Category: Design and innovation

Celebrating Women at IGHI: Driving Meaningful Change in Global Health

On International Women’s Day, we shine a spotlight on the incredible women at the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) who are shaping the future of healthcare worldwide. From pioneering research to innovative policy work, these leaders are tackling some of the most pressing global health challenges —making a real difference in in the UK and beyond.

In this blog, we celebrate their achievements and highlight how their expertise and dedication continue to inspire change. Read on to learn about some of these fantastic women at the IGHI and discover key examples of their work.

Professor Bryony Dean Franklin – Visiting Professor at IGHI

Professor Bryony Dean Franklin is visiting Professor in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at the Centre for Prevention and Management at Imperial College.

New cohort of Digital health leaders share their enthusiasm to drive digital transformation in the NHS

Last week, over 100 students from the most recent Cohort of the Digital Health Leadership Programme (DHLP) came together for the first time to kick off their learning journey.

The two-day Forum in York gave students the opportunity to learn about expectations for the year, meet the academic team, and network with peers. Day 1 included talks and interactive sessions on individual strengths, while Day 2 focused on the collective, with participants engaging with their peer support groups. 

Commissioned by the NHS Digital Academy at NHS England, the DHLP empowers health and care leaders to drive digital transformation in the NHS.

Innovative children’s hospice opens in Italy with support from IGHI

“Arca sull’albero”, a new children’s hospice in Bologna, Italy, was inaugurated last week, marking a significant milestone in children’s palliative care. The hospice, funded by Fondazione Hospice Maria Teresa Chiantore Seràgnoli, is a testament to innovative, user-centred design and care. Researchers and designers from the Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) and its Helix Centre played a pivotal role in its development, ensuring the incorporation of lessons from international best practices and of user-centred innovation.

Access to children’s palliative care is a human right. According to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, “children are entitled to quality health services, including prevention, promotion, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care services.’’

Julia Anderson Careers Event 2024: Inspiring sixth formers with career insights and opportunities to transform global health

In February we hosted the Julia Anderson Training Programme (JATP) Careers Event 2024 at Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), a fantastic evening for sixth form students to learn more about our Julia Anderson programme and the IGHI, and get inspired for their future careers. 

Sixth formers from different London state-funded schools travelled to The Invention Rooms, at Imperial College London’s White City Campus, to participate in the event. They got the chance to learn more about the opportunities at IGHI, hear some of our staff members’ career journeys, as well as interact with some of the fantastic workstreams we work on to improve people’s health.

Design Dash: Accelerating innovation in NHS screening programmes

On your marks, get set… Our MSc Healthcare and Design students take part in a Design Dash, a rapid design process to solve a real-world healthcare challenge. We spoke to two students, Aoife McGrath and Jasmine Banerjee, about the process.

A design dash is a rapid, collaborative method for conceiving tangible healthcare innovations. Our Helix Centre teaches and assesses the Design Dash module on the MSc Healthcare and Design course that is aimed at healthcare professionals and designers and co-run by Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. The students work with Helix Centre’s researchers, designers and public engagement experts on a live rapid design project to prototype a solution to an identified challenge.

Keeping OnTrack with stroke rehabilitation

The Helix Centre, part of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, is helping stroke patients to manage their recovery and increase their independence, with a wearable tool that provides support for the rehabilitation of their arm and hand.

OnTrack Rehab is a platform that combines tracking of arm movements through a smart watch with personalised virtual coaching and dedicated clinical support. The system allows stroke patients to convert every-day activities into productive rehabilitation, and stroke therapists to monitor and help guide the patients’ progress. The development of the platform has been led by a multidisciplinary team at Helix including Gianpaolo Fusari (Project Lead) and Clare McCrudden (Engagement Lead).

Turning up: increasing cervical cancer screening uptake

How do you remember your health appointments? Do you set a reminder on your phone, or wait for a health care provider to send a text? When invited for cancer screening do you book right away, or ignore it or forget as it makes you anxious, or as you have too much else going on?

These are some of the questions Dr Gaby Judah, a psychologist working on behaviour change at the Patient Safety Translational Research Centre at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, considers in her research to encourage people to attend their NHS cancer screening appointments.

Give me space: how our co-designed face masks can help vulnerable people feel safer

Earlier in the pandemic, around 5% of Northwest Londoners were considered clinically extremely vulnerable and advised to ‘shield’. Although the shielding programme has ended, with the vaccination programme helping to lower people’s risk of becoming seriously ill, many are still avoiding social contact to continue to protect themselves, particularly as new variants continue to circulate.

Although all legal restrictions have ended in the UK, protective measures such as face mask wearing are still considered important to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and protect vulnerable groups. Charities have urged the population to continue to perform these behaviours to keep those at risk safe, while also allowing them to reconnect with society.

Using design thinking to solve healthcare challenges – studying our MSc in Healthcare and Design

Through our Master’s in Healthcare and Design, we aim to enable creative thinkers and change-makers to drive forward innovative, human-centred approaches to healthcare service delivery. If you want to lead innovation in healthcare systems, services and spaces, this is the course for you. To find out what it’s like to study with us, we caught up with Jeremy Chui, one of our alumni, who was awarded a distinction for this programme. Read on to explore some of the design projects that he worked on during his studies.

Combining medicine and design