A team with global, cross-sector, experience and expertise in Value-Based Health and Care (VBHC).
Professor Hamish Laing, Director of the VBHC Academy
After a high-profile career as an NHS reconstructive plastic and sarcoma surgeon, Hamish held a C-suite role as Executive Medical Director and Chief Information Officer of a large integrated Health Board in NHS Wales until 2018, when he was appointed to his current chair in Swansea University's School of Management. He has been awarded Senior Founding Fellowship of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management for his contribution to the UK NHS.
Hamish leads the Schools programme in Value-Based Healthcare and has a particular focus on its application by the life-science industries across global health systems and represents Wales at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) Think-Tank on Value-Based Healthcare. Hamish is a non-executive director of Life Science Hub Wales Ltd. and continues to provide leadership in citizen-facing digital health and care, as chair of the Digital Inclusion Alliance for Wales.
Dr Thomas Kelley, CEO of Sprink
Dr Thomas Kelley is the CEO of Sprink, a Strategic Partner to the Value-Based Health and Care (VBHC) Academy. Between 2018 and 2019 Dr Kelley was the Welsh Government’s National Clinical Advisor for VBHC, supporting the development of the national VBHC strategy. Between 2013 and 2018 he worked at the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM). He established their London office in 2014 and subsequently led ICHOM’s work in the EMEA region, before taking overall responsibility for ICHOM’s day-to-day operations and strategic partnerships in 2017. Prior to this, Dr Kelley practiced as an NHS physician at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH).
Dr Helen Yu, Associate Professor and Associate Director of the VBHC Academy
Dr Helen Yu is an Associate Professor and Associate Director of the VBHC Academy. Helen holds a degree in neuroscience and practiced as an intellectual property lawyer and registered patent agent in Canada for 8 years before pursuing an academic career. Her research focuses on how existing legal and policy frameworks such as intellectual property law, value-based procurement, and responsible research and innovation can be leveraged to support the sustainable development and implementation of new innovations, particularly in the biomedical and healthcare fields. She adopts an interdisciplinary approach to studying how technology, open innovation, public private partnerships, and the law can inform the development of innovation to achieve value-based outcomes in a manner that is responsive and reflective of the interests of all stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem.
Alan Willson, Senior Research Officer
Alan qualified as a pharmacist and worked as Chief Pharmacist and then general manager at Hammersmith Hospital before a mid-career move to Wales. Here, he completed a PhD studying primary care prescribing and held a range of posts before moving into healthcare improvement as lead of the 1000 Lives Campaign and Programme. At Swansea, he delivers extensive teaching on QI, measurement for QI and working in systems on the MSc in Advanced Health and Care Management (Value-Based) . The aim is to support students in incorporating QI into their strategies for achieving VBHC in their work practice. He also teaches quality in healthcare on the HealthCare Management MSc in the School of Health and Social Care.
He is passionate about supporting clinicians to take control of quality in their clinical work through executive education, communities of practice and individual tuition. He is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and was awarded an OBE in 2016 for services to safety and quality of healthcare in Wales.
Dr Roderick Thomas, Programme Director, MSc in Advanced Health and Care
Dr. Roderick Thomas has over 25 years-experience in Higher Education. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET and currently sits on a number of professional committees including Academic Accreditation. He is a Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Roderick is particularly interested in Operations, Asset and Value-Based Management in Health and Care. Roderick is currently the Programme Director for the MSc in Advanced Health & Care Management with the following pathways; Valued-Based and Innovation & Transformation. He is a member of the School of Management Research Group investigating Value-Based Health and Care (VBHC), iLab Research Centre and Value-Based Health and Care Academy Delivery Assurance Board.
He has supervised and examined a number of PhD students, is an International Expert Witness in Condition Monitoring and a STEM Ambassador.
Dr Simon B. Brooks, Programme Director of the Doctor of Business Administration
Dr Simon B. Brooks is an Associate Professor of Strategy at Swansea University School of Management. He is a member of the British Academy of Management Council and formerly chaired the Sustainable and Responsible Business group at the academy. He is also a founding member of the Circular Economy and Innovation Research Group in Wales. He chaired the Welsh Assembly ‘Business to Business Mentoring’ Task and Finish Group and was a founding member of the South Wales Police Ethics Committee. Simon has completed a variety of consultancy projects in both public and private sectors.
Simon’s research activities centre on corporate social responsibility, creating shared value, and strategic agility. Currently he is engaged in research applying strategic agility to Value-Based Health and Care in the UK. His teaching expertise is in the fields of strategy and corporate social responsibility, especially where these topics overlap. Building on extensive prior experience in the private sector and Higher Education, Simon has undertaken a variety of senior leadership roles since arriving in Swansea in July 2013. These include Head of Department for Marketing, International Business and Strategy, Associate Dean for Post-Graduate Research, Director of Post Graduate Research, Academic Lead on Admissions and chair of the school Enterprise and Innovation Committee.
Victoria Bates, Industry Affiliate of the School of Management
Victoria began her career in the NHS as a nurse, midwife and subsequently as an expert in Women’s Health. She has over 25 years of experience working within the Health Service and Pharmaceutical Industry in senior commercial and operational roles, developing and delivering strategic programs to empower citizens and Health professionals to better tackle health and well-being. Her focus has consistently been seeking robust understanding of environment and translation into strategy that delivers tangible benefits/outcomes. Victoria has led innovative teams responsible for delivering National programs – across multiple channels tailored to customer needs across many disease areas and disciplines. She possesses strong experience in cultural change management, in establishing new organisational models and in workforce engagement. Victoria recently undertook a research project to explore the skills and capabilities required by the Life Science sector to build more effective and sustainable collaborations with Health systems that result in greater value.
