PUBLIC EVENT
How could emerging technologies change how we diagnose and treat disease? How might they change how we think about healthcare delivery, and what challenges might need to be addressed to ensure this innovation benefits all of society?
On 23 July we attempted to answer these questions and more in a panel discussion chaired by BBC Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman. Guests heard expert insight and predictions about the impact of engineering and technology on the future of healthcare, and had an opportunity to put questions to our panellists.
We were delighted to welcome Dr Ken Sutherland FREng FRSE, President and CEO, Canon Medical Research Europe Ltd, Professor Stavroula Balabani, Professor of Fluid Mechanics, UCL and Professor Julien Reboud, Professor of Biosystems Engineering and Healthcare Technologies, The University of Glasgow, as our panellists.
Zoe Kleinman
Zoe Kleinman is the BBC’s first ever Technology Editor, appointed to the role in 2021. With over 20 years broadcasting experience, Zoe has spent most of her career as a specialist presenter and reporter covering all areas of the tech agenda. She has also presented BBC Radio 4's PM Programme. From gadgets and games to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, she makes tech news accessible to a mainstream audience of millions across national and international BBC Radio, TV and online outlets including Radio 4’s Today programme, BBC World TV and the UK’s most watched news shows.
Professor Julien Reboud
Julien Reboud is Professor of Biosystems Engineering and Healthcare Technologies Lead for the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow. He is an engineer and obtained a PhD in biotechnology. He has built longstanding expertise in the development of new devices and assay strategies for point-of-care diagnosis for underserved communities, both in the UK and in low- and middle-income countries. He has received an Enterprise Fellowship from the Academy and is a Co-Founder of Acu-Flow Ltd, developing new respiratory drug delivery technologies. He currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Digital Health Validation Lab, which aims to support the development, validation, and route to market of digital health technologies, with a particular focus on accelerating regulatory pathways.
Dr Ken Sutherland FREng FRSE
Dr Ken Sutherland is a leading engineering figure at the interface between medicine, engineering and the life sciences in Scotland and the UK. His influence in this sector has translated into global medical products that bring benefit to clinicians, patients, researchers and the medical industry. In his role as President of Canon Medical Europe he has secured £100 million of inward investment from Japan for UK R&D in the last 10 years. His current vision in precision medicine is driving a new initiative in artificial intelligence/data via the recently founded Industrial Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research in Digital Diagnostics (ICAIRD), a collaboration between companies, universities and the NHS.
Professor Stavroula Balabani
Stavroula Balabani (FIChemE, Professor of Fluid Mechanics) obtained a Chemical Engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, Greece) and a PhD from King’s College London, where she started her academic career. She joined UCL in 2011 where she leads an experimental fluid mechanics group (FluME), applying high resolution, optical diagnostic techniques to probe complex flows with applications in healthcare, energy and manufacturing. She has over 15 years expertise in biofluid mechanics and microfluidics and has developed a suite of techniques to study microscale transport phenomena, with leading expertise in red blood cell dynamics, microdroplet platforms and other colloidal systems. Her current research interests evolve around complex fluids in healthcare formulations, vascular flows, point of care diagnostics and drug delivery, funded through EPSRC Manufacturing the Future and Healthcare Technologies grants, as well as charities (BHF, AVM Butterfly, Rosetrees). Working closely with clinicians and other engineers, she develops hemodynamic tools and data driven approaches to enable precision vascular interventions, fluidics for novel targeted drug delivery and diagnostics to personalise therapeutic interventions. Stavroula is a member of the EPSRC College, an Associate Editor for Medical Engineering and Physics and an active member of the UCL healthcare engineering community.