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Jonathan joined NICE in January 2023 as Chief Medical Officer and in March 2023 became Interim Director of the Centre for Guidelines. Jonathan was subsequently appointed Deputy Chief Executive in May 2024 and Chief Executive in December 2025.
Keynote: Jonathan Benger, CEO of NICE Thursday @ 10:30 AM
AI in Health: Regulation, Safety, and Adoption at Scale Thursday @ 3:20 PM
Jonathan is the Head of Digital Health and Care in the Scottish Government and has overall responsibility for the Digital Health and Care Strategy and major programmes of delivery.
Prior to joining the Scottish Government in November 2019, Jonathan held a number of Data and IT roles in the Public and Private Sector and has delivered several complex IT and eHealth projects and programmes. His career in eHealth in Scotland includes the delivery of the Emergency Care Summary and Key Information Summary systems.
In-Conversation: Health and Care Across the Devolved Nations Thursday @ 2:30 PM
Heather Cook has spent the past 15 years working in digital health, developing evidence-based programmes that help people make meaningful, lasting changes to their health and wellbeing.
She has held CEO and Managing Director roles in organisations focused on improving outcomes for people living with neurodiverse conditions, mental health challenges and addiction.
Heather has worked extensively with health systems in the UK and has spent time in the United States exploring innovative recovery models, including personalised behavioural health and recovery ecosystems that support long-term change.
She is passionate about combining technology, community support and lived experience to help people build healthier, more hopeful futures.
Scaling Innovation in Health and Care: What Are the Key Barriers and How Can Industry Help Overcome Them? Thursday @ 12:20 PM
Gayle Curry is a commercial partner and leader of Mills & Reeve’s Health Tech practice, working at the forefront of innovation where technology transforms health and social care. With 25+ years’ experience, she helps health‑tech and life sciences businesses accelerate growth from safeguarding and commercialising IP to securing grant and VC funding, forging strategic collaborations, and bringing cutting‑edge digital, diagnostics, genomics and prevention‑focused solutions to market.
Known for her hands‑on, collaborative style, Gayle Curry is often embedded as a fractional general counsel, shaping client strategy and navigating complex regulatory, commercial and data‑driven challenges. Her portfolio spans SMEs to global companies and NHS organisations, with recent work supporting cross‑border scale‑ups and advising on robotics, precision medicine, long‑term condition monitoring, women’s health and patient‑communication technologies.
Gayle frequently speaks at industry events and contributes to international collaboration, including supporting Indian and US health‑tech companies expanding into the UK.
Scaling Innovation in Health and Care: What Are the Key Barriers and How Can Industry Help Overcome Them? Thursday @ 12:20 PM
Sue leads techUK's Technology and Innovation work at techUK.
This includes work programmes on cloud, data protection, data analytics, AI, digital ethics, Digital Identity and Internet of Things as well as emerging and transformative technologies and innovation policy. She has been recognised as one of the most influential people in UK tech by Computer Weekly's UKtech50 Longlist and in 2021 was inducted into the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. A key influencer in driving forward the data agenda in the UK Sue is co-chair of the UK government's National Data Strategy Forum. As well as being recognised in the UK's Big Data 100 and the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries for 2020 Sue has also been shortlisted for the Milton Keynes Women Leaders Awards and was a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. In addition to being a regular industry speaker on issues including AI ethics, data protection and cyber security, Sue was recently a judge for the UK Tech 50 and is a regular judge of the annual UK Cloud Awards.
AI in Health: Regulation, Safety, and Adoption at Scale Thursday @ 3:20 PM
Professor Alastair Denniston is Professor of Regulatory Science and Innovation at the University of Birmingham and Honorary Consultant Ophthalmologist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHSFT. He is a leader in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Health Technologies.
Professor Denniston is an NIHR Senior Investigator, Member of the Regulatory Horizons Council to the UK Government, Non-Executive Director to the Health Research Authority, AI Strategic Advisor to Health Data Research UK, Director of the NIHR-funded Incubator of AI & Digital Healthcare and Director of the UK’s Centre of Excellence for Regulatory Science in AI & Digital HealthTech (CERSI-AI). Advisory work includes to international regulators and ministries of health, and to the WHO. He is also the Chair of the MHRA’s National Commission on the Regulation of AI in Healthcare.
AI in Health: Regulation, Safety, and Adoption at Scale Thursday @ 3:20 PM
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https://www.emisgroupplc.com/
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Alexandra Eavis
One Year On from the Life Sciences Sector Plan Thursday @ 1:50 PM
Dr Effendi is a highly experienced pharmacist with nearly two decades of practice across hospital, GP, and community pharmacy settings. As a qualified Independent Prescriber, she specialises in women's health, with a particular focus on menopause and contraception, and she sits on the Clinical Advisory Panel of The Menopause Charity. She is also an active member of the British Menopause Society and the CoSRH Courses and CPD Committee.
She is the founder and Principal Practitioner of ELMAR Health Service, and Clinical Director of the Yorkshire Women's Forum.
From pilot to scaled adoption: breaking the cycle that holds Women's Health back Thursday @ 1:50 PM
MaryAnn is the Chief Medical Officer at Health Innovation Kent Surrey and Sussex, and an award-winning doctor and thought leader with over 20 years of international experience in Australia and the UK. She is an NHS Non-executive Director for Kent Community Trust and Honorary Professor at Kent Business School. Her work spans digital innovation, clinical transformation and population health.
Known as a positive disruptor, MaryAnn drives sustainable change, develops innovative models of care, and champions equity and inclusion to improve patient experience and outcomes. As an international speaker on health equity, she leads projects tackling digital exclusion, advancing women’s health, and embedding equity in health policy and innovation.
From pilot to scaled adoption: breaking the cycle that holds Women's Health back Thursday @ 1:50 PM
James Friend is a NHS executive leader with a track record of success in delivery, transformation, innovation and improvement. Previously in leadership roles in UK and International Financial Services, NHS Acute trusts and commissioning organisations, James is currently the NHS England – London Region Director of Digital Strategy and Digital Transformation championing the use of digital tools and data at scale to simplify clinical workflows, align capacity with demand and accelerate patient treatment and a member of the Greater London Authority’s Data for London Advisory Board. Previously a Local Authority Leader, James undertakes non-executive Director roles including Vice-Chair at Health Innovation Network South London and charity trustee positions
Analogue to Digital Report Launch Thursday @ 11:30 AM
Will is Managing Director at Big Health, the UK-founded digital therapeutics SME whose mission is to make psychological treatment as scalable as pharmaceuticals.
Big Health’s flagship treatment Sleepio (for insomnia) secured first-of-its-kind NICE guidance in May 2022, recommended as more clinically effective than standard of care and cost-saving for the NHS. Sleepio is nationally commissioned in Scotland where it has been accessed by over 70,000 patients, and secured FDA clearance in August 2024.
Big Health's treatment pipeline includes Daylight (for anxiety), which is undergoing real-world health economic evaluation in NHS primary care services in Yorkshire & the Humber, and Spark (for depression), which has undergone its first RCT with strong clinical outcomes.
Scaling Innovation in Health and Care: What Are the Key Barriers and How Can Industry Help Overcome Them? Thursday @ 12:20 PM
From pilot to scaled adoption: breaking the cycle that holds Women's Health back Thursday @ 1:50 PM
An award winning commercial and technology lawyer at leading law firm Mills & Reeve; recognised as a Leading Associate in the Legal 500 2024 for my work in the health sector. I advise 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, I work in partnership with clients to help them to navigate complex issues to deliver the desired outcome.
As a keen and passionate supporter of the health and social care sector, I’m driven to support the great work that is taking place across the country. I believe strongly that with the right approach, technology will be a key enabler in improving health and social care in the UK and globally.
From pilot to scaled adoption: breaking the cycle that holds Women's Health back Thursday @ 1:50 PM
Dr Abigail Lyons leads on Industry engagement. She helps companies advance the market readiness of their digital health products & services, connecting them with the right support for their stage of development. She also leads a women’s health theme, with a focus on cardiovascular health data.
Abby qualified in Immunology and Molecular Biology and her subsequent career has woven through the triple helix of industry, academia and the public sector in Scotland and the US.
She worked as a postdoc researcher at the Mayo Clinic and a product development scientist in the Cardiac Surgery division of Medtronic in Minnesota.
More recently, she was a programme manager at Scottish Enterprise where she managed complex multi-partner initiatives across a range of sectors and led collaborative teams to commercialise customer-centric technologies and spin-out investor-ready companies.
Scaling Innovation in Health and Care: What Are the Key Barriers and How Can Industry Help Overcome Them? Thursday @ 12:20 PM
Matthew Payne is Head of Policy & Marketing at Healthtech-1. He has spent more than three years at the company helping scale its products from early adoption to national reach, working across policy, partnerships, and go-to-market.
Today, Healthtech-1 works with over 26% of England's GP practices. The team are on a mission to unlock access to care with their services: Bookable.health and Bookable Navigator, and have a radical vision for how people should be able to get access to care.
Matthew has a legal background and has held senior roles in charities, NHS trusts, and led the COVID vaccination programme for a large Primary Care Network. That grounding in both the law and operational realities of the NHS informs his work today, where he regularly navigates commercial and regulatory challenges.
Scaling Innovation in Health and Care: What Are the Key Barriers and How Can Industry Help Overcome Them? Thursday @ 12:20 PM
Matt is techUK’s Head of Nations and Regions.
Matt is leading techUK’s work with members and stakeholders across the UK to increase the Local Digital Capital across the UK’s nation and regions, build communities and to ensure that digital technology plays a key part the post-COVID-19 levelling-up recovery.
Prior to joining techUK, Matt worked for several national education charities and membership bodies to develop their regional partnerships with schools, academy trusts, local authorities, and other stakeholders. He’s also worked with local authority leaders and other stakeholders to engage communities, work with elected members and improve public services.
He holds a BA in Politics from the University of York and an MA in International Relations from the University of Leeds. Away from work he’s a keen football fan and golfer.
If you’d like to find out more about our work in the nations and regions please get in touch with Matt:
In-Conversation: Health and Care Across the Devolved Nations Thursday @ 2:30 PM
Helen has been the CEO of Digital Health & Care Wales since 2021, leading the organisation’s impressive response to the Covid-19 pandemic, supporting NHSWales to adopt data and digital advances at pace and scale.
Helen also led the organisation through its transition to a Special Health Authority on April 1st 2021, with Digital Health and Care Wales continuing to deliver national digital and data services to NHS Wales.
Helen has worked in the NHS for over 30 years, initially working in finance, moving into health information in 2000. She has gained wide health informatics experience across a number of senior roles over the last 20 years, and has spearheaded digital transformation to deliver more effective and safer care.
Helen was named Digital NHS CEO of the year in 2021 and has an MSc in Health Informatics from Swansea University. She is a leading practitioner of the Federation of Informatics Professionals, a fellow of the British Computer Society and a Professor of Practice at University of Wales Trinity St David.
In her time as CEO, Helen has made considerable ground in leading DHCW, not just to deliver major digital and data services to NHS partners, but to become a supportive and inclusive organisation and is passionate about being a role model for staff.
Helen recognises the importance of supporting communities and ensuring that no one is left behind by digital transformation. As part of her commitment to this, Helen chairs DHCW’s digital inclusion group which looks at how the organisation works with partners to support those who might not have the skills or access to benefit from digital change.
In-Conversation: Health and Care Across the Devolved Nations Thursday @ 2:30 PM
Analogue to Digital Report Launch Thursday @ 11:30 AM
