Keynote Speakers

The speaker programme in 2011 will include the same mix of world leading speakers, including leading clinicians, innovators, global CEO’s, Government Ministers and expert commentators.

The following speakers have been confirmed, details on other main stage speakers will follow shortly:

Jonathan Kestenbaum is chief executive of NESTA, (The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), the largest endowment in the UK exclusively dedicated to fostering innovation. With a wealth of experience both in the private and public sector, Jonathan has been an advisor to BAE systems, is a graduate of both the Cabinet Office Top Management programme and the Strategic Agility programme at Harvard Business School and a trustee of a number of foundations. In addition, he is also a board member of the Design Council and the UK’s Technology Strategy Board – to name but a few.

Ben Page is Managing Director of IPSOS MORI Public Affairs and chairman of its Social Research Institute. Since 1992, he has worked closely with both Conservative and Labour ministers as well as senior policy makers across central and local government, the Department of Health, local authorities and NHS Trusts. Named one of ‘the most 100 influential people in the public sector’ and ‘one of the most 50 influential people in local government’ he is naturally one of the most sought after speakers on leadership and performance management, has won numerous awards, and serves on a wide range of commissions and reviews.

 Dr. Paul Wicks is the director of research and development (R&D) at PatientsLikeMe. An internationally recognized expert in psychological aspects of neurodegenerative conditions, Dr. Wicks is responsible for shaping the scientific and medical validity of the online patient communities at PatientsLikeMe. As R&D director, he leads a team of experts charged with conducting scientific research that generates insights about the personal health data shared by patient members.

Under Dr. Wicks’ direction, the PatientsLikeMe R&D team has produced over a dozen peer-reviewed publications to date, including an innovative patient-led trial of lithium in ALS, a survey of pathological gambling in Parkinson's disease, and an extension of a gold-standard patient reported outcome measure; studies which have appeared in major scientific journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Movement Disorders and European Journal of Neurology. In addition to working with elite research organizations, including Johns Hopkins, Penn State, and Forbes-Norris Pacific ALS Centre, the R&D team also provides professional services to the company’s commercial partners.

Andrew Thompson is a co-founder and Chief Executive officer of Proteus. He is also a Managing Member of Spring Ridge Ventures, and has led the incubation of Proteus since inception. From 1994-1999, Mr. Thompson co-founded and served as a director and chief executive officer of FemRx until the company was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. Previously, Mr. Thompson co-founded and was chief financial officer for CardioRhythm through its acquisition by Medtronic. He holds an M.A. in engineering from Cambridge University, where he was a United Kingdom National Engineering Scholar, an M.A. in education from Stanford University and a M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Professor Naoki Ikegami, MD, PhD, MA is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Keio School of Medicine, from which he received his MD and PhD. He also received a Master of Arts degree in health services studies with Distinction from Leeds University (United Kingdom). During 1990-1991, he was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Medical School, and has continued to be a Senior Fellow at Wharton. He is a founding member of interRAI (a non-profit international consortium of researchers and clinicians focused on care planning instruments), and served as a consultant to the WHO and the World Bank. He is currently President of the Japan Society of Healthcare Administration and sits on various national and state government committees, including the Chair of the Investigative Specialist Sub-committee on Case-mix Based Reimbursement for Chronic Inpatient Care. His research areas are health policy, long-term care and pharmacoeconomics.

Stephen Greenhalgh is the Tory leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council, he led the Conservatives to power in west London in 2006 after 20 years in opposition. His policies and political approach soon got him elevated to the head of David Cameron's Conservative Councils Innovations Unit and it's not hard to see why. Not only is he held to exemplify the George Osborne-endorsed principle of getting more for less – better services at a lower price – he has also shown a firm grasp of his leader's need to reconcile some of their party's most visceral urges with its new emphasis on healing social ills – and, better still, articulating them as localist virtues.

 Kevin Dean is Managing Director for Public Sector Healthcare in Cisco's Internet Business Solution Group (IBSG), focusing on helping public sector customers to develop their strategies and implementation plans for "Connected Health" information management and technology. He has experience in numerous aspects of health IT strategy and execution. He and his team work with national & regional Governments around the world, as well as working with the European Commission and World Health Organisation. Kevin's team is also providing advice for ground-breaking projects such as the Health Academy, a joint WHO / Cisco initiative to provide health education to school children in developing nations. Kevin edited and introduced a collection of essays from leading health IT thinkers (Thought Leaders: "Connected Health" published December 2003), setting out ideas, lessons and opportunities for networked healthcare based on real experience. He also edited and contributed to the White Paper on the use of Grid Technology in healthcare, jointly published with the Healthgrid Association, in 2004.

Jim Easton has been an executive in the UK National Health Service for over 20 years. In June 2009 he was appointed as the NHS National Director for Improvement and Efficiency. Working to the NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson, he is leading the drive over £15 billion major efficiency savings whilst improving the quality of services for the 51 million people in England. Jim is leading on changes needed to the NHS in delivering its quality and efficiency commitments through a greater focus on quality, innovation, productivity and prevention. Previously Jim was Chief Executive of NHS South Central, the part of the UK Health System which oversees the performance and development of all types of health care for 4 million people in the South of England and prior to this he was the Chief Executive Officer of York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, a 700 bed acute hospital. During his career Jim has also worked in primary care, mental health, health care commissioning and policy development. Jim’s particular interest is in the leadership role in quality improvement and is regularly invited to speak internationally on this subject, on which he is also currently finalising a doctoral thesis.

Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has been Medical Director of the National Health Service in England since November 2007 and is responsible for clinical quality, safety and strategy, undergraduate and postgraduate education of doctors, dentists and pharmacists, as well as postgraduate training of clinical scientists. He is also responsible for the medicines supply chain to the UK. He oversees the work programme of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA). He was a British Heart Foundation Senior Lecturer and consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at the Hammersmith Hospital in London before moving to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where he became associate medical director for clinical governance and the cardiac surgical service lead. In 2004 he was appointed Professor of Cardiac Surgery at University College London and Director of Surgery at the Heart Hospital. He has a long-standing interest in clinical quality and outcomes. He has served as a Commissioner on the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) and the Healthcare Commission, and was knighted for services to medicine in 2003.

Sir David Nicholson KCB CBE has been Chief Executive of the National Health Service (NHS) in England since September 2006. His career in the Service spans over 30 years. He started in the NHS as a management trainee, having graduated from the University of Bristol. He has held leadership positions in acute and mental health services, and at four regional health authorities. He was Chief Executive of the NHS in London before he became Chief Executive of the NHS in England. He was awarded the CBE in January 2004 and was knighted in 2010, both for his services to the NHS.

Tim Kelsey is a senior expert at McKinsey & Company who has pioneered the development of consumer information strategies in public services, and particularly in health.  In 2000, Tim was founder CEO of Dr Foster, the organisation which published comparative data on the quality of NHS hospitals for the first time. Greater transparency has led many NHS organisations to show demonstrable improvements in clinical outcomes. Dr Foster is now market leader in the provision of quality benchmarking analytics in the UK health sector and also the leading independent information brand for patients and the public.  In 2005, Dr Foster was identified as one of the top 10 fastest growing private companies in the UK by the Sunday Times. In 2007, he designed and led the launch of the new national health information service - NHS Choices.  This is now the most visited health information resource in the UK.  Tim joined McKinsey to lead on the development of consumer propositions in public services to transform quality and productivity.

Tim was awarded the annual award for 'Innovation' by Laing and Buisson in 2007 and in the following year received the award for 'Outstanding Contribution in Healthcare' from Health Investor magazine.  He is a member of the NHS National Quality Board, a trustee of the Nuffield Trust, a commissioner on the 2020 Public Services Commission, and a member of the advisory board of Warwick University medical school.