Fellows in Focus: September 2024

Updates concerning Sciana Fellows in September 2024

Lawrence Tallon delivers keynote speech at Hospital Management Asia (HMA) 2024

Lawrence Tallon (Cohort 5) called for better, faster, and fairer healthcare during his keynote speech. He suggested there remains huge unmet potential for digital transformation in healthcare, which could greatly increase the value and impact it delivers. This year's HMA conference was held in Bali, Indonesia, under the theme of "Keeping pace with healthcare challenges."

Shera Chok welcomes 85 Digital Fellows to Shuri Network

Shera Chok (Cohort 2) confirmed that 85 Digital Fellows were welcomed in September as part of the Shuri Network's fourth cohort of Fellowships with NHS England. She said, "For the first time, we will have Fellows from social care, allied health professions, (e.g., physios, pharmacists, and speech therapists) and ambulance services.

"The Fellowship helps the NHS and care develop a diverse and talented pipeline of leaders, improve patient outcomes and empowers women from BAME backgrounds to overcome career-related challenges, gain insight into different digital roles, progress in their career and build self-confidence."

Six Shuri Fellows across cohorts recently won awards at this year's Zenith Global Health Awards, recognising their contribution to digital innovation, research, and healthcare.

Tackling inequalities, exploring advances in artificial intelligence, and accelerating innovation

Richard Stubbs (Cohort 5) has had a busy summer! In June, he chaired a session at this year's NHS ConfedExpo. He sat down with Daniel Susskind, research professor in economics at King's College London and senior research associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University. Watch a recording of their conversation.

In July, the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care commissioned Lord Darzi to conduct an immediate and independent investigation of the NHS. Richard was part of the Expert Reference Group which contributed to this report.

At the beginning of September, he appeared in an instalment of IQVIA's "Making Market Access Real." He shared his thoughts on the adoption of accelerating innovation, described by IQVIA as "one of the biggest challenges of the healthcare and life sciences industry."

This month, he also participated in a panel discussion titled "Tackling Inequities: Leading Accessible & Integrated Delivery Systems." This discussion took place at this year's International Hospital Federation World Hospital Congress. He was joined by Tyson Welzel (Group CIO, Mediclinic Group, Switzerland), Kristian Schneider (CEO, Spitalzentrum Biel AG, Switzerland), and Jane Wanyama (CEO, Aga Khan Hospital, Kisumu, Kenya).

Judith Safford speaks at Swiss Medtech 2024

Judith Safford (Cohort 3) spoke on "Health Data and the Value for Patients" at this year's Swiss MedTech 2024 event. During her presentation, she referred to the position paper she and other Sciana Fellows based in Switzerland worked on that recommended reform priorities for the Swiss health system.

One recommendation from this paper involved introducing reforms that would enable patient organisations and other alliances of chronically ill people to have greater involvement and participation in their health care.

The challenges of regulatory pluralism

Rudolf Blankart (Cohort 5) has co-authored an article to appear in the November 2024 edition of Health Policy.

Rudolf said, "The article discusses the situation in Switzerland and the UK after leaving the jointly regulated medical device market.

"In both Switzerland and the UK, there are now political proposals that medical devices from other jurisdictions can also be provided to patients.

"We call this phenomenon 'Regulatory Pluralism,' which comes with challenges: a) regulatory escape (companies will choose the easiest regulatory route, which may impede patient safety), b) fragmentation and increased complexity of the market, which makes market surveillance more difficult, and c) loss of the countries bargaining power. We conclude that a path of ‘regulatory reliance,’ i.e., continuing with the CE route, has its advantages."

System leadership and One Health - how far can we stretch?

Helen Crimlisk (Cohort 5) has had a blog published by BMJ Leader. Helen reflects on her Sciana experience and the impact it has had on her way of thinking and work.

How does politics shape our healthcare service?

Malte Gerhold (Cohort 3) was a guest on The Healthtech Podcast to discuss politics' influence on healthcare services. You can read a recap of the main discussion points, watch the recording on YouTube, or listen on Spotify.

Mirjam Weber begins new role at Krebsliga Schweiz

Mirjam Weber (Cohort 6) began her role as CEO at the beginning of September. She participated in a video to explain what's important to her and her thoughts on Krebsliga.

Hausarzt alter Schule – ein Auslaufmodell? (Old-school family doctor - a discontinued model?)

Sven Streit (Cohort 5) recently addressed the growing shortage of general practitioners (GPs) in Switzerland. In an interview with SRF, Streit discussed how the looming wave of retirements among older doctors, combined with younger doctors’ preference for part-time work, is accelerating the decline in available GPs.