Health Tech Conference 2025 – From Vision to Impact: Making Health Tech work in Practice

As Chief Scientific Officer of Bruntwood SciTech, Kath is a member of the Executive Management Team and brings science and tech insights and expertise to developments, overseeing a number of clusters Kath leads science and tech partnerships with universities, hospital trusts, corporate occupiers, investors and innovation providers. She also leads the Innovation and Growth Team who curate and develop the ecosystem, investment, and scientific support for over 1100 science, technology, and digital businesses across Bruntwood SciTech’s innovation districts and clusters. Kath was formerly Managing Director of Bruntwood SciTech’s Alderley Park campus.

Kath joined Bruntwood SciTech from the Executive Board of the Government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, where she led the team responsible for growing businesses working in the biomedical, health, agriculture and food sectors, creating and delivering a £800m portfolio of infrastructure, grant and loan investments and creating strategic partnerships with pharma, investors, and global charities. Kath is an elected fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

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 Katherine Boylan is Deputy Managing Director for Research and Innovation (Innovation) at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT). This role involves overseeing innovation activities within MFT – supporting the full innovation pathway (from ideation to implementation) and strategic commercial partnerships, as well as contributing to leadership of the wider R&I function. Katherine is a standing member of the NICE Medical Technologies Advisory Committee.

Bill is a Professor of Genomic Medicine at the University of Manchester and a Consultant in Clinical Genetics at the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Manchester UK. He leads a multidisciplinary research program in the implementation of pharmacogenomics in clinical practice and is the director of the NHS England Network of Excellence in Pharmacogenomics and Medicines Optimisation. He is the immediate past President of the European Society of Human Genetics.

Dan Taylor is a Public Partnerships Manager at Vocal, who create opportunities for people to have a voice in health research. Based in Greater Manchester, Vocal works locally, nationally, and internationally to help shape the future of health and research.

His area of focus is involving patients and the public in the development and evaluation of health technologies at the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Emergency and Acute Care. He also leads public involvement for an evaluation of the MyWay Diabetes digital platform at the University of Manchester and across the Better Sleep research theme at the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.

With over 11 years’ experience, Dan has built inclusive strategies and spaces that bring patients and the public together with researchers, staff and industry across roles in universities, research centres, and national charities.

Russ is 60 years old and a long term patient at SRFT, he has psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and epilepsy. He has been in hospital 29 times spending over 3 years of his life on the Dermatology ward. He has spoken at various conferences, to pharmaceutical companies, made films, written poetry and blogs about his experiences. He is a member of the Patient panels at Health Innovation Manchester, GM-ARC and vocal as well as being a co founder of PRP-NETT which is a think tank that is looking to improve patient representation in research. He is currently a co-applicant on three research projects working with the Universities of Manchester, Bath, Oxford and Newcastle.

Following a decade at the biotech–nanotech frontier in academia and a lustrum in the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) industry across Manchester, Oxford, and Cambridge, Dr. Alfredo Maria Gravagnuolo established “The NanoBioTechnology Hub” in 2025 at Alderley Park to advance the decentralisation of medical diagnostics.

With support from the Bruntwood “Life Sciences” Accelerator and the GC Angels “Venture Forward” Accelerator, his mission in health-tech is to equip paramedics with next generation portable diagnostics that reduce triage times for cardiovascular emergencies.

As a Data Scientist at the UK National Testing Programme for COVID 19, he tracked the spread of the Alpha (Kent) variant.

Sally joined PKB in 2016, a move driven by her passionate belief in the value of patient-centric healthcare. Before PKB, she worked for an EPR provider, where she managed customer transitions at the end of the National Programme for IT, an experience that reinforced her commitment to empowering patients. Since joining the company, Sally has been instrumental in its growth, most notably by leading its integration with England’s NHS App. She is currently serving her fourth year on the techUK Health and Social Care Council, has sat on the NHS England SME Advisory Group since 2023.

Devika is the CEO of Brain+, where she leads the development of digital therapeutics transforming dementia care. Their platform, Ayla, is a UKCA-approved medical device for care homes, combining science, technology, and compassion to improve outcomes for residents and ease pressure on health systems. She is also the Co-Founder of WEALTH: Women in Health, a community connecting and celebrating women across the health ecosystem. A former young carer, she has been recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30, the United Nations #SheInnovates campaign, and the Mayor of London for her work advancing healthcare innovation and championing women in STEM.

Nabeel Arshad is a GP Partner at The Brooke Surgery and a leading voice in primary care transformation and the ethical adoption of technology. He is recognised for pioneering scalable growth by shifting the focus from personal productivity to practice capacity, enabling The Brooke Surgery to successfully double its patient list while maintaining quick patient access. Nabeel champions digital implementation, operating on the insight that healthcare transformation is 80% people management and 20% technology. He embodies the abundance mindset, viewing obstacles as opportunities, and advises leaders on balancing clinical safety with the calculated risk-taking necessary for genuine innovation. His approach has demonstrably improved patient experience, contributing to the practice’s Google rating changing from 2.6 to 4.6.

Dr Lloyd Humphreys is the Managing Director of Cogniss and began his career in the NHS as a Clinical Psychologist before earning his MBA from the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin and founding Breaking Free Online, the world’s first digital therapeutic for addiction. An NHS Innovation Accelerator alumnus, Lloyd has helped to scale pioneering ventures spanning personal health records, digital therapeutics, and digital health infrastructure. He mentors and advises startups, international accelerators, and global organisations, including the World Health Organization. Lloyd has also held several board positions, such as European co-Chair of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, and currently serves as a trustee on the board of a national addiction charity.