holding the space

Karen Ambrose, Chief Data Officer & Head of Data Management and Analytics Platform Team, ITO, The Francis Crick Institute

Karen Ambrose is the Chief Data Officer at The Francis Crick Institute, one of Europe’s largest Biomedical institutes under a single roof, responsible for the Data Management Strategy for both scientific research and enterprise data.  Working keenly to change the data culture and increase the data literacy across the institute.

Karen also heads up the Data Management and Analytics Platform Team, as part of Information Technology Office (ITO) and Scientific Computing, with the remit for the management of operational and scientific data. 

The team is the main point of contact to assist staff in finding solutions for gathering, storing, analysing, visualising and sharing their data. Providing a data service to manage operational and scientific data to drive data driven solutions and develop scientific data workflows, with responsibility for all the operational and scientific data systems at the Crick, storing everything from genetic data collected by a research group to employees’ HR information.

She has previously worked at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, as part of the team working on the Human Genome Project.

In addition to the day job, she is also the Co-Chair of PRISM, Crick’s Race Equity staff network, Sponsor for the EDI Data working group, analysing the EDI data that we collect and report on to inform the wider Crick community, helping to socialise the data and create a dialogue and she also holds a position on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee, under which several actions and initiatives are being progressed which feed into the overall EDI strategy for the institute. 

Naomi Allen, Chief Scientist for UK Biobank and Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, UK

Naomi Allen is Chief Scientist for UK Biobank and Professor of Epidemiology at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, UK. UK Biobank is one of the world’s most important and widely-used health research resources, containing a wealth of data on genomics, lifestyle factors and health outcomes on half a million participants. She is primarily responsible for co-ordinating the linkage of routine electronic health-related records into the study for long-term follow-up and for helping to define the scientific strategy for the introduction of new enhancements. Her research background is in cancer epidemiology. She has co-authored over 350 publications investigating the role of diet, adiposity, hormones and other biomarkers on cancer risk using large-scale prospective cohort data.

Linkedin; https://www.ndph.ox.ac.uk/team/naomi-allen

Leanne Hurrell, Head of Regional Public Sector, Amazon Web Services

Leanne Hurrell brings extensive experience in the telecommunications and tech sectors. Beginning her journey at Cable & Wireless, followed by roles at Level 3 and Verizon, she focused on addressing customer challenges through digital transformation initiatives. Known for her collaborative approach and customer-centric mindset, Leanne played a key role in developing Verizon’s acquisition team and was honored with the Leader of the Year award.

In 2019, Leanne expanded her expertise by moving to AWS, leading cloud acceleration programs for the top global and strategic accounts. Transitioning to AWS’s UK public sector division in April 2023, she continues to lead teams dedicated to driving innovation in healthcare, education, non-profit organizations, and local government.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Leanne volunteers with Reenage, a charity combating isolation among the elderly. She is committed to making a positive impact beyond technology, striving to uplift communities and contribute to a brighter future for all.

Nadira Hussain, Chief Executive Officer, Socitm

An established ICT and change management leader, NED and coach with 25+ years’ experience, Nadira has worked primarily in local government; leading the ICT and digital service, managing wider teams including business improvement, transformation and customer services. Nadira has implemented numerous complex change programmes across shared services to deliver new operating models, efficiencies and service improvement.

At Socitm, Nadira is keen to support members shape and deliver effective public services through improved use and adoption of technologies, data and digital solutions & practices. She continues to focus on the work she initiated as president of the society (15/16), building the leadership, skills and diversity of the sector’s workforce. Her passion is to tackle inequality, promote professionalism, improve personal development opportunities and champion women role models.

Her wider responsibilities include director for Federation for Informatics Professionals (FEDIP) advisory board, board member for the Institute of Government and Public Policy (IGPP), board member for the Solace in Business (SiB) Board. Her voluntary and charitable work include; steering group member for the Shuri Network, the Solace EDI forum and Diversity in Local Government Leadership (DLGL) forum, co-founder and co-chair of the Socitm/UKAuthority Women in Local Government ICT network and non-executive director for the #techmums board and Executive Committee member of the Major Cities of Europe (MCE) forum.

LinkedIn; Twitter handle @nadirahussain44

Kira Levy, Head of Healthcare UK, Amazon Web Services

Kira Levy is AWS’s Head of Healthcare for the UK, where she is accountable for driving the AWS’s UK strategy to accelerate cloud adoption and enable healthcare customers to deliver their digital transformation goals. Kira works across the NHS, health tech suppliers (supporting both UK adoption and market entry into new territories) and clinical research and genomics. Kira has over twenty years of healthcare strategy and product development experience, supporting both the National Health Service as well as international health markets. She is passionate about helping customers unlock insights in their data to improve decision making and previously worked for a global health service provider, developing population health management and clinical decision support tools for the NHS. Kira holds an MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Charlie Porter, Business Manager, Amazon Web Services

Charlie Porter is the Business Manager for Amazon Web Services (AWS) UK Regional Public Sector team, focusing on the Healthcare, Not-for-Profit, Education and Local Government verticals within AWS. Charlie has been in Amazon for two years, starting as a Senior Vendor Manager in Amazon Retail, before joining AWS in 2022. Charlie completed her MBA at IESE Business School in Barcelona in 2021, with prior experience in the banking and charity sectors. Charlie is an advocate of well-being at work – she was Chair of Amazon’s mental health and well-being affinity group 2021-2022. Charlie is also an AWS Culture of Innovation presenter.

Rakhi Rajani, Chief Digital & Strategy Officer, Genomics England

Rakhi is the Chief Digital and Strategy Officer at Genomics England and drives innovation in healthcare products and services that put the patient and society at the core. She started her career in one of the big tech research labs in Silicon Valley, working at the intersections to invent new technologies and apply them to different domains.

Rakhi was previously an Associate Partner at QuantumBlack and McKinsey where she led global strategic foresight and human-centred AI projects. She holds non-exec roles in the Arts, Emerging Tech and Innovation space. Rakhi has also held senior innovation positions at start-ups and large organisations spanning emerging tech, healthcare, space, aerospace and defence, and smart cities. She works at the intersection of Behavioural Science, Technology and Strategic Innovation.

Jemma Hopewell, Professor of Precision Medicine & Epidemiology, CTSU – Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford

Fiona Reddington, Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships, Our Future Health

Dr Fiona Reddington is Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships at Our Future Health.

Fiona obtained her BSc (Pharmacology) at University College Dublin and her PhD (Neurophysiology) from Kings College London (UMDS). From there, Fiona joined the NHS as a project manager and went on to manage a Cancer Centre at University College London.

Management roles at a national cancer network and the National Cancer Research Institute Informatics Initiative followed where Fiona was part of the team to win the inaugural Times Higher Research project of the Year award.

Fiona joined Cancer Research UK in 2008 and held a variety of roles where she was responsible for the CR UK research portfolios in clinical trials, population research, prevention and early diagnosis as well as representing the charity on matters relating to data sharing.

Fiona went on secondment to help to establish Our Future Health in 2019 as the Interim Chief Operating Officer before joining Our Future Heath in 2020 to lead on building partnerships across the NHS, charities, and industry to help co-design, co-deliver and co-fund the programme.

Professor Karen Salt, Portfolio Director, Trusted Research and Innovation, U.K. Research and Innovation