Health and Life Sciences Working Group

The Chamber is proud to host the Thames Valley’s only region-wide, curated, life sciences working group.

The industry-led group serves as a vital platform for collaboration, convening global corporates, innovative SMEs, academic institutions and educational establishments (including those linked to the Berkshire and Oxfordshire LSIP’s), NHS trusts, government stakeholders, professional bodies and pre-eminent thought leaders. 

Driving the debate, group members consider national policy issues and challenges, shaping the sector response and Parliamentary engagement and informing the Chambers’ policy work.  It helps identify the commercial drivers and opportunities that ensure that life sciences, one of the UK’s key growth sectors, is positioned at the very heart of the government’s ambitions, and recognising the Thames Valley as part of their solution, delivering, growth to the economy and positioning the UK as a science and technology super-power.

Speakers

Lord Lionel Tarassenko, President of Reuben College and Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Oxford.

Professor Lord (Lionel) Tarassenko CBE FREng FMedSci is President of Reuben College, University of Oxford, and an internationally recognised leader in the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to healthcare. His pioneering research has transformed patient monitoring, enabling earlier detection of clinical deterioration and improving outcomes in both acute and chronic care. Notably, he led the development of the first machine learning–based system for patient monitoring to receive FDA approval.

A graduate of the University of Oxford, where he also completed his DPhil, Lord Tarassenko has been at the forefront of biomedical engineering for over three decades. He founded the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and led it to receive a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its outstanding impact.

Author of over 300 publications and an inventor on numerous patents, he was appointed CBE in 2012 and elevated to the House of Lords in 2024.

Ingrid Stracker, Point-of-care Ultrasound Clinical Specialist Lead, Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

Ingrid is the UK’s first Clinical Specialist Lead in Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, a practising sonographer, and an Associate Professor at the University of West London teaching ultrasound, clinical reasoning, and AI.

She previously led operations and multidisciplinary training at Complete POCUS Training and has contributed extensively to ultrasound education through national lectures, publications, and the development of a large clinical image library as an Educator Ambassador through the Thames Valley Imaging Academy.

With a background of over a decade in biotechnology and genetics research, Ingrid brings a strong evidence-based approach to clinical practice. She has completed executive education at London Business School in digital transformation and AI strategy, with a focus on real-time AI decision support at the point of care. Representing the NHS and UK Government internationally, she advocates for scalable POCUS to improve patient care and has received national media recognition for the innovation and impact of her work.

Agenda

To be confirmed

Find Out More

This is an invitation only meeting. We welcome expressions of interest from organisations with direct knowledge, expertise and experience in life sciences and an operational link to the Thames Valley.