Every time I work with the SpeakersHub team, I'm blown away by the quality of people on their roster and the access they have to a who's-who of innovative, provocative and leading edge thinkers and leaders. If you want to build knowledge and get insight from people who are at the very top of the latest thinking and leaders in their field then Sarah and the team are the people to talk to.
Biography
Alongside his clinical practice, Iain is Director and Co-Founder of the Alder Hey Innovation Hub, a globally recognised centre for healthcare innovation. Under his leadership, the Hub has secured more than £24 million in funding, supported the development of new medical technologies, spun out multiple companies and built a unique 1000 square metre underground innovation facility designed to enable deep collaboration between healthcare, industry and the technology sector.
His work has included forming strategic partnerships with global organisations such as Sony, IBM and Philips, and leading the practical application of 3D printing, material science, artificial intelligence and rapid prototyping within live clinical environments. These initiatives have delivered measurable improvements in care, operations and patient experience, and were recognised nationally with the Health Service Journal Improving Care with Technology Award, alongside multiple other national innovation honours.
Iain also serves as Associate Medical Director for Innovation across the Cheshire and Merseyside NHS Integrated Care Board, where he provides strategic leadership on system-wide innovation and transformation. He is Vice President of the International Society of Paediatric Innovation and an Honorary Clinical Professor at the University of Liverpool, with a long-standing commitment to developing innovation capability in healthcare professionals through education, mentoring and leadership development.
He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with honours degrees in Medicine, Surgery and Anatomical Sciences, before completing specialist training in paediatric surgery in the United Kingdom and Australia. Alongside his clinical and leadership roles, Iain is a widely published author and educator, with internationally bestselling medical textbooks and extensive experience speaking to global audiences on innovation, leadership and change.
As a speaker, Iain goes far beyond shiny gadgets. He speaks candidly about how real innovation happens in messy, political and slow-moving organisations, and why disruption, purpose, resilience and human-centred design are essential if we want systems that genuinely work for people. His sessions are fast-paced, insightful and often funny, grounded in clinical reality and fuelled by a belief that the future of children’s health should be dramatically better than the present.