I don’t believe joy and seriousness are opposites.
Health systems work is heavy: complex, political, emotional and slow. I always strive to help people stay with that weight without being crushed by it - creating spaces where difficult conversations can happen, where rigour and humanity can co-exist, and where lightness keeps people moving nimbly.
Playfulness is not an escape from serious work. It is one of the ways we make it bearable, durable, alive (and, dare I say it) the most fun and rewarding journey to be on!
Maxine is drawn to problems at the intersection of health, data, AI and inequality. She is especially interested in the complex systems that shape people’s lives: how people become represented in datasets, how technical tools influence decisions, and how innovation can either reinforce existing inequalities or help to shift them.
She sees data, AI and technology not as ends in themselves, but as powerful ways into wider systems change. Used well, they can reveal patterns, focus attention and support better decisions. Used poorly, they can flatten complexity and scale harm. Much of Maxine’s work sits in that tension: building the relationships, evidence and practical approaches needed to make innovation more equitable, trustworthy and useful.
Maxine has worked across NHS systems, global health, genomics, infectious disease, AI and public policy. She is currently working with the World Health Organization on health inequalities monitoring. She was previously Head of Implementation Strategy for the Pathogens Programme at the Ellison Institute of Technology and, before that, led the Diverse Data Programme at Genomics England.