Propel Healthtech has launched a new podcast series designed to shine a spotlight on the people, ideas and innovations helping to shape the future of health and care.
Bringing together innovators, academics, clinicians, partners and industry leaders, the series explores some of the biggest opportunities and challenges facing healthcare innovation today, from NHS adoption and evidence generation to commercialisation and scaling impactful technologies.
Each episode will explore topics including the role of innovation in supporting the NHS, evidence generation, commercialisation, adoption pathways and the wider ecosystem required to help promising technologies reach patients and healthcare services across West Yorkshire and beyond.
Episode one: a conversation with Prof. Dean McMillan and Prof. Simon Gilbody
Episode one features Prof. Dean McMillan, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Hull York Medical School, and Prof. Simon Gilbody, Professor of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatric Epidemiology at the University of York.
Both guests have extensive experience in health innovation and entrepreneurship, combining world-leading academic expertise with practical experience of translating research into real-world healthcare solutions. Their work includes the development of innovative approaches to improving health outcomes for older adults, including the creation of Third Age Therapeutics.
In this episode, Prof. McMillan and Prof. Gilbody discuss many of the themes central to Propel Healthtech West Yorkshire, including the importance of collaboration, evidence generation and providing innovators with the support needed to navigate complex healthcare systems.
Throughout the conversation, we explore:
- why innovation has an increasingly important role to play in addressing some of the most significant challenges facing health and care services
- the need for stronger links between academia, healthcare providers and innovators
- the critical role universities play in nurturing new ideas, generating evidence and supporting the next generation of healthcare entrepreneurs.
The conversation also highlights some of the common challenges faced by innovators, from navigating complex healthcare systems and generating robust evidence to securing support and building partnerships that enable innovations to scale.
Reflecting on the importance of creating impact at scale, Prof. Gilbody said: “In order to make a difference and to innovate, you have to make things happen at scale… It’s great working as a doctor in the NHS but you often become curious about the ‘how’ questions and the ‘why’ questions… But I also trained in health economics, so trying to understand how we create things that are of value and that are cost effective and that generate return on investment for the NHS and for broader society.”
Discussing the transition from research to real-world impact, Prof. McMillan said: “I got to a point in my career, where I thought ‘we’ve done lots of lovely research for twenty years’ but we want to see a difference in the real world, and rather than just moving on to the next trial or the next bit of research, take a bit of a pause and think that if we want to make a difference in the real world perhaps developing a spin-out and doing it ourselves is the way to make that difference.”
Looking ahead at the Propel podcast series
Hosted by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber and delivered in partnership with West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Propel Healthtech supports ambitious innovators working to improve health outcomes through technology and innovation.
This new podcast series forms part of Propel Healthtech’s commitment to championing innovation, sharing knowledge and creating meaningful conversations across the healthtech ecosystem.
Future episodes will feature innovators, healthcare leaders, academics and industry experts from across the Propel community and wider health innovation landscape, offering valuable insights for anyone seeking to develop, adopt or scale healthcare innovation.
To watch Episode One in full, visit our YouTube channel or listen via Audioboom and hear first-hand why innovation, collaboration and evidence remain critical to improving health and care outcomes.
