Putting Patients First: Unveiling Healthcare Realities in Greater Manchester

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.

Laura is an experienced healthcare leader with extensive experience across the NHS, digital and life sciences industries. She is currently Director of Strategy, overseeing HInM’s strategic priorities across the research and innovation portfolio.

Laura has spent 15 years working in senior roles across the NHS in Greater Manchester, both in commissioning and provider organisations, and prior to that worked in business to business PR. She has a wealth of experience in managing complex and sensitive issues, strategy development and delivery, media relations and corporate affairs.

She enjoys using creative processes to see things differently and elicit new ideas and concepts towards solving problems, as well as encouraging success and creativity in others through positive leadership, inclusion, and coproduction with the diverse population of Greater Manchester.

Olivia was born with a rare congenital heart condition called Hypoplastic left hearted syndrome. She went on to be the thirteenth patient in the NHS to undergo all three open heart surgeries and additional 18 surgeries in order to cure this condition. This experience placed her under the care of Birmingham children’s hospital for the first eighteen years of her life.

She is now a multi-award winning founder and speaker on improving patient outcomes through innovation and design.

Russ is 59 years old and a long term patient at SRFT. He has Psoriasis,  Psoriatic Arthritis and Epilepsy, been in Hospital 29 times and has spent 3 years of his life on a ward. He has spoken at various conferences and to pharmaceutical companies about his experiences. He is Vice Chairman of the Psoriasis Association as well as being a member of the patient panels at Innovation Health Manchester, the GM-ARC and Vocal.

As a dedicated young black Patient Advocate, with lived experienced as a Osteosarcoma survivor, Co-researcher of BRIGHTLIGHT research, Ambassador of Cancer EdUK, and Member of the European Network of Youth Cancer Survivors, Maria is deeply committed to improving the lives of those affected by cancer.

Through her various roles, she work passionately to raise awareness, through public speaking at various health events and conferences virtually and in person, creating video and audio content, attending focus groups, provide support, to help drive positive change in research advancements in our current health field. Additionally, her background as a Psychology graduate and experience as a Children’s Author using positive affirmations and mindset mantras to improve self- esteem and manifest a positive mindset allows Maria to communicate complex medical concepts in an approachable and digestible manner.

She can offer valuable insights to bio and pharmaceutical companies by bridging the gap between patients and industry, ensuring patient-centricity in drug development, and promoting ethical and effective cancer and other health therapies and treatments, but also allowing the researchers and clinicians to be able to gain more reliable results.