A bit about
Nicola
Nicola is a leader in health innovation policy and entrepreneurship. She is Chair of Genomics England, Chair of Oxford University Innovation and on the Board of BioNTech SE. Nicola served as Minister for Innovation in the Department for Health and Social Care (UK) under two Prime Ministers where she led on Lifesciences, NHS Data and Digital Transformation and Global Health Security. She was the first female MP for Oxford and she was elected by MPs of all parties to Chair the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. Nicola remains the youngest ever select committee chair in British history and the only woman to have held in that position. Find out more.
in depth
My Work
Nicola’s work reflects an abiding belief that science, innovation and access are mission critical to solving our greatest global challenges.
lifescienceS spotlight
Life Sciences Vision
The Life Sciences Vision will help ensure new pioneering treatments and medical technologies are produced in the UK, improving patient lives and driving economic growth. The Vision involves substantial investment from private and charitable sectors and significant commitments in research and development from the government. See full details here.
Genomics
Following the great success of the 100,000 Genomes Project, we aim to sequence 5 million genomes in the UK over the next 5 years. It is crucial we translate this achievement into clinical care through research and the NHS Genomic Medicine Service.
The National Genomics Strategy will put patients at the heart of everything we do and set out how we can make the most of our world class assets to establish the UK squarely at the forefront of the genomics revolution.
Data
Our vision is to make the UK home to data-driven research and innovation to improve patient outcomes.
The £37.5m Digital Innovation Hubs are an important step to improving access to high-quality, world-leading datasets. This will not only improve the prevention, detection and diagnosis of diseases like cancer, heart disease and asthma so patients can benefit from scientific breakthroughs much faster but also offer insights that can strengthen the UK healthcare system itself.
Diagnostics
The Sector Deal announced £79 million to establish the world’s first cohort of up to 5 million healthy participants to support research, prevention and treatment - including earlier diagnostics - across major chronic diseases, including cancer, dementia, heart disease and mental health disorders.
This new patient cohort will allow us to apply and develop new technologies to identify these diseases much earlier – before symptoms are even present.
AI
Early diagnosis of illness can greatly increase the chances of successful treatment and save lives. AI has proven potential to revolutionise the speed and accuracy of medical diagnosis.
This is why we announced £50m five centres dedicated to applying AI technologies to medical imaging; both by digitising images taken during scans and biopsies in order to identify early signs of disease and by developing entirely new products to help improve early diagnosis.
“The potential for today’s health innovators to save lives, transform our healthcare systems and shape the very health of society is genuinely game-changing.”
