Panel members, Competition 20 Phase 2 - Autism and Learning Disabilities
Professor Wendy Tindale (Chair)
Director, NIHR Devices for Dignity MIC; Scientific & Innovation Director at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
NHS Clinical Professional & Director of Medical Physics & Clinical Engineering; expertise in Medical Imaging, Medical Devices and Clinical Translation and Adoption.
Dr Avi Mehra (Co- Chair)
Co-Founder & Managing Director at Doctorpreneurs Ltd
Works at the intersection of Clinical, Commercial and Technology Fields in Healthcare Industry Digital Health Healthcare Technology.
Mr Steve Adams
Commercial Programme Manager at Innovation Agency
I have a clinical and commercial background in health care. The last 30 years has allowed me to develop my NHS knowledge and networks.
Dr Jill Bradshaw
Professor of Communication in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at Tizard Centre, University of Kent
Speech and language therapist/applied researcher. Expertise in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including people with complex communication challenges/person-centred approaches.
Dr Ama Frimpong
Head of Product Development at 52 North Health
Multi-award winning cross-discipline engineer with expertise in medical technologies, leading innovative product development across industries. Expertise; product development, quality, PPI, medical device regulation.
Mr Swapnil Gadgil
CEO at Therapy Box Limited
Co-founder Voca Quest & Therapy Box, Co-I NIHR 200889: The Language Explorer, Technical & commercial lead for NIHR II-BP-0817-10014, Collaborator for SBRI funded VocaTempo & NIHR funded CcHAT.
Ms Helen Hoyland
Head of Commercial, Digital Innovation and Growth at Yorkshire and Humber AHSN
Helen leads a team who support SMEs and innovators and NHS organisations to support rapid testing, adoption and scale of innovations.
Dr Lorcan Kenny
National Research Lead – Autism at NHS England
Autism research funding, evidence informed health policy, cognitive neuropsychology of autism, ecological validity in cognitive assessment, interdisciplinary research partnerships.
Dr Lisa McCann
Senior Lecturer in Digital Health and Care at University of Strathclyde
Digital Health; Qualitative Methods; Mixed Methods; Children, young people, families; Cancer; Complex health care needs; evaluation; implementation; health services research.
Professor Sarah Parsons
Professor of Autism and Inclusion at University of Southampton
Sarah’s research is participatory and inclusive with an emphasis on knowledge co-construction between research and practice and the use of creative methods for enabling voice.
Dr Sarah Robinson
Director of Delivery at Eastern AHSN
Sarah trained as a clinical psychologist and has been employed by Eastern AHSN for four years. AHSNs act as the innovation arm for the NHS.
Professor Nicola Yuill
Professor of Developmental Psychology at University of Sussex
Autism in particular participatory and neurodivergence-affirmative approaches and autism with learning disability, Human-Computer Interaction, Children's Social Interaction, Child Development, Developmental Psychology.
Dr Laura Fenner
PPIE Representative
Miss Sarah Miller
PPIE Representative
Sarah is an autistic researcher in literary studies. Sarah has consulted on research for Asthma UK, the Wellcome Trust, and University of Oxford, among others.