Katharine Barrington

Administrator

Katharine has a Master’s degree from the Royal College of Art and an Honours degree from Glasgow School of Art. She works part time at SHIL providing administrative support for the team, CEO and Board. Katharine also helps out with events and conferences, organise staff away days, staff training and promote activities that help us keep the SHIL offices a great place to work.

Alongside SHIL, Katharine works as an art department assistant in Film and Television, Arts Practitioner and Artist. Connecting all of these thing is a desire to be creative, positive and innovative her approach to life and work.

David Brand

Business Development Manager

David started his career in the British Army and travelled around the globe on numerous operations, before graduating from Abertay University with a Degree in Management. Following University he worked as a Fitness Instructor/Health Manager to Shell before joining Astra Zeneca in the field of pharmaceuticals. He then moved into oil and gas in 2007 and his career took him too many international operational hubs including Ghana, Nigeria, Venezuela, Brazil, Singapore and Libya. He held several senior management positions within the industry including Director of Business Development for both Falck Safety Services and International SOS. Prior to joining SHIL, David held the position of Regional Business Manager for Houston based DISA Global Solutions for 3 years.

Susan Burgess

Finance Controller

Susan Burgess has 2:1 BAcc Hons Accounting degree from the University of the West of Scotland and is a part qualified ACCA accountant with several years’ experience working in finance.  Susan joined SHIL on a part time basis as Finance Assistant in June 2015 and has recently been promoted the post of Financial Controller managing all aspects of the accounts and HR.

Simon Cree

Communications Officer

Simon holds a 2:1 BSc (Hons) degree in English Literature from the University of Strathclyde. His background is in publishing where he worked for an independent press based in Glasgow before joining the Scottish Government on a contracted basis, as part of the team tasked with developing the new gov.scot corporate website. Simon joined Scottish Health Innovations as Communications Officer in October 2016.

Fiona Fleming

Communications Manager

Fiona Fleming has a BA Marketing and Business Law from Strathclyde Business School, is Chartered Public Relations Practitioners (CIPR), and member of CIM. Fiona has over 12 years’ experience spanning public relations, events, marketing and communications working across a variety of sectors. Following four years as Events & PR Manager at Glasgow’s largest college including work on the merger and rebrand of City of Glasgow College, Fiona joined NHS Health Scotland in 2011 as Events & Sponsorship Manager, and latterly Communications Manager managing a team responsible for events, social media, public affairs, sponsorship and corporate communications. Following a secondment to the Scottish Government media team working across the health portfolio, Fiona joined NHS Research Scotland in 2015 as Communications Manager and now manages communications across the NRS and SHIL portfolio.

Gillian Henderson

Head of Project Management

Gillian graduate in Applied Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde and has over 15 years’ experience in Medical Device development, sales and marketing. She has worked with SHIL for 5 years, and prior to this was involved in a number of Scottish SMEs and medical device start-ups.

Sheena MacCormick

Business Development Manager

Sheena has a degree in Economics and French and a post graduate diploma in marketing and European languages.  Sheena’s background is in market research and prior to joining SHIL she worked for a number of market research agencies, which involved working with a range of different clients on both qualitative and quantitative projects. Latterly, Sheena worked on the English National Patient Survey programme, managing surveys across health care Trusts in England.  This work provided patient feedback for both the Care Quality Commission and individual Trusts and was aimed at promoting patient centred care.

Marianne Murphy

Project Manager

Graduate of The University of Strathclyde armed with a Honours degree in Immunology and Pharmacology. After taking a gap year to travel I joined SHIL in 2014 as a Graduate Project Manager. Two and a half years later having completed my project management training, I am enjoying the challenge of working a number of diverse projects and seeing how these innovations could make a real difference to patient care.

Chris Neilson

Project Manager

Chris Neilson is a graduate in Product Design, Medical Devices and has four years’ experience in Biomedical engineering. His enthusiasm for innovative design and passion for well-engineered solutions has led him to being a part of the Scottish Health Innovations team, the best starting point for great ideas and the quickest and most direct route to the target market, the patient. As part of the SHIL team, Chris is seeking to make a difference through the work he carries out.

Robert Rea

Head of Business Development

Robert holds a BSc (Hons) Developmental Biology, University of Edinburgh, (1998). He completed a Ph.D in Biology from the University of York in 2002, specifically in genetics of plant cell division, and completed post-doctoral research fellowships at Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne, Australia in dendritic cell immunology, 2003-2004. After that, Robert worked at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia developing novel stem cell-based therapies for kidney disease between 2004-2006.

Robert became Automation Manager for Swedish biotech company Cellartis in 2007, and became Intellectual Property Manager for French biotech company Cellectis in 2010. He held the position of Business Development Executive at the University of St Andrews from 2013-2014, before joining SHIL as Business Development Manager in 2014.

Graham Watson

Executive Chairman

Graham Watson LLB CA FRSA is an experienced non-executive director with a strong commercial track record.

He has a rich mix of recent non-executive and advisory responsibilities in Scotland, covering The Law Society of Scotland (where he is a member of Council), the Court of Heriot-Watt University (where he also chairs the Finance Committee), Scottish Futures Trust and North Lanarkshire Leisure Limited (where he also chaired the Audit Committee).

He is a former partner in a Big 4 accounting firm, with extensive experience of working with SME clients delivering business development and strategic planning programmes and leading change initiatives. During his career, he has initiated and executed over 100 corporate transactions, valued at over £2bn. He has lived and worked in Silicon Valley, as well as in Scotland, during his 35-year business career.

Colin Morgan

Director and Vice-Chair

Formerly with the Johnson & Johnson Medical Device companies in the UK & Ireland for 36 years with responsibilities split equally between UK and International markets, Colin’s current appointments include; Director & Vice Chair Scottish Health Innovations Limited (SHIL) (2006 to date); Director & Trustee James IV Association of Surgeons (2009 to date), Trustee Director -The Laggan Forest Trust (2016 to date), Patron - Royal College of Surgeon of England (2004).

Previous appointments have included: Managing Director J&J Medical UK (1995-2012), Chair Scottish Enterprise Medical Technology Strategy Group (2012-2016), Industry Co-Chair of MMSTG (UK Dept of Health Medical Technology Strategy steering Group, 2010 - 2012), Chair of ABHI (Association of British Healthcare Industries – 2004-2007), Member NHS England Innovation Health & Wealth (IHW) board and Innovation Partnership Board (IPB) for NHS Scotland.

Colin has received Honorary Fellowships from the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Glasgow; the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh and the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain & Ireland and was appointed an OBE in 2008 for Services to the Medical Device Industry.

Jill Belch

Non-Executive Director

Professor Belch graduated as a Doctor from the University of Glasgow (MB ChB), becoming a Lecturer within the University Department of Medicine, where she completed her Research MD degree (1st class Honours, winner of Belahouston Gold Medal) in 1987. She was appointed Senior Lecturer with Honorary Consultant status at the University Department of Medicine in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, also in 1987, and became Professor of Vascular Medicine in 1995.

Jill was Director of the Tayside Clinical Trials Centre before becoming the Director of the Tayside Medical Science Centre (TASC) and the Tayside R&D Director until December 2015. She was also Co-Director of the Medical Research Institute in the University of Dundee, then Research Dean and co-Dean of the Medical School again until 2015. She is a founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science, and a Fellow and Council member of the Royal Society, Edinburgh.

Her research interests include vascular medicine especially peripheral arterial disease, vascular risk especially inflammatory aspects, and connective tissue disease with a focus on Systemic Sclerosis. In the course of her Research she has completed over 30 single center cardiovascular biomarkers trials, been Chairman or Member of Trial Steering Committee/CI/site PI of over 30 International multicenter clinical trials, received Peer reviewed grant funding amounting to circa £32M over 27 years, has circa 350 publications in peer reviewed Scientific Journals, given 100 plenary/invited lectures within the UK, and over 140 internationally, supervised 28 PhD, MD, MSc students, held 7 Editorships or Editorial Board memberships and is past member of 4 MRC Grant Committees.

Graeme Boyle

Non-Executive Director

Graeme is the Senior R&D Manager at the Tayside Medical Science Centre (TASC). He leads a team responsible for clinical research management and governance, on behalf of NHS Tayside and University of Dundee, across a range of therapeutic areas.                    

Prior to TASC he led the Executive team at Health Science Scotland (HSS) and was interim Director of the Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre. Graeme joined HSS from Nexxus, the Scottish life science network, where he was Director.  For the previous decade, he ran an international technology consultancy company, A Half MV Squared, and delivered a range of business growth projects, especially in West Coast USA.

He is a qualified biochemist with industrial experience; his expertise lies in technology marketing and corporate development, to which he brings a unique perspective, having held senior posts in multinational enterprises (Siemens, TÜV Süddeutschland) and in government (Scottish Enterprise, UK DTI).

Graeme is a co-founder of the European Diagnostics Cluster Alliance (EDCA), a Board member of the Council of the European Bio-Regions (CEBR), on the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Life Sciences, Chair of the Tayside Institute of Cardiovascular Research Charity and was on the Advisory Board of the Glasgow Science Centre Bodyworks group.

Julie Brittenden

Non-Executive Director

Professor Julie Brittenden graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of surgery degree in 1988 and obtained a Doctor of Medicine with honours in 1995. She has worked in Aberdeen and Edinburgh before moving to Glasgow in November 2015.  Julie is Director of Research & Development for NHS GGC, Director of the joint NHSGGG & Glasgow University Clinical Research Facilities Professor of Vascular Surgery ,College of Medical ,Veterinary and Life  Sciences University of Glasgow   and a Consultant Vascular Surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow.

Professor Brittenden’s research interests include the role of specific biomarkers (NT proBNP, SDMA, platelet function) as prognostic markers of cardiac risk in patients with peripheral arterial disease; evaluating and imaging of unstable carotid plaques; and venous disease. She has been involved in a number of multicentre trials and is the chief investigator of the National Institute for Health, Health Technology CLASS study: a multicentre trial comparing 3 treatment options for varicose veins.

Douglas Griffin

Non-Executive Director

Douglas Griffin was educated at the High School of Glasgow, then University of Glasgow, where graduated with MA Honours in Modern and Scottish History in 1978. Added Postgraduate Diploma in Accountancy in 1979 before joining PMM and Co.

He worked for Pilkington Optronics within the defence industry from 1984 until 1993, as Chief Accountant from 1988 until 1993. Trained with Peat Marwick Mitchell and Co, now KPMG, qualifying CA in 1982. Left to join Pilkington Optronics in 1984.

Douglas became Director of Finance and Operations Monklands and Bellshill Hospitals NHS Trust from 1993 until 1998, then Director of Finance NHS Greater Glasgow Primary Care Trust from 1998 until 2005. Latterly, he became Director of Finance NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde from 2005 until he retired in 2011.

Gordon Watt

Non-Executive Director

Gordon joined the Chief Scientist Office in 2014 after various posts in the Scottish Government, including Head of Youth Justice, Senior Policy Manager in the Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser and Head of Children’s Hearings Branch.  Gordon is now Research Manager (Government, Ethics and Funding) and was appointed to the board in 2015 in order to represent the interests of the Scottish Ministers.

Jill Young

Non-Executive Director

Jill was appointed as Chief Executive of the unique National Waiting Times Centre ‘flagship’ NHS National Board for Scotland in 2004. With a lifetime in the NHS, she has gathered a wealth of experience and skills in Quality and Innovation, Professional Nursing, General Management, Performance and Strategy. She thrives on challenge and has dedicated her career, no matter the role, to improving quality and safety through innovation and redesign of services, constantly looking for, and encouraging, new ways to ensure patients receive excellent care.