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Scotland's Health Research and Innovation Conference

Programme

The conference theme reflects the 50th anniversary of the Chief Scientist Office of Scottish Government. Over 60 inspiring and influential speakers offer a varied programme of presentations and discussions reflecting the diversity of health research and innovation activity across Scotland. 

Download the  Full Programme or select a session from the list below to review presentations and speakers. 

08:30 - 09:00 Registration and Refreshments

An opportunity for delegates to network, review posters and engage with exhibitors. 

09:00 - 09:15 Welcome

Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director-General Health and Social Care  

09:15 - 09:30 The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) at 50

Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist (Health), Scottish Government and Regius Chair of Medicine, University of Glasgow

09:30 - 10:25 Scotland - An Innovation Nation

Chaired by former Chief Scientists (Health) Professor David Crossman and Professor Andrew Morris, this session will explore Scotland’s vibrant health and life science sector. It will evidence the value and impact of the CSO supported infrastructure in helping to deliver significant advances in healthcare, and support Scotland’s vision of becoming one of the most innovative small nations in the world.

  • 09:35 – 09:50 - EAVE II (Early Pandemic Evaluation and Enhanced Surveillance of COVID-19) - Professor Sir Aziz Sheikh, Professor of Primary Care Research and Development and Director of the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh
  • 09:50 – 10:05 - Generation Scotland - Professor Heather Whalley, Chief Scientist, Generation Scotland and Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Edinburgh
  • 10:05 – 10:20 - Lessons learnt from Scotland's first Industrial Centre for AI Research in Digital Diagnostics (iCAIRD) - Dr Ken Sutherland, President, Canon Medical Research Europe; and James Blackwood, AI Strategy and Portfolio Lead, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

10:25 - 11:10 An International Perspective

Chaired by Professor Iain McInnes, Vice-Principal and Head of College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at University of Glasgow, this session will offer international insights from members of CSO Strategic Advisory Board.

  • 10:30 - 10:50 - Health and Biomedical science research and innovation in Singapore: Looking back, looking forward - Professor TAN Chorh Chuan, Permanent Secretary (National Research & Development); Chairman, Agency for Science, Technology and Research; Chairman, MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation
  • 10:50 - 11:10 - The Future of Health and Medicine - Dr Victor Dzau, President of US National Academy of Medicine (NAM), Vice Chair of the National Research Council, Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University

11:10 - 11:50 Embedding Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) in our Healthcare

Chaired by Professor Sir Gregor Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, this panel discussion will spotlight research and innovation as a positive enabler for recovery, reform and sustainability in health and social care. It will explore how we harness the significant potential of our NHS, embed RDI across our health and care services and continuously maximise opportunities for improvement and growth.

Panel members:

  • Caroline Lamb, Chief Executive of NHS Scotland and Director– General Health and Social Care
  • Professor Tan Chorh Chuan Permanent Secretary (National Research & Development); Chairman, Agency for Science, Technology and Research; Chairman, MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation
  • Dr Victor Dzau, President of US National Academy of Medicine (NAM), Vice Chair of the National Research Council, Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University
  • Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK, Vice-Principal of Data Science at the University of Edinburgh 

11:50 - 12:15 Refreshments, Networking and Attended Poster Sessions

An opportunity for delegates to network, review posters and engage with exhibitors. 

12:15 - 13:30 Thematic Sessions (for delegate selection)

Delegates can select a preferred thematic session during the registration process.

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A: Precision Medicine

Described as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Precision Medicine, this session will explore Scotland’s growing precision medicine ecosystem, supported by the multi-disciplinary expertise and capabilities of our universities and NHS, working proactively with industry. The session will showcase specific programmes of work, supported by Precision Medicine Alliance Scotland (PMAS) funding, that are tackling health conditions of major importance in Scotland, and positioning Scotland as one of the best places in the world to develop and deliver precision medicine.

Session Welcome

Dr Alan McNair, Senior Research Manager, Chief Scientist Office; Marian McNeil, Chief Executive Officer, Precision Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre and Dr Louise Campbell, Research Manager, Chief Scientist Office

12:20 -12:25

Precision Medicine Alliance Scotland

Dr Louise Campbell, Research Manager, Chief Scientist Office

12:25 – 12:35

 

The iDiabetes Platform: Enhanced Phenotyping of patients with diabetes for Precision Diagnosis, Prognosis and Treatment

Professor Ewan Pearson, Professor of Diabetic Medicine at University of Dundee; and Honorary Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology, NHS Tayside

12:35 – 12:45

 

Precision-MS: Integrating precision metrics of brain health into early treatment of multiple sclerosis

Professor David Hunt, Wellcome Trust Clinician Scientist at University of Edinburgh; and Honorary Consultant Neurologist NHS Lothian

12:45 – 12:55

 

Centre for Precision Cell Therapy for the Liver

Professor Stuart Forbes, Director of the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at University of Edinburgh

12:55 – 13:05

 

Time critical precision medicine for acute critical illness using treatable trait principles: Data enabled adaptive platform trial with embedded biological characterisation [TRAITS programme]

Professor Nazir Lone, Professor of Critical Care and Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, and Honorary Consultant, Critical Care, NHS Lothian

13:05 – 13:10

Precision Medicine – Opportunities and Challenges

Marian McNeil, Chief Executive Officer, Precision Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre will speak on the wider societal opportunities and challenges arising from Precision Medicine and introduce Professor Sandosh Padmanabhan

13:10 – 13:25

Glasgow Living Laboratory

Professor Sandosh Padmanabhan, Professor of Cardiovascular Genomics and Therapeutics at University of Glasgow

Session Close

B: Clinical Trials Showcase

Clinical research is the single most important way in which we improve our healthcare – by identifying new means to prevent, diagnose and treat disease. Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, significant work has been undertaken across Scotland to remobilise our portfolio of research across all phases, treatment types and conditions. This session will showcase the strength and diversity of the portfolio, the deep scientific expertise, and dedicated research infrastructure – all helping share a more resilient system for the future.

Session Welcome

Professor Rory McCrimmon, NRS Diabetes Clinical Lead and Dean of Medicine, University of Dundee; and Dr Anna Barnett, Network Manager, NRS Diabetes  

12:25 – 12:40

 

The Cardiac CARE Trial: An RCT of cardiac troponin guided cardioprotection therapy to prevent anthracycline cardiotoxicity

Dr Morag MacLean, Senior Trial Manager, Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit, University of Edinburgh

12:40 – 12:55

 

An update regarding the Meso-ORIGINS study: part of the PREDICT-Meso International Accelerator

Dr Mark Neilly, Clinical Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

12:55 – 13:10

 

Treatment in Morning vs Evening (TIME) study

Dr Filippo Pigazzani, Clinical Research Fellow, School of Medicine, University of Dundee

13:10 – 13:25

 

Genetic testing and targeted intervention to prevent development and progression of Paget’s disease of bone

Professor Stuart Ralston, Versus Arthritis Professor of Rheumatology, Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, University of Edinburgh

Session Close

C: Powering healthcare through data and artificial intelligence (AI)

As we work to transform health experiences and outcomes, the need for rapid, real-time health information is essential and presents major opportunities to drive forward innovation and data-informed improvements in healthcare. Access to these enriched datasets, combined with an ability to apply AI and machine learning, can offer deeper patient insights, faster diagnosis and, ultimately, improved treatment. This session will outline work underway in Scotland to enhance our data and AI infrastructure, attract high-quality research and innovation projects and accelerate these evolving technologies into clinical service.

Session Welcome

Professor Julie Brittenden, R&I Director, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde; and Professor Nicholas Mills, Chair of Cardiology and Consultant Cardiologist, University of Edinburgh

12:25 – 12:40

 

Mapping Scottish Population Scale Health Data to Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM) standard to support FAIR Principles

Erum Masood, Data Engineer, Health Informatics Centre, University of Dundee; and Gordon Milligan, Deputy Director Alleviate Pain Data Hub, Health Informatics Centre, University of Dundee

12:40 – 12:55

 

Implementation of a decision-support tool for the diagnosis of myocardial infarction in the Emergency Department

Dr Dimitrios Doudesis, Senior Data Scientist, Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh

12:55 – 13:10

 

Towards implementation of live AI-based prognostic risk-prediction scores in a COPD MDT

Professor Chris Carlin, Consultant Physician and Clinical Lead for Respiratory Medicine, South Sector NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde; and Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow

13:10 – 13:25

 

Understanding privacy risk in electronic health records to improve access to unstructured data without compromising confidentiality

Dr Arlene Casey, Dunhill Medical Trust Fellow, University of Edinburgh; and Natural Language Processing (NLP) Lead, DataLoch

Session Close

D: Enabling participation in research  

Patients and participants are the foundation of clinical research - without them research can’t happen, and healthcare can’t improve. Yet we know more needs to be done to ensure patients, their families and their carers are empowered to directly and proactively explore research opportunities and make informed decisions about participating in research that is of relevance to them. This session will explore the use of new services, new technologies and virtual delivery models to improve the way clinical research is accessed and delivered.

Session Welcome

Professor Zosia Miedzybrodzka, Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Aberdeen, and Dr Tom Barlow, Senior Research Manager, Chief Scientist Office

12:25 – 12:40

 

Who stands to benefit from the results of your trial?

Dr Heidi Green, Director of Health Research Equity, COUCH Health

12:40 – 12:55

 

SHARE (Scottish Health Research Register & Biobank)

Professor Brian McKinstry, Professor of Primary Care eHealth at the University of Edinburgh and Director of SHARE

12:55 – 13:10

 

ENabling Research In Care Homes – ENRICH (Scotland)

Lesley Cousland, Clinical Studies Officer, NHS Tayside

13:10 – 13:25

 

Decentralised Trials- a Paediatric Perspective

Dr Pamela Dicks, NRS Paediatrics Network Manager

Session Close

E: Strengthening patient and public involvement to shape research now and in the future 

Excellent public involvement is an essential part of health and social care research and shown to improve its quality and impact. Insights from lived experience, different aspirations and views on health outcomes ensure studies can be designed and delivered in more effective, relevant ways. This session will explore public involvement developments and examples of best practice to learn and demonstrate how we can continue to build public involvement in line with the UK Standards for Public Involvement.

Session Welcome

Carol Porteous, CSO Patient and Public Involvement Lead; and Sarah Kennedy, Research Manager, NHS Research Scotland

12:25 – 12:40

 

Enhancing recruitment and participation completion rates in the world’s largest study of ME/CFS through patient and public involvement

Diana Garcia, DecodeME Project Manager, University of Edinburgh; and Sian Leary, member of the DecodeME Patient and Public Involvement Steering Group

12:40 – 12:55

 

Meaningfully Involving Young People in Shaping Health Research

Sarah Robertson, Youth Engagement Lead, Generation Scotland, University of Edinburgh

12:55 – 13:10

 

Sustainable PPI: Empowering the public in dental research, education, and NHS service

Dr Niall Mc Goldrick, Clinical Lecturer and Honorory Consultant in Dental Public Health, School of Dentistry, University of Dundee and NHS Tayside

13:10 – 13:25

 

Patient and public perception of using artificial intelligence to guide diagnosis of acute cardiac conditions

Amy Ferry, Senior Research Nurse, Centre of Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh

Session Close

13:30 - 14:15 Lunch, Networking and Attended Poster Sessions

An opportunity for delegates to network, review posters and engage with exhibitors. 

14:15 - 15:55 To the Next 50

Chaired by Christine McLaughlin, Co-Director of Population Health, Scottish Government and Jane Grant, Chief Executive, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, this session will explore how we work collaboratively to unlock and accelerate the full potential of Scotland, tackle major healthcare challenges, and identify the best treatments, technologies, and techniques for the benefit of our patients, our NHS, our economy and global profile.

  • 14:20 - 14:40 - Changing the paradigm for health care systems - Professor Sir John Bell Regius Professor of Medicine University of Oxford member

14:40 - 15:55 - The end-to-end pathway for RDI across health and social care in Scotland: Building on a 50-year legacy of support, this session will explore unified efforts across Scotland to develop a highly collaborative, whole system approach to RDI, helping to deliver transformative changes in areas of national priority.   

  • 14:45 - 14:55 - CSO Regional Innovation Hubs - Professor David Lowe, Clinical Director Health Innovation, Chief Scientist Office 
  • 14:55 - 15:05 - Reducing Drug Deaths Innovation Challenge - Carrie Thomson, Programme Lead Innovation Collaboration, Chief Scientist Office 
  • 15:05 - 15:20 - Accelerated National Innovation Adoption Pathway (ANIA) - Dr John Thomson, Associate Clinical Director, Centre for Sustainable Delivery; and Jason White, Head of Innovation at the NHS Centre for Sustainable Delivery
  • 15:20 - 15:35 - Innovation Design Authority (IDA) - Tom Steele, Chair of Scottish Ambulance Service; and Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist (Health), Scottish Government and Regius Chair of Medicine, University of Glasgow
  • 15:35 - 15:55 - Discussion

15:55 - 16:40 Scotland's Triple Helix Approach

Chaired by Professor Jason Leitch, National Clinical Director of the Scottish Government, this engaging panel discussion will reflect on the need for Government, academia, industry, the NHS, and the public to be aligned and working collaboratively to collectively tackle healthcare challenges, offer unique expertise and attract investment into Scotland.

Panel members: 

  • Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, Permanent Secretary (National Research & Development); Chairman, Agency for Science, Technology and Research; Chairman, MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation
  • Dr Victor Dzau, President of US National Academy of Medicine (NAM), Vice Chair of the National Research Council, Chancellor Emeritus of Duke University
  • Professor Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine University of Oxford
  • Jane Grant, Chief Executive, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
  • Mark Logan, Chief Entrepreneur, Scottish Government
  • Mark Cook, Chair of Life Sciences Industry Leadership Group

16:40 - 16:50 Closing Reflections

Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist (Health), Scottish Government and Regius Chair of Medicine, University of Glasgow

16:50 - 18:00 Networking, Refreshments and Award of oral and poster abstract prizes

Abstract awards and an opportunity for delegates to network and reflect on learnings from the conference.