Speakers 2025

Dr Aurelie Cnop-Nielsen is a lecturer and researcher in Organisational Behaviour, working at Imperial College London and the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) where she teaches Negotiation skills, Managing People and Teams and Organisational Behaviour since for over 10 years. She also works at the ESCP Europe Business school where she is the academic director of the specialised Master’s in Digital Transformation and Leadership.

She graduated from both the University of Louvain, from which she holds a MSc in Business Engineering, and the London School of Economics, from which she holds a MSc in Organisational Behaviour and a PhD in Management. Her current research focuses on how contribution, impact and meaning at work help leadership, team engagement and wellbeing and how to inspire, retain and increase motivation and performance in high pressure environments.

With 15+ years of experience in strategy consulting for consultancy companies, and later change & finance management at a FTSE100 multinational company, Aurelie has been instrumental in helping companies and governmental organisations achieve strategic change and world-class performance. Currently, Aurelie acts as an adviser for governmental institutions and UK-based technology sector companies.

Dr Christa Hansen is a Health Economist at Imperial College London, and a Teaching Fellow in the Institute of Global Health Innovation. She is a member of the Centre for Health Economics & Policy Innovation (CHEPI) at Imperial College Business School, where she completed her PhD in Economics. Additionally, Christa is an Associate at the Centre for Teaching and Learning Economics (CTaLE) at UCL. Her expertise is in economic impacts of infectious diseases in lower and middle income countries, examining macro- and microeconometric methods in natural resource and labour markets, and in randomised controlled trials. Her research interests include digital divisions in access to healthcare.

In additional to her PhD from Imperial, Christa holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Economics from the University of Oxford, a dual Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from London Business School (LBS) and Columbia Business School, and a BA in Economics from Stanford University. Prior to joining Imperial, Christa worked as a research assistant at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Dr Jason Lawson is the current NHS England Fellow and a Clinical Research Fellow in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London.

Jason has specialised research interests in innovative and simulated learning environments and is a PhD candidate in Vascular Surgery, focusing on data models and surgical training. As a Clinical Research and Teaching Fellow, he plays a key role in curriculum development and delivery, serving as a Module Lead for both the MSc Health Policy and PGDip Digital Health Leadership programmes.

Jason holds a Master’s degree in Human Physiology and a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, with a background in neurophysiology and elite athlete physiology.

His previous roles include clinical practice in both rural and tertiary healthcare settings in South Africa. He has served as Chairperson of the South African Medical Student Association and worked as a physiologist at the Institute of Sports Research. He is also a faculty member for the Advanced Trauma Life Support programme at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Currently, he practices clinically and teaches in the Department of Vascular Surgery at St Mary’s Hospital, London.

Dr Tanya Pankhurst is an NHS consultant in Nephrology, Deputy chief Medical Officer (Governance) and previously Director of Digital Healthcare and Chief Clinical Information Officer at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB), UK. She trained in Newcastle and then sub specialised in renal medicine completing a PhD in vasculitis in 2009. She holds a Diploma and MSc in Digital Healthcare. She was appointed to her current post in 2012.

Nephrology interests include renal transplantation, dialysis, transition from paediatric to adult care and complex rare disease.

She has been involved in collaboration with patients, clinical staff groups and development teams to build Electronic Healthcare Records within the Trust. Wider projects include interoperability, regional data exchange, national clinical data linkage and patient portals. She is interested in quality improvement and patient safety.

Sir David spent his 40-year career in healthcare management and leadership and was awarded a knighthood in the 2017 New Year’s honours list in recognition of his services to the NHS.

David joined the NHS in 1983 and his final position in the NHS was as Chief Operating Officer on the Board of NHS England, overseeing the health and care of 56 million people and the budget of £180 billion.

In 2022, David was named by the Health Service Journal as the fourth-most influential person in English health policy in their HSJ100 list.

In between times, his roles included chief executive of NHS Haringey and chief executive of the Whittington Hospital NHS Trust after which he joined the Royal Free London (RFL) in July 2009. He led the hospital to foundation status in 2012, followed by the successful acquisition of Barnet and Chase Farm hospitals in 2014. During his tenure the trust was awarded the Dr Fosters NHS Hospital of the Year and was accredited as a Global Digital Exemplar. After a decade at RFL, he left to take up the position of NHS regional director for London, with an oversight of the healthcare of a population of 10 million and a budget to £18 billion. He led the NHS in London through the first waves of Covid-19, before moving on the national COO role, where he led England through subsequent waves of Covid.