R&I Annual Conference 2025

Nish Afsar is the UK Clinical Affairs Lead at Newton’s Tree, a startup dedicated to AI transformation at scale in health and care. As a qualified Radiographer and former Medical Advisor, Nish brings a unique blend of clinical insight and strategic expertise to the safe and effective integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare.

At the forefront of hospital-based AI innovation, Nish supports organisations in deploying clinically relevant AI tools that are grounded in evidence and real-world practice across the NHS and beyond.

Finally, his work focuses on ensuring that AI implementation delivers meaningful outcomes for patients and professionals, with a strong emphasis on monitoring, governance, and long-term impact in serving patients and professionals.

Usman is the NPIC Programme Head for Digital Deployment, Data, and IT (Information Technology)

Services and is responsible in providing strategic leadership and delivery of the NPIC Digital Pathology solution and services, including the technology products and systems, business as usual IT Services, client service functions and IT contract and supplier management.

Spanning a 17+ year career across the Health Care Sector and Local Government sector in Digital and IT, he’s passionate about the implementation of products and services that are built to improve services to patients.

At NPIC Usman directed and led multi-disciplinary teams of technical professionals and expert industry Partners, to design, develop, implement a Single National centrally hosted Digital Pathology Platform, enabling the onboarding of 20 + NHS Trusts nationally, allowing Pathologists to engage, evaluate, and collaborate rapidly and remotely, with transparency and consistency, improving efficiency, productivity and improving direct care to patients.

Usman is now looking to continue to lead and drive the deployment of the NPIC Digital Pathology Solution bringing together innovative technology with sector specific experience to help NPIC deliver against its objectives in forming a true national network for pathology.

Davy Baars is the CEO of Bright Technology Ventures (BTV), a venture fund based in ’s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, dedicated to accelerating innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. Since 2018, he has been shaping BTV’s vision and strategic direction by building a collaborative ecosystem of IoT ventures that combine digital innovation with human potential. With a background in IT and deep expertise in (digital) product management, Davy connects technology and strategy to scale impactful businesses in segments like supply chain, transport & logistics, mobility, rental, automotive and semiconductor. Under his leadership, BTV fosters growth, operational efficiency and transparency while contributing to a more sustainable and circular future.

After working in the higher education sector for many years, Becky joined Leeds Hospitals Charity in March 2018. Firstly, overseeing the development of Day One Major Trauma Support and latterly leading on the Charity’s funding strategy. Having undertaken extensive charity fundraising in her personal life, Leeds Hospitals Charity presented a great opportunity to continue philanthropy whilst utilising her unique professional skills and experience in strategy and partnerships. Becky is working closely with Leeds Teaching Hospitals to deliver the Charity’s research and innovation strategy and through charitable funding, contributing to Leeds Teaching Hospitals to deliver on its own.

Denise Barnes is the lead midwife for genomics in North East & Yorkshire Genomic Medicine Service (GMS.) With a specialist interest and clinical experience in foetal and maternal medicine, she is committed to increasing awareness of genomics in the maternity care pathway and improving access to genomics for women and their families.

The role requires insight to the current access to perinatal genomics services by collaborating with colleagues, and using data and pathway mapping to evidence this.

Denise’s role currently includes midwifery oversight of the Generation study in North East and Yorkshire – A research study exploring the feasibility of whole genome sequencing for newborn babies.

Following a PhD in microbiology, laboratory management and role at the NIHR CRN Coordinating Centre, Fiona has worked for Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust for the last 10 years. First as the Research and Development Manager, and now as Head of Research and Development. Fiona leads a team of ambulance researchers in the delivery of high quality ambulance care research. The team works work closely with their academic partners to deliver interventional research into trauma, cardiac arrest and stroke care. They have also lead research into staff wellbeing, interactions with secondary care such as pre-alerting deteriorating patients and understanding the impacts for patients of prolonged time unable to get up after a fall.

Mr Bolton is a NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Neurosurgery at the Leeds Hospitals and the University of Leeds, where he undertakes his neurosurgical training alongside building a programme of

neurosurgical technologies research. He undertook his PhD in Global Surgical Innovation and Technologies where his research investigated the use of frugal innovation methodologies to develop and evaluate surgical technologies for low resource settings. His post-doctoral research is in applied and translational areas with expertise developing and evaluating immersive technologies for accelerating surgical care. He is Co-Chief Investigator on Recover Reality project investigating how virtual reality can improve recovery after surgery, and co-leads the Leeds XR Health Hub that provides all staff access to training and equipment to use immersive technologies across the Trust.

Dr Carole Burnett is a diagnostic radiographer with a portfolio of clinical research focused on improving the outcomes of patients: This work is supported by her NIHR SCPRA fellowship.

Carole is an advocate for healthcare professional researchers, supporting clinicians to achieve their clinical academic career aspirations. She is the Academic Capacity Development Lead for the NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre and the CHORAL programme and is the Clinical Director for the Leeds Academic Health Partnership.

Dr Ruth Burnett, Executive Medical Director, Responsible Officer & Caldicott Guardian, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Leeds GP Confederation.

Ruth is an experienced medical leader, currently holding two aligned posts as the Executive Medical Director of Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Leeds GP Confederation. She practiced as a GP and GP with an Extended Role in Sport & Exercise Medicine from 2009, before taking up her first medical leadership position in 2013 and attending the Windsor Leadership Emerging Strategic Leaders program during that post. She has worked across a diverse range of services and healthcare sectors; including both public and private provision of NHS services, those which fall under specialist commissioning and sporting events including the 2012 Olympic Games. Most recently she has navigated strategic leadership through the Covid19 pandemic and ongoing impacts of this on the health and social care sectors, and the personal and professional challenges that brought for individuals, teams and the healthcare system as a whole. She is the Executive lead for Health Inequalities.

Sue Crawford joined IQVIA in 2019 to manage the Northern Prime Site, the Northern Prime Site is a collective of research active entities across Greater Manchester and the Yorkshire & Humber regions. Prior to joining IQVIA Sue spent 24 years in Sales, during her Sales career she sold finance & accounting outsourcing and shared services to NHS organisations, mainly in the North East of the UK and for the last 10 years in her Sales career she sold EPR solutions and services to Acute and Mental Health/Community Trusts across the UK with a strong focus in Northern Ireland.

Sue finds working for the world’s largest CRO interesting, stimulating and very rewarding. Knowing that the work we collectively do helps so many people is truly inspiring and all made possible by the goodwill and professionalism of the staff who work tirelessly in NHS Trusts to make research happen.

Mike has worked at B Braun in various commercial roles for nearly 23 years, joining straight from University, where he gained a Masters in Chemistry. Starting off in sales of IV medical consumables before moving to Pharma and Nutrition, which he was Business Unit head for around 10 years until 2018. For the last 6 years, Mike has worked across B Braun’s vast portfolio of 15 therapy areas, with various remits including Pricing, Government Affairs and Market Access. In around 2020, Mike set up B Braun’s first Real World Evidence team anywhere in the world, recognising the need for evidence to demonstrate value, in a world where value-based healthcare becomes business as usual. As well as his role at B Braun, Mike has been a board member of the British Specialist Nutrition Association since 2019, and has just taken over as Chair of the ABHI Commercial Group.

Pete Culmer is Professor of Healthcare Engineering at the University of Leeds, leading the Healthcare Mechatronics Group. He brings research expertise in the development of medical devices with a focus on sustainability and global healthcare. He leads research into sustainable materials for Circular Medical Devices (EPSRC ReMed project, with Loughborough University) and leads the Sustainability theme of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care. He sits on the UK IMechE Biomedical Engineering Division (BMeD) committee and Innovations in Global Surgery organisation, working as an advocate for sustainable, global healthcare engineering.

Following a career in retail management, Richard has worked in the NHS since 2009 in a variety of roles supporting the delivery of clinical trials, and the development of commercial research and innovation. He joined The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2016 as a Research and Innovation Manager responsible for industry liaison and research performance management. In early 2020 he was seconded to the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Coordinating Centre to manage the new National Patient Recruitment Centre Programme and took up his current post in April 2022.

Richard manages a team of Business Development and Innovation Managers who support innovation activity across the Trust, including delivery of the ‘Innovation Pop Up’, an exciting new development at the Trust to focus on translational research and innovation approaches to test bed new ideas and develop collaborations with industry, clinical innovators and entrepreneurs.

The Innovation Pop Up is the first of three phases towards a health innovation campus centred at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI). It aims to:

• Support the development of an innovation culture in LTHT ready for our new digital hospitals
• Be a “safe space” away from clinical areas where clinical staff can work collaboratively with businesses and others involved with innovation
• Be a test bed for the evaluation and piloting of new technologies
• Support local economic growth and promote the regional skills and talent agenda Address some of the barriers to innovation in the NHS
• Scale in phases towards the LGI site redevelopment

Contact: [email protected] or [email protected].

Tim is the driving force behind the Propel@YH Digital Accelerator programmes, delivered by Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber. He leads on strategic direction, stakeholder engagement, programme design, and overall success—transforming Propel into a high-impact platform for UK and international health tech innovators.

Under Tim’s leadership, Propel has supported over 100 organisations, helping them secure more than

£35 million in grants and investment, attract £250K in local funding, and create over 115 new health tech jobs. His efforts also led to securing £4 million through the West Yorkshire Innovation Zone, ensuring the expansion of Propel’s Start-Up and Scale-Up programmes for the next four years.

Before joining Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber, Tim spent over two decades in the healthcare sector, delivering cutting-edge solutions across primary and secondary care. He brings deep expertise in product management, growth strategy, and innovation delivery.

Notably, Tim led the development of the UK’s first GP Patient Access product, connecting clinicians with patients and scaling it to over 10 million users and 55% of the primary care estate—a landmark achievement in digital health.

Graham has over 30 years’ experience as a Healthcare Professional with a background in diagnostic haematology. The past 8 years with Siemens Healthineers have been dedicated to delivering clinical, operational, and financial excellence to pathology laboratories and networks.

Caroline Gill is a Highly Specialist Physiotherapist in stroke and neurology in Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, and Research Physiotherapist in the University of Leeds.

Caroline has worked across the rehabilitation pathway, in Leeds Teaching Hospitals and Leeds Community NHS Trusts, for the majority of her career. She has also worked in Calgary in neurological, neurosurgical and spinal rehabilitation.

Her current research is funded by NHS Transformation and UKRI. This work is exploring the use of augmented reality glasses to deliver physiotherapy-based exercises and activities to improve mobility and quality of life for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Hannah Hawrot’s training, teaching experience within the university of leeds, and contributions to thackray museum have established her expertise in autopsy. Dr. Hawrot has contributed this experience to the trust since 2016, and currently serves as a consultant histopathologist at st. James’ hospital. Dr. Hawrot is also collaborating at present, alongside dr. Katheryn griffin, on the paper-free mortuary project.

Jill leads a growing team of AHP and Nurse researchers aligned to clinical services for children and adults in health centres and homes, with a track record of working closely with the third sector. She is the Y&H Research Delivery Network Community Setting Lead, which is one of four new roles aimed at increasing research delivery in wider care settings (out of hospital) to improve research inclusion and research capacity.

Alongside this, she holds an NIHR Senior Clinical Research Award to build community research capacity and community solutions for foot pain. Jill is a podiatrist with 22 years experience, she was awarded a PhD in 2013 and holds a visiting research fellow title at the Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine. Jill works with leading Osteoarthritis research groups across the UK, USA and Australia. Jill has worked with the NICE guideline OA committee and the International foot and ankle osteoarthritis committee. Jill currently sits on the steering group NIHR incubator Community Rehabilitation Research Network.

Andria is a research programme manager at the Bradford Institute for Health Research, with expertise in improvement and implementation science covering the NHS, academic and commercial sectors.

Andria also works as a freelance researcher and evaluator on improvement and implementation science and outcomes research projects. She previously worked as a senior outcomes consultant at York Health Economics Consortium.

Magnus joined Leeds Teaching Hospitals in September 2023, and has held Executive Medical Director and Deputy Chief Executive roles at both Burton Hospitals NHS Trust and the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton.

In 2022 he became Interim Chief Executive Officer of University Hospitals of Derby and Burton before becoming Chief Medical Officer of independent healthcare provider Newson Health.

Prior to his executive roles, Magnus was a Consultant and Clinical Director in Emergency Medicine for 10 years. He is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Nottingham Medical School.

Rachel Harrison has nearly 30 years’ experience as a paediatric nurse, initially in general paediatrics and Paediatric Intensive Care, before moving into research in 2003. Currently Rachel is the Lead Nurse for Children and Young People at LTHT overseeing the management and leadership of the NIHR Leeds CRF at Leeds Children’s Hospital site and Children’s Research workforce delivery team. Currently the portfolio has approximately 150 active studies and clinical trials relating to 25 different paediatric specialist areas recruiting up to 1000 children, young people and their families to research on an annual basis. Rachel completed a PhD whilst working alongside a National Metabolic Bone Disease clinical service before taking up her current role as Lead Nurse for Children and Young People at LTHT.

Chris is an experienced Operational Manager, Business Strategist and Business Development and Innovation professional with a focus on the translation and commercialisation of innovative healthtech research. He has worked in a variety of positions within the medical device and Advanced Therapy

sectors with a focus on the development of translational R&D programmes led by clinicians, academics and SME’s.

As Director of Operations for Research and Innovation at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Chris oversees the strategic development and operational management of Research and Innovation across one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK. In this role, Chris is responsible for the strategic development and management of research at the Trust which at any one time supports >900 live clinical research projects and which hosts major national infrastructures including the NIHR Clinical Research Facility, NIHR Biomedical Research Facility and National Innovation Pathology Co-operative. The embedded Innovation team supports both innovators in the Trust and businesses who are looking to work with NHS organisations to develop and evaluate innovative healthtech products across a broad spectrum of clinical disciplines. This growing portfolio of “innovation” projects includes the collaborative development of a wide range of medical devices, diagnostics and digital/AI tools aimed at improving the health of patients.

Chris has a strong belief in open innovation and collaboration to develop solutions to problems and in developing business and reimbursement strategies in parallel with strong scientific proof-of-concept data at an early stage to facilitate the development of investable propositions which link to real-life challenges within the NHS.

With extensive experience in the North’s health, tech and digital sectors, Deb has been instrumental in shaping strategies for regional growth. She has advised businesses on artificial intelligence adoption, supported academic research at Leeds Beckett University, and contributed to national economic discussions as a Forum member at the Productivity Institute.

As Executive Director at Leeds Digital, Deb championed the social and economic growth of the region’s digital community. Prior to joining SGI, she founded Hey Innovation and served as Head of Innovation at Bruntwood SciTech, where she developed and implemented innovation strategies across the UK.

At SGI, Deb focuses on connecting businesses with opportunities across the Group’s developments, strengthening relationships with universities, NHS trusts, and other key stakeholders. Her work centres on flagship projects such as Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and The Old Medical School in Leeds, aiming to create dynamic, innovation-focused communities.

Suzanne Hill is an experienced clinical academic pharmacist, dividing her time between her hospital role as a Pharmacist Embedded Researcher at LTHT and university position as Deputy Lead for Experiential Learning and Programme Lead for Advanced Pharmacy Practice at the University of Bradford. During her career, Suzanne has continued to study, alongside undertaking a variety of roles across multiple sectors (community, primary care, hospital, academia). Following completion of her MPharm in 2006, she completed her PgDip and IPresc and then gained additional funding to support her MRes (PRUK, 2013-14) and PhD studies (Alzheimer’s Society, 2015-21). In her current roles, she enjoys supporting and working collaboratively with colleagues (across sectors and disciplines), to develop research/QI/audit capacity & capability and experiential learning opportunities for students in practice. Her research interests include: person-centred medicines management, care transitions, dementia, patient safety (human factors), research culture and educational research.

Hanif’s expertise is in chronic illness management, focussing on patient experiences and evaluating health professionals.

As a mixed methods researcher, Hanif has had the opportunity to work on some exciting and innovative research studies, from exploring taboos around reporting and seeking help for epilepsy to evaluating specialist cardiology nurses and exploring barriers to behaviour change in adults at risk of developing heart disease.

Hanif is an active volunteer member of the Leeds – Bradford Ethics Committee and an expert reviewer for several specialist health journals.

Through his research experience over the last 25 years, Hanif has learned that harnessing the unique knowledge that patients/the public possess is essential if we are to conduct research that is meaningful and ultimately successful.

Stella is an experienced project and programme manager, with knowledge of quality control and management principles. She has a strong track record of health research coordination and management working for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academy (formerly Trainees Coordinating Centre) in several posts since 2005 and supporting the West Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and now the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) with the West Yorkshire Research and Development team since 2013.

Dr Paul Jones joined the Trust in November 2019. Paul has held senior roles across the public and private sector including Chief Technology Officer for the NHS in England and Group CIO of Serco.

Paul’s background is rooted in technology with a BSc and PhD in Computer Science and in 2023 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science for his services to health technology and the NHS. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Chartered IT Professional.

Paul leads a team of more than 400 digital, IT and information specialists, delivering vital services across the Trust to support exceptional patient care. This includes development of the Trust’s electronic patient record, applications to support specialist functions, reporting and information insight, data quality and coding and records management. The team is also responsible for information governance and core IT services covering devices, cyber, networks, data centres, service desk and service management.

In 2023, Paul was elected Chair of the CIO Advisory Panel, which includes 12 CIOs from various NHS Trusts and regional organisations, elected by peers from across the country. The panel is responsible for setting direction for the CIO Network, providing an independent, nationally elected voice for local NHS digital leaders.

As Head of R&D for Nordic ID Technology – the RFID technology used in Brady RFID devices – Mika Karttunen guides the R&D efforts for Nordic ID Technology, driving its technological competitiveness across Brady’s RFID products and services. His impressive track record also includes leading significant mobile phone and technology development projects at notable companies such as Microsoft, Nokia, and Elcoteq. Mika holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland.

Sarah Kent is the Head of Nursing for Research & Innovation at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust since Jan 2024.

Sarah qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1991 and began her research career as a research nurse in 2000 at York Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust establishing a research delivery team and trials portfolio across multiple disease sites at Scarborough Hospital. She became the Lead Research Nurse for the Humber & Yorkshire Coast Cancer Research Network in 2002.

Sarah joined LTHT in April 2017 as Senior Sister for the Clinical Research Facility in Bexley Wing at SJUH, before moving into central R&I as a Lead Nurse in 2021 and then successfully applying to be the Head of Nursing for Research.

Sarah’s focus is to ensure that research is delivered to consistently high standards whilst maintaining a stable workforce and increasing opportunities for our patients to be involved in research. She is also driven to strengthen the R&I CSU and work collaboratively with all other CSU’s in the Trust to support and integrate the 7 Commitments.

Michael Leibig is the founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Caretag, with over 30 years of experience in medical technology and a background in economics and computer programming. After working as a senior consultant for Medtronic Inc., one of the world’s leading medtech companies, he turned his focus to surgical safety and operational efficiency. He founded Caretag in 2012 to deliver smarter, safer solutions for the handling of surgical instruments across hospitals and Central Sterile Services Departments (CSSDs). Today, he leads the company’s commercial strategy and works with healthcare providers worldwide to implement RFID-based systems that make workflows safer, more efficient, and compliant.

Susan Rose Lees, Mezzo Soprano, trained at the Royal Academy of Music where she was awarded the Gold medal in 1971. She was a soloist at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Royal Opera House, Wexford Opera and English National Opera, becoming a founder member of the chorus of Opera North based in Leeds in 1978, also performing many roles, until retirement in 2009.

Sue has performed many oratorios throughout England and abroad including Messiah, Verdi Requiem, Dream of Gerontius (Angel), The Creation, Bach Passions, Elijah and others.

In 1976 Sue performed the Sandman in Brian Large’s Christmas T.V. production of Hansel and Gretel.

Since retiring from Opera North Sue has taught singing at Hull and Leeds Universities, The Leeds Conservatoire, and in Leeds Schools.

Sue spends much of her time organising charity concerts with her pupils and colleagues in North Yorkshire.

Dr Sarah Mackie is an academic rheumatologist based in Leeds, UK. Her research interests are giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). She is first author of the 2020 British Society for Rheumatology guideline on giant cell arteritis. Her team won a 2022 British Society for Rheumatology Best Practice award for their GCA diagnostic pathway. She is Co-Chair of the Outcome Measures in PMR Working Group which has produced a Core Domain Set for clinical trials in PMR. She is Chief Investigator of the STERLING-PMR trial.

Kate leads one of the UK’s biggest partnerships of its kind: Leeds Academic Health Partnership.

The Partnership comprises the city’s three main universities and NHS organisations, Leeds City Council, Leeds City College, third sector and regional organisations.

Reporting to their respective chief executives and vice-chancellors at board level, Kate leads the mission to bring partners together help solve the city’s hardest health challenges. The team identifies and brokers new opportunities for transforming health and care which could be best achieved in partnership.

Through its new brand Health Innovation Leeds, Kate oversees the city’s first unified, marketing approach to position Leeds nationally and internationally as a leading health innovation hub and attract inward investment.

In these ways, with a focus on tackling inequality and helping boost economic growth, the Partnership supports Leeds ambition to be the best city by 2030 in which to live and work.

Kate’s passion for health and care transformation spans her career to date. She has managed complex change in this sector through her senior roles at Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, and healthcare consulting firms Finnamore and GE Healthcare Partners.

Kate is also a co-opted member of the Leeds City College Board.

Ian is the NPIC Programme Head for Digital Deployment & Business Services, responsible for delivering a digital pathology solution to NHS Trusts nationally, whilst supporting our partners to embark on digital transformation across pathology. Ian is responsible for managing the relationships with our existing partners and to identify opportunities with new partners to work with NPIC in the future.

Ian has worked in IT delivery in the Healthcare industry for the last 19 years and held various leadership roles covering Programme delivery, Operations and Training Services. Ian has delivered numerous digital transformation projects in clinical environments across Primary Care, Community, Child Health & Acute Care settings. Ian has also helped NHS Digital deliver the Health & Social Care Network which was the largest public sector migration to a new data network, saving the NHS £75m per year.

Ian is now helping to drive forward the clinical implementation of the NPIC digital pathology solution across the country to help NPIC deliver against its objectives in forming a true national network for pathology.

Ryan Mathew is A/Professor and Consultant Neurosurgeon in Leeds, subspecialising in oncology, endoscopic and awake surgery. His research portfolio spans tumour biology and preclinical modelling through to FiH clinical translation; focusing on local therapeutic delivery and technology (immersive, machine learning/AI, tumour visualisation, and brain computer interfaces). He co-founded the UKLGG Network and spin-out Assemblify. He has numerous publications, is an internationally invited speaker and teaching faculty, an MHRA Clinical Assessor, TessaJowell NTA Core Committee, SBNS AC Translational Science Lead, CAG member (MRC, ARIA), peer-reviews for a number of journals and funders, and has > £8M in grant funding (PI/Co-I).

Fiona McKenzie is the Policy Lead and Deputy Portfolio Director for the NHS InSites programme, driving a pragmatic, user-centred approach to healthcare innovation. She works with NHS sites and innovators to accelerate the adoption of new solutions by developing shared processes that make innovation easier to spread. With over a decade of senior advisory experience in the NHS and academia, Fiona is dedicated to improving healthcare quality, access, and adoption. As a patron of the Anne Robson Trust and someone living with long-term conditions, she also advocates for compassionate, patient-centred care.

Dr Katya Meridor is a Clinical Research Fellow in Rheumatology at the Leeds Biomedical Research Centre, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and the Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Leeds. She is also a Consultant Rheumatologist at Tel Aviv Medical Centre and was appointed Lecturer in Internal Medicine at Tel Aviv University. Dr Meridor completed her medical degree at Tel Aviv University in 2015 and holds specialist training in internal medicine and rheumatology. Her research interests include psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, vasculitis, and connective tissue diseases. She has presented at international conferences and was an invited speaker at EULAR in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Michael held senior roles in some of the world’s best-known pharmaceutical, life science and medical device companies across EMEA, US and Latam. He is an experienced digital healthcare strategist and entrepreneurial commercial leader and currently leads Asclepius MedTech Limited as its CEO.

Winner of Rewired Start-Up of the Year 2025 Leeds based Asclepius MedTech is helping hospitals transform how they perform surgical pre-operative assessment.

SurgfitÔ is an innovative ‘at home’ patient-friendly alternative to traditional in-hospital assessment practice. Designed to improve risk-stratification and clinical decision-making that enables hospitals deliver safer and more effective surgical care, improve productivity, patient flow and waitlists, and address health inequalities.

After completing his BSc in Animal Science at the University of Reading in 1998, Nic pursued his interests in biochemistry and physiology by undertaking a PhD in Biology at the University of York where he investigated cellular stressors in mammalian preimplantation embryos. He then moved to the University of Leeds in 2002 as a postdoctoral researcher and became a Principal Investigator in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in 2005. In that role, he became involved in a number of

academic spin-out companies and commercialisation ventures. Following the department’s amalgamation with Pathology, Nic diversified his research interests to encompass gynaecological malignancies. To further develop his clinical knowledge, he undertook an MBChB (Medicine) whilst remaining research-active during his studies at the University of Leeds, and also worked intermittently as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Medical School until 2019. Following the completion of his studies in 2012, he became an Academic Foundation doctor at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, further developing his interests in integrating fundamental science, medicine and commercialisation. He joined the Histopathology training programme as an Academic Clinical Fellow in 2014, progressing to Clinical Lecturer and subsequently Industrial Clinician Scientist in 2019. He continues to work at the University of Leeds, where he leads a large research team focusing on women’s health and computer-aided histopathology diagnostics, fostering strong links with industry and international academic institutions. Nic has other roles in the charitable sector (as Trustee for Action on Womb Cancer), the Human Research Authority (as Vice Chair of Leeds (East) Research Ethics Committee), industry (as Academic-in- Residence for the Northern Cell Metrology Hub) and the University of Leeds (as Director of Postgraduate Research Studies).

Dr Maria Paton is an NIHR Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Cardiac Scientist in Leeds, investigating the optimal management of people with Heart Failure and cardiac devices as well as advanced cardiac ultrasound assessment. She leads the Heart Failure and Device service at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, is emerging lead for the Cardiometabolic theme of Leeds Biomedical Research Centre, and is chair of research for the British Society of Echocardiography.

Dr Pahini Pandya is the CEO and Founder of Panakeia, a pioneering AI-driven molecular profiling company. Panakeia’s AI-driven software provides comprehensive multi-omic information (DNA, RNA, protein, metabolite changes) directly from routinely used images of tissues and cells in minutes instead of days or weeks. The software enables same-day treatment decision-making in the clinic and fast-

tracks drug development for biopharma without the need for time and resource intensive laboratory tests.

Trained as a cancer researcher. Pahini spent the last decade furthering translational research in the field. She pursued a PhD in cancer biophysics at King’s College London, a postdoc at the University of Cambridge and has several publications in top journals.

Educated at the Stanford and Cambridge business schools, Pahini has also held several leadership positions across entrepreneurial organisations and helped numerous start-ups commercialise research. She has been recognised as Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, and received multiple awards for entrepreneurship.

Consultant Emergency General Surgeon, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Co-Lead of the NIHR HRC Sustainability theme.

Sarah Purchon is an Adult Nurse from West Yorkshire. Currently Sarah is the Operational manager for the Integrated research Programme in a joint role across Leeds community Healthcare Trust and Leeds Teaching Hospitals, Sarah is also currently completing her MSc.

During her time at university, Sarah was a student & school representative and university senator. Sarah went on to study a post graduate certificate in Advanced Nursing Practice and became a General Practice Nurse (GPN) Sarah has worked in Primary care since registering and was a Lead GPN/ Nurse Manager for many years before moving to more strategic roles in primary care and integration, whilst still working as a locum in general practice. Sarah was awarded the Queens Nurse title in 2023.

Previously Sarah has chaired the CNO shared decision-making council for primary care, created the GPN Student & Nurse Network through funding from NHSE and worked with Smart Health Solutions on projects, ranging from Learn with Nurses, Covid support and training packages for GPN’s. Sarah is an advocate for quality improvement and integration and works with teams to encourage and create joint working and support.

Mark has over 30 years’ experience of bringing clinicians and laboratory professionals together with a focus on new biomarkers, helping to define their value in clinical pathways and support adoption into routine clinical practise.

Sharon Radford brings over thirty years of experience to her role as the Service Lead for Haematology. First trained in Biochemistry at Seacroft, her Trust-wide contributions in blood sciences started in 1995, at Leeds General Infirmary, focusing on transfusion. Since then, Sharon has cultivated a career specialisation around blood morphology, which has proved invaluable in the addition and validation of blood testing to the Centre’s automated track. Sharon additionally manages the day-to-day operations of Haematology for multiple sites, alongside undertaking clinical investigations for diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment.

Dr Helen Radford is the Associate Director of Operations: Research at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the Leeds Institute of Clinical Trials Research, University of Leeds.

Helen is a Registered General Nurse with over 20 years’ experience in designing, conducting, and delivering academic and commercial clinical research studies.

Helen has held clinical research positions in the NHS (Research Nurse, Clinical Trials Manager, Operational & Scientific Manager, NIHR Leeds MIC Director of Operations, NIHR Leeds CRF Manager), Industry (Senior Project Manager Phase I-IIA) and Higher Educational Institutes (Project Manager/Lead Nurse). In the NHS, Helen has extensive experience in clinical drug development studies (Phase I-IV: First in Human, proof of concept, singular and multiple ascending dose designs), interventional medical devices and observational studies (Phase II-IV) and co-developed the first research delivery teams at St Gemma’s Hospice and Pain Management Services at LTHT. Helen has clinical research experience in oncology, palliative care, diabetes, musculoskeletal diseases, neurosurgery, neurology, pain management, renal medicine, and infection.

In 2015, Helen completed her Biomedical Science PhD which investigated individual’s clinical response to codeine, an analgesic drug which is reliant on biotransformation by the CYP2D6 enzyme to the active compound morphine for analgesic efficacy. Through a series of research studies, she developed a biomedical model to predict long term codeine response using genotyping and measuring urine codeine metabolites to enable healthcare professionals to objectively assess CYP2D6 function at the point of care and in essence provide a personalised treatment plan.

At a national level, Helen is the Lead for Strategic Leadership with the UK Clinical Research Facilities (CRF) Network, which provides a gateway for research funders to access cutting edge CRFs across the UK and Ireland. She is a manuscript reviewer for Neuromodulation: Technology at the Neural Interface, the official journal of the International Neuromodulation Society. Her research collaborations have resulted in 16 co-authored publications disseminating independent research in leading professional journals plus she has presented 15 abstracts at national and international conferences.

Dil Rathore, a Biomedical Scientist/ Pathology Technology and Innovation Lead at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals. Dil is also an alumnus of the Healthcare Entrepreneurial Exchange Programme (HEEP) and he has developed a new histopathology tracking system.

Dil received a small proof of concept grant of £10,000 from the Leeds Hospital Charity Innovation Fund to build a model to create a direct digital pathology experience across the healthcare ecosystem. The idea became a reality as the system was built, tested, and refined.

The initial work at the Innovation Pop Up together with the innovation partner, Medipex, gave Dil the freedom to develop his product further. He is now proceeding with patent filing.

The support from Innovation Pop Up provided Dil with the evidence to build a compelling case for an application to the Knowledge Asset Grant Fund. He recently received confirmation of funding of £250,000 to trial the histopathology research on a larger scale.

Beverley previously worked in academic research before joining the NHS for 10 years as a Clinical Scientist specialising in Immunology. After leaving the NHS she supported a translational research team at the University of Leeds as a Laboratory Manager before moving to the private sector, supporting clinical trials. More recently, Beverley was part of the delivery team for the NIHR In Vitro Diagnostic Cooperative before returning to the NHS as Business Development and Innovation Manager in March 2023. The Business Development and Innovation Team support innovation activity across the Trust, based out of the ‘Innovation Pop Up’ at the LGI. The Innovation Pop Up is an area where companies can connect and work collaboratively with the Trust’s clinicians and innovation team, to transform the latest advances in science, research, and technology into real world solutions.

Suzanne Rogerson is a Lead Nurse for Research and Innovation, responsible for the Yorkshire Cancer Research funded Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial (YLST) which included the YLST Biomarker sub-study, the Yorkshire kidney Screening Trial and the Yorkshire Enhanced Stop Smoking Study.

Suzanne has worked as a Clinical Research Nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for over 20 years. She has experience in oncology drug trials (including “first in man”), medical device studies and gene therapy trials.

After obtaining a PhD in Neuroimmunology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich (Germany), Dr. Elisa Romanelli gained experience in Digital Pathology covering several roles, from consulting to product management, and different clinical steps. Since 2022, she joined Siemens Healthineers and currently works as Customer Engagement Manager for Digital Pathology.

Dr Denise Ross is Head of Healthcare Professions Academic Development at LTHT. She holds a Visiting Research Fellow position within the Academic Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Leeds.

Denise is a physiotherapist by profession and has worked in Leeds since 2005 as a clinical specialist within complex rehabilitation.

Denise’s goals are to develop and support a recognised clinical academic career pathway for the Healthcare Professions at LTHT; so that we can truly embed research into the high-quality patient care that all of us provide.

Jonathan Sandoe (JS) is Associate Clinical Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Leeds and Honorary Consultant Microbiologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK. JS has worked at LTHT since 1997 and was appointed as a consultant in 2006. He set up the Leeds endocarditis service and the improving antimicrobial prescribing groups in 2006.

He has a specialist interest in antimicrobial stewardship and complex device/cardiac infections. JS’s research interests all relate to improving the use of antibiotics, including development and evaluation of new diagnostic tests for infection and antibiotic monitoring. Recent studies include: co-chief investigator(CI) for the ALABAMA (Allergies antibiotics and microbial resistance) programme, which includes a randomised clinical trial of penicillin allergy assessment assessing impact on antibiotic prescribing and patient health outcomes.

He is a member of the UK Department of Health advisory group on Antimicrobial Prescribing Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection and a member of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious diseases antibiotic allergy guideline group. JS chairs a multi-society endocarditis working group.

Lynne Schofield is a children’s respiratory physiotherapist and the research lead for adult physiotherapy. Pre-PhD, Lynne received a Leeds hospital charity fellowship to develop her PhD application and complete a post-graduate certificate in health research. Lynne completed an NIHR funded PhD which explored the personalisation of airway clearance techniques in children with primary ciliary dyskineisa using Ventilation MRI. Lynne has recently started a post-doc fellowship from CHORAL (Child health outcomes research at Leeds). Other collaborations include a delphi consensus fro PCD management, writing national standards of care, and the national PCD registry steering group. Lynne is the current chair of the Leeds childrens hospitals research forum.

Andrew Smith is the Service Lead for Biochemistry in the Centre for Laboratory Medicine. Since joining the Trust in 2016, he has established himself as a specialist in automation, middleware, and IT systems integration within biochemistry and blood sciences. This knowledge proved pivotal when Andrew designed, in collaboration with Siemens Healthineers, the laboratory track for the CfLM. The track measures over 90 metres in length, operates 24-hours a day, and is integrated with specialised testing solutions from five separate providers — making it the most advanced automated laboratory track in North West Europe. Presently, Andrew is responsible for the track’s management, and oversight for Clinical Biochemistry across multiple sites.

Dr Alice Spencer is an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow (ACF) undertaking applied health research in Oncology. She have a particular interest in exploring and improving the quality-of-life outcomes and survivorship experiences of working-aged adults who have undergone cancer treatment. Her research involves using a range of methodologies, both qualitative and quantitative, as well as collaborating with public contributors. After completing her ACF Alice hopes to obtain a Doctoral Fellowship to enable her to complete a PhD within this area. Alongside her research activities Alice is an Clinical Oncology Trainee based at Leeds Cancer Centre.

Katherine Stirling is a consultant pharmacist for anticoagulation and thrombosis at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. She has been in post since 2011. She has also worked closely with primary care initially with the Leeds CCG GP confed team on the NHSE AF project and more recently across West Yorkshire as part of the AFway project.

Her role covers all areas of thrombosis and anticoagulation including VTE prevention. She is a member of the trusts thrombosis steering group and regularly attends VTE MDT meetings. Her clinical role involves out-patient anticoagulant clinics for patients on oral and injectable anticoagulants. Research wise she has supervised a PhD student looking at the barriers and enablers to the uptake of DOACs, supported audits and quality improvement projects on anticoagulation and VTE prevention and has a research interest in the use of anticoagulants at extremes of weight.

She is the co-chair of the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association Haemostasis and Thrombosis Group and is part of the professional advisory council for Thrombosis UK.

Dr Tan is the Director of Research and Innovation at the Leeds Hospitals NHS Trust, an Associate Professor at the Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine at the University of Leeds, and a Consultant Rheumatologist at Chapel Allerton Hospital and the NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre. Dr Tan’s main research interests include using imaging techniques such as MRI and ultrasound to improve the understanding of the pathogenesis of arthritis and muscle conditions. Dr Tan was awarded Young Investigator Awards from the British Society for Rheumatology and the Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology, and was one of the first NIHR Clinical Lecturers, and subsequently held the NIHR Clinical Scientist Award.

Prior to this, Dr Tan was the Clinical Lead for the Musculoskeletal Specialty Group at the Yorkshire and Humber CRN, and the Research and Innovation Lead for Chapel Allerton Hospital CSU. She recently stepped down as the co-lead for Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine Postgraduate Research Studies after 10 years, and currently co-leads the Movement and Physical Activity Network at the University of Leeds and is on the steering committee of the Empower Leeds Women Network. Dr Tan is also the Editor-in-Chief for Rheumatology Advances in Practice, an official journal of the British Society for Rheumatology. Dr Tan is an advocate for physical activity in promoting health and runs every day, volunteers as a Social Media Ambassador for parkrun UK, and is an active member of the medical community on X (formerly twitter) @DrAiLynTan.

Dr Tang is a Clinical Scientist working as the Professional Lead in Rehabilitation

Engineering at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust providing clinical and technical support to the Wheelchair, Prosthetic and Orthotic service; Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) service; and Gait Analysis service. She studied a MEng in Biomedical Engineering at University or Birmingham and MSc in Medical Physics and Engineering at the University of Sheffield, then completed her doctorate in Medical Devices at the University of Strathclyde.

Lead Clinician, Medicines Safety, Quality and Research & Innovation.

Dr Chris Twelves is Professor of Clinical Cancer Pharmacology and Oncology and Director of the NIHR Leeds Clinical Research Facility.

He is a medical oncologist with a particular interest in new drug development and clinical pharmacology; his clinical practice has been in colorectal and breast cancer.

After training as an oncologist in London he was Senior Lecturer, then Reader, in Medical Oncology in Glasgow at the Beatson Oncology Centre before taking up his current post at the University of Leeds and St James’s Institute of Oncology.

Prof Twelves has been a member of the Cancer Research UK New Agents Committee, Chair of the New Drug Development Group of the EORTC and was Scientific Chair of the Berlin 2009 ECCO-ESMO 34 meeting. He has been involved in the development of several important new agents including capecitabine, and eribulin. Professor Twelves has a particular interest in early clinical trials and pharmacokinetics including intra-tumoural drug pharmacokinetics.

Professor Twelves has published over 200 papers in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet and Journal of Clinical Oncology and spoken at numerous international meetings. He has also edited, or contributed to, several books including one on Phase I clinical trials and another on the design of Phase II clinical trials.

Dr Chloe Uffendell graduated from the University of Liverpool, where I also completed my foundation training. I am currently a Core Anaesthetics Trainee based at Leeds General Infirmary. I recently became interested in clinical research through my involvement in the NIHR Associate Principal Investigator Scheme, working within the GlucoVITAL portfolio trial. This experience has given me valuable insight into how research is delivered within the NHS and has inspired me to encourage others to get involved in clinical research later in their careers- particularly those in non-academic training posts. I am passionate about broadening access to research and improving patient care.

David Walmsley is the UK Managing Director at Brady Corporation, overseeing specialist identification brands like Brady, Nordic ID, Code, Magicard, and PDC, as well as safety brands Seton, Signs and Labels, and Scafftag across five UK locations. With 30 years of experience, he specialises in identification and traceability solutions, having previously worked in production, automation, and commercial roles in the medical device and electronics industries. David holds an MBA from Ashcroft University.

Karl Ward is a Registered Nurse with a clinical background in anaesthetics, surgical, and critical care nursing, and over 17 years of experience in clinical research within both NHS and academic settings. He has worked across various clinical disciplines, including early-phase drug studies, surgical and medical device trials, and the design and development of clinical trials from inception to delivery.

Since 2018, Karl has served as the Lead Nurse for Research and Innovation at LTHT, where he developed, implemented, and evaluated the Research and Innovation Academy (RA). This trust-wide specialist training and education service supports the training, education, and workforce development of staff involved in research across LTHT. The RA has quickly gained a local, regional, and national reputation for excellence in clinical research training, receiving multiple awards and securing national and regional funding to develop, deliver, and evaluate its innovative research education and training model.

Karl has held various senior roles in operational clinical research delivery, training, education, and workforce development. In 2021, he was seconded to the NIHR Coordinating Centre to lead the development of the national Researcher Credentials Programme. He currently leads the UKCRFN Leaders Programme, serves as a Senior Leadership Programme Trainer, and holds an NIHR Nursing and Midwifery Senior Research Leader grant.

Rachel Watterston is a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist, Complex Rehabilitation, Chapel Allerton Hospital. Rachel is very familiar with implementing evidence based clinical practice and education. She is new to research delivery and having completed a six month NIHR research Internship, I am now a joint PI delivering a national RCT “Steps II”.

Ralph leads Siemens Healthineers’ Strategy and Value-Added Services in Great Britain and Ireland, focusing on transforming care delivery through clinical operations design, pathway optimisation, and scalable service models. With a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Erlangen/Germany and research experience in the U.S., he began his career at McKinsey & Company before joining Siemens Healthineers, where he has held multiple leadership roles spanning digital health, AI innovation, and patient experience. Ralph is passionate about advancing data-driven, sustainable healthcare solutions that support both clinicians and health systems.

Email Address’s: [email protected] and [email protected].

Tony is a practising frontline NHS consultant urological surgeon and Associate Medical Director at Mid and South Essex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Director of Medical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University, and the founder of four Med-Tech start-ups.

In September 2014 became the first National Clinical Lead for Innovation for the NHS. In this role he provides clinical leadership and support in delivering improved health outcomes in England. He drives the uptake of proven innovations across the NHS, promotes economic growth through innovation, and helps make the NHS the go-to place on the planet for medical innovation.

In 2015, Tony founded the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP). This has become the world’s largest entrepreneurial workforce development programme in healthcare and life sciences. The CEP has delivered over £1bn of inward investment into the UK and created over 500 life science companies. In the 2019 New Year’s Honours list Tony was awarded the OBE for services to clinical leadership.

Tony’s portfolio at NHS England covers the whole landscape of health and social care innovation. This currently includes leadership and oversight of programmes and policy areas including: The National Innovation Accelerator, the CEP, the patient entrepreneur programme, the dementia innovators programme, SBRI Healthcare, the NHSE/NICE prioritisation subgroup and updating NHS IP policy, Tech transfer and investment capability.