inward Investment for Life Sciences and Healthcare at MIDAS, Greater Manchester’s Inward Investment Agency. In her role, she focuses on promoting Greater Manchester as a leading location for life sciences and healthcare investments. She works closely with international partners, businesses, and governments to understand the drivers to attract and retain growing life science organisations, then pairs with UK research and regulatory bodies to provide the necessary information, connections, space, and opportunities to design, test, and commercialise innovative products.

A creative Manchester-based entrepreneur and expert in tech, infrastructure, and smart cities, Andrea has a diverse background that led her to this position. She started her career in sales, holding many executive and managerial positions in companies like Spicers, Lyreco, and Office Depot.

In 2005, Andrea founded Pink Ladies, a no-cash, innovative digital female-led taxi service to provide a solution with reduced risks for passengers and drivers, resulting in several national awards, including 42-under-42 for Innovation, Woman of the Year finalist, Start-up of the Year finalist, Big Difference Award, and culminating in a meeting with HRH Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of services to women’s safety.

With much experience in bringing innovative technological solutions and having made a community network of government and public departments, she joined Sunderland City Council as the Executive Director of Enterprise Investment to ignite the city’s smart agenda.

This role led her to pursue her passion to work with organisations and technologies that empower cities and citizens. She then joined the Smart Cities Council in Nov 2022. Andrea held the title of Executive Director of Smart Cities Council and managed the organisation’s growth and drove objectives for the expansion of the smart agenda throughout the country.

Dr, Andrew Round is Investment Director at Deepbridge. Prior to joining Deepbridge, Andy has been an investor in Healthcare and Life Science companies for the past 15 years with Praetura Ventures, Maven Capital Partners and now Deepbridge. Andy has several Healthcare exits under his belt and has managed investments from both EIS and VCT funds as well as public/private funds and balance sheet investments. Andy has also worked as a consultant for companies such as DSM, Sumitomo Chemical, Bayer and Lanxess advising them and assisting them on Mergers and Acquisitions. Andy has also been a Founder in an early-stage Biotech company that raised in excess of £60m and was listed on AiM, using microbes as a drug delivery vehicle.

Andy is Head of Innovation for Bruntwood SciTech, the country’s leading developer of Innovation and Science ecosystems. Having worked for over 25 years in early stage translation of science, from Big Pharma to start-up medtech, Andy now works with a wide variety of companies at various stages of their development. Specialising in start-up and early stage ventures, Andy runs a range of programmes and has worked with over 250 companies in the past 10 years, supporting them to achieve early-stage funding and commercial success.

Annie has worked at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) since 2021. Initially as operations manager for the Diagnostics and Technology Accelerator (DiTA) and now as Operations Director of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Emergency and Acute Care.

Prior to this Annie worked at The University of Manchester for 12 years as a Research Fellow working in the Versus Arthrits Centre for Genetics and Genomics, undertaking research into musculoskeletal conditions as part of the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. The focus of her research was aimed at improving disease prediction, prevention, and personalisation. During this time, Annie managed a range of research projects including a large European innovative medicines initiative grant with both academic and industrial partners. Annie has published over 20 research articles in the field of complex disease genetics.
She has a Bsc (Hons) in Cellular and Molecular Biosciences and completed her PhD in translational medicine at The University of Manchester in 2011.

As Operational Lead of the NIHR HRC in Emergency and Acute care, she works closely with the HRC Leadership Team and Core Operational Team to lead HRC governance and operations. Annie works with the HRC themes, industry partners and strategic areas across the HRC, MFT and our university partners to drive the successful delivery of the HRC strategic objectives. The NIHR HRC in Emergency and Acute Care aims to drive the commercial development of health technologies (HealthTech) by supporting industry to generate the evidence required for regulatory approval and adoption into the health and care system.

An award winning commercial and technology lawyer specialising in the health and care sector, Charlotte advises health and care organisations on legal, commercial and strategic issues relating to commissioning, contracting and collaborating. Having worked on a range of health and social care projects from system and place based integration and provider collaboration to electronic patient record procurements and digital health platform development, Charlotte works in partnership with clients to help them to navigate complex issues in order to deliver the desired outcome.

Charlotte is an advocate for innovation and transformation in the sector and in addition to her legal role at Mills & Reeve she proudly chairs pro-Manchester’s healthcare committee and is co-vice chair of techUK’s Health and Social Care Council.

Gareth joined the Greater Manchester health and care system early in 2023 as Digital Innovation Director. He joined as part of a joint appointment between Health Innovation Manchester and NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care.

Gareth’s previous role was Deputy National Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) within the Transformation Directorate at NHS England, where he brought clinical leadership to national policy, strategy, systems liaison, and workforce development initiatives.

Gareth remains an active frontline consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia at Salford Royal, where he was also previously Clinical Director. Prior to his national role he was the Group Chief Clinical Information Officer at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.

Thomas Robinson was first elected to Manchester City Council in May 2021 before joining the Cabinet in 2022 as the Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Adult Social Care.

A born and bred Mancunian, central Manchester is the place he proudly still calls home. Intersected with spells in Sheffield, London and New Zealand, he has attained an undergraduate degree in Politics from the University of Sheffield and a postgraduate from Queen Mary, University of London.

Initially joining the charity sector, working both for the Royal British Legion and then Comic Relief, Tom returned to Manchester in 2013 to join the office of Police and Crime Commissioner, later Interim Greater Manchester Mayor – Tony Lloyd. Eventually he headed to Parliament as a Parliamentary Assistant for the Member of Parliament – Jonathan Reynolds MP.  He then returned to local government becoming the Executive Business Manager to the Leader of Tameside Council before appointment to the Manchester City Council Cabinet in 2022.

To that end, Tom has witnessed many chapters of the Greater Manchester devolution journey first-hand and is an advocate of making sure its benefits are felt by all Mancunians, especially where healthcare integration and the advancement of early prevention are concerned.

Away from politics and current affairs he is an advocate of outdoor education, live music and all things science fiction.

Dr Katherine Boylan is Director of Innovation at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), a position she has held since April 2020. This role involves overseeing innovation activities within MFT, part of the wider Research and Innovation function.

The innovation function supports intellectual property and commercialisation management; adoption of novel technologies within the Trust; strategic partnerships (with commercial organisations and other leading clinical/academic centres); a portfolio of strategic programmes (including the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Emergency and Acute Care, and the MFT Clinical Data Science Unit) and the interaction with the co-located companies across the Citylabs Innovation District.

Katherine has been a member of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Medical Technologies Advisory Committee since September 2021.

Prior to this position, Katherine worked in the University of Manchester for a number of years, most recently as Operations Director for the Medical Research Council funded Molecular Pathology Node, and the Trust-funded Diagnostics and Technology Accelerator.

Leah is Head of Simulation/Senior Lecturer in the School of Health & Society and the University of Salford. She works with colleagues across the School to embed and enhance simulation-based education and innovative techniques for teaching and learning in the four Directorates (Allied & Public Health, Nursing & Midwifery, Social Sciences and Psychology & Sport) . Prior to this she worked at Manchester Metropolitan University as a Senior Lecturer in Simulation-Based Education.

Research interests include investigating student learner’s engagement and emotional response to realism during simulation-based education.

Leah was part of an International team involved in research into Simulated Patients (SPs). She currently leads the SP Programme in the Northwest on behalf of NHS England, training both SPs and SP Trainers. Recently Leah completed the funded M-Care (Mixed Realities for Health and Social Care Education) project. M-Care comprises mixed reality resources (2D games, augmented reality (AR) models, body-system fly-throughs, and virtual reality (VR) work experiences) for health and social careers education. The resources are designed to inspire young people to discover more about the human body and consider future careers in the health and social care sector and were launched in November 2021!

Dr Matt Pearce is a seasoned senior executive with over three decades of experience across the medical diagnostics, biotechnology, and FMCG sectors. Matt specialises in driving business growth, product innovation, and new technology development. As the founder of Medtechtomarket, he has successfully led the design, development and commercialisation of medical technologies, securing significant investment and launching several spin-out companies. With expertise spanning the entire innovation pipeline, he excels in R&D, marketing, and quality manufacturing. Matt’s leadership extends to mentoring and collaboration with top universities, positioning him as a key player in highly regulated and technical industries.

Having started in the diagnostics Industry in 1989 across a number of multinational, PLC and SME IVD companies, I am confident that we offer unparalleled speed to market, total cost-effectiveness, and a complete commitment to delivering innovative and quality products.”

Mark Duman MRPharmS brings over 30 years of clinician, management consultant and patient perspectives to the healthcare, life sciences and digital health sectors.  Working in the NHS, The King’s Fund, the BBC, and as a Founder of the Patient Information Forum, Mark endeavours to make healthcare more person-centric.

As the Chief Patient Officer for MD Healthcare, he works with organisations such as AstraZeneca, Diabetes UK, Google Health, Innovate UK, JnJ, Macmillan Cancer Support, Microsoft, Pfizer, Novartis & Siemens Healthineers to harness digital health, develop markets and improve patient engagement.

Markella is a Clinical geneticist specializing in prenatal and preconception genetic testing. She has several years’ clinical experience in both the NHS and private healthcare, at The Doctors’ Lab (TDL), Great Ormond Street, the Churchill Hospital Oxford and, more locally, The Christie. She also worked in a Commercial role at Abbott Labs.

During her time as a geneticist, Markella met many couples whose life changed drastically when they gave birth to a child affected by a genetic disease. MolMart was founded in Manchester to help prospective parents understand and manage genetic risk during their family planning journey.

Dr. Nabeel Arshad is a dedicated GP at The Brooke Surgery in Hyde, Manchester. With a passion for providing excellent healthcare, he has been instrumental in implementing innovative practices to improve patient access and care by offering 24/7 GP Access. The Brooke Surgery adds to their offer and are on a mission on to deliver evidence based medicine information, available for all via social media.

Ralph is a Consultant Paediatric Anaesthetist, with special interest in Technology Enhanced Learning, and the Resuscitation & Paediatric Major Trauma Service lead at  Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

He has a Manchester Academic Health Science Network honorary clinical chair. He founded the Health Education England NW Simulation Education Network & co-founded the INSPIRE global simulation-based research network.

An author of 50+ peer-reviewed manuscripts, Ralph has a PhD in Technology Enhanced Leaning from the Karolinska Institutet Stockholm.
Ralph joined Health On Cloud in 2021 leveraging technology to improve disparities in global medical education, creating a UK company to create interactive content.

Sam has spent the vast majority of his career working in a variety of business development roles in the digital health sector.  After spending 7 years with a major supplier of document integration software deployed in 70% of acute NHS trusts, he decided to leave his role as National Head of Healthcare Sales to co-found Quiddity Health in 2019.

Since then, he and his team have been providing specialist market access consultancy for the UK health sector, as well as bespoke sales representation solutions to dozens of best-in-class digital innovators from around the world.  As of 2024, Quiddity Health is providing a broad range of lead generation, pipeline management, customer success, and implementation services that have resulted in significant adoption of their clients’ innovations across the UK health system.

Vicky is a partner in the Mills & Reeve corporate team with a particular focus in the life sciences, health and technology sectors. She works with clients on a variety of corporate matters including: disposals and acquisitions, investments (equity and debt); corporate governance; shareholder and joint venture arrangements and corporate restructures and reorganisations. Recent highlights include advising a number of management teams in the life sciences and biotech space on equity investments and additional fund raisings as well as a strategic restructure. Client feedback and why you would speak to Vicky about corporate issues:   “extremely knowledgeable, approachable and above all a pleasure to deal with.”

Zoe is founder and CEO of The Real Birth Company, gaining her Registered Midwife status in 2009. With a passion for antenatal education Zoe has led developments in antenatal education services within the NHS, and lectured at several further education settings about the positive links between good quality education and maternal health.

She believes that all women should have access to evidence-based antenatal education, that enhances understanding and provides a positive approach to birth preparation. She developed a multilingual digital birth preparation solution to help improve access for more women from various nationalities, using her specific model of birth planning.

RealBirth™ is interactive, user friendly, animated, and easily accessible. It has audio guides in several languages, taking women through 119 lessons over 11 modules on the various stages of labour, caesarean and preterm birth. Where our programmes are in place, maternity service providers have reassurance and confidence that their birthing community has access to accurate, state of the art information, provided in a culturally sensitive and accessible format.