This group acts as a ‘front door’ for health and social care technology developers, signposting them to organisations across Wales that can support the development, adoption and optimised use of health technologies. Current members are listed below.
Abi Phillips
Welsh Government
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Abi has worked in Welsh Government for 15 years, holding a variety of policy and delivery roles focussed on innovation and the development and implementation of new technologies. She has a BSc in Business Studies, an MSc in Health Policy and has been involved in a number of programmes including SMART Cymru and the Efficiency through Technology Programme. She is currently Head of Integrated Policy, a cross cutting role to improve policy making and delivery across Welsh Government.
Aimee Twinberrow
Project Lead, Life Science Hub Wales
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Aimee is a project lead within the Digital and AI team at Life Sciences Hub Wales, this involves bringing new innovations to Wales to support Health and Social Care. Prior to this role Aimee was a manager within social services supporting a wide range of community services such as domiciliary care, assistive technology and reablement. Aimee is a registered social worker and has been working in social care for 13 years.
Andy Smallwood
Assistant Director of Procurement, NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership
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Andy has worked within procurement management for over 25 years. Having undertaken national roles within NHS England, Andy has spent the past 10 years at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership As Head of Sourcing and more recently as Assistant Director of Procurement. A strong believer of evidence-based procurement, Andy is the founder of the Orthopaedic Data Evaluation Panel and a co-opted member of the National Joint Registry Steering Committee.
Professor Chris Hopkins
Consultant Clinical Scientist and Head of the TriTech Institute in Hywel Dda University Health Board
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Professor Chris Hopkins is a Consultant Clinical Scientist and Head of the TriTech Institute in Hywel Dda University Health Board. Chris is also a Clinical Director within the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Chris is a Fellow of the Academy for Healthcare Science and was recently awarded the Excellence in Healthcare Science Research and Innovation Award at the NHS England Chief Scientific Officer’s Excellence in Healthcare Science Awards 2022.
Debbie Laubach
Operations Manager, MediWales
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Debbie oversees all event organisation and activities at MediWales and frequently engages with members. She creates and facilitates relationships across the sector, assisting in collaboration and understanding the needs of the life science community.
Delyth James
Programme Lead, DHEW
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Delyth James is responsible for the delivery of the Digital Health Ecosystem Wales which brings together industry, clinicians, policy makers, academics, innovators, and funders to accelerate the adoption of digital healthcare technology across Wales.
Helen Northmore
National Head of Business Development and Industry Engagement, Technology Enabled Care Cymru
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Helen is the National Head of Business Development and Industry Engagement at Technology Enabled Care Cymru, heading up development and engagement for the programme supporting the transformation of health and care services in Wales through implementing new technology. Previously Helen worked at the Life Sciences Hub Wales as the Head of Digital and AI, connecting NHS, social care and industry to develop, test and implement new technology. Helen has twenty years of experience in business development, political advocacy, commercial partnerships, stakeholder engagement, policy development and media relations.
Dr James Evans
Research & Development Officer, Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory (SMTL)
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James works as a Research & Development Officer at the Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory. His work centres on carrying out evidence reviews for the Evidence Based Procurement Board. Previously James worked at Cedar, a healthcare technology research centre, where his work fed into the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's (NICE) Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme and Interventional Procedures Programme. James has a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology and a PhD in Microbiology (Cardiff University).
Lynda Jones
Project Manager, SBRI Centre of Excellence
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Lynda has worked in Project Management in the NHS for over 15 years and has a track record of successful project delivery. Lynda is currently the SBRI Centre Manager, an exciting role working across public sector organisations within Wales to identify health challenges and collaborating with industry to resolve these challenges by developing exciting innovations.
Rachel Gemine
Senior Researcher Development, TriTech Institute, Hywel Dda University Health Board
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Dr Rachel Gemine, Research & Development and TriTech Institute at Hywel Dda University Health Board, leads on grant applications and management of research and evaluation. She has collaborated or led on bids totalling over £2million and won numerous awards including MediWales Research Excellence Award. Rachel is experienced in qualitative and quantitative methods, trial design, study management and patient involvement.
Dr Rhys Morris
Director, Cedar Evaluation Centre
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Rhys has been Director of Cedar, the Centre for Healthcare Technology Research, since August 2020. He is a Consultant Clinical Scientist in Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at the University Hospital of Wales, and has long experience of working with the Medical Device industry in the research and development of vascular diagnostic and therapeutic techniques. Rhys specialises in the prevention of mechanical DVT, and co-ordinates the teaching of Medical Physics at undergraduate level at Cardiff University.
Siôn Charles
Deputy Director, Bevan Commission
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Siôn Charles is Deputy Director at Wales' leading health and care think tank, the Bevan Commission and Bevan Academy. He leads the Bevan Innovators programmes as well as being involved in business and policy development and Commission events. Siôn’s background is in organisational development and project management. As Deputy Director of Leadership and Organisational Development in NLIAH, he led the Wellbeing through Work project in collaboration with Remploy, and major IT projects delivery at DVLA.
Dr Susan Myles
Director, Health Technology Wales
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Susan has been engaged in applied health technology assessment for 25 years. Before joining Health Technology Wales, she led the development and work of the Scottish Health Technologies Group. Susan has received scholarships from the Department of Health and Medical Research Council, and is a previous recipient of a Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy. She holds qualifications in Economics (BA), Health Economics (MSc & PhD) and Epidemiology (PgDip).
To learn more about the purpose of the group, see the Health Technology Wales Front Door Signposting Group Terms of Reference.
