A month in my life as DigitalHealth.London Programme Director

Yinka is the Programme Director for DigitalHealth.London, overseeing our work on supporting NHS organisations develop their capability to work with digital, building the digital health “ecosystem” in London, and supporting innovators outside of the DigitalHealth.London Accelerator to be in a strong position to work with the NHS. Here, she gives us an insight into her life in one of the most exciting and fast-moving industries in the world: healthtech.

Despite an unpredictable start to the British summer this month, I’ve enjoyed an invigorating month of connecting, learning, sharing and having our efforts at DigitalHealth.London recognised.

Digital therapeutics and artificial intelligence (AI) have been key themes for me throughout June. Attendance at a breakfast meeting hosted by Silicon Valley Bank and Up provided valuable insights from digital therapeutic SMEs, pharma, and investors on the challenges that hamper the growth of this subsector. They often relate to the disparity in risk and valuations compared with the biotech sector, a lack of tariffs, and ill-defined value-based pricing.

At DTx (Digital therapeutics) Europe 2019, I carried on the growing conversation about evidence with Neelam Patel, COO at our partners Medcity, Mark Salmon, Programme Director at NICE, and other colleagues, as we presented on the role of the newly published Evidence Standards Framework for Digital Health Technologies in supporting digital therapeutics companies to gain traction in the NHS.

At a CogX event run by Reform, I had the much-needed opportunity to plug in to the latest thinking and developments in AI and its application, looking at case studies often derived from other sectors. I also chaired a panel at the Digital Healthcare Show focused on the experiences and value of e-consultations, hearing perspectives from primary care, industry, secondary care and academia.

Although we have been treated to a taster of what’s to come, I am excited by the official launch of NHSX on 1 July, and the opportunities that this collaboration could bring to the maturing digital health landscape in the England.

I’m are also looking forward to hosting the latest set of companies we will work with as we enter the second year of our UK Israel Dangoor Health Initiative, a partnership with the UK Israel Tech Hub, IBM Alpha Zone, Dangoor Education, and hosted by our partners UCLPartners.