The inaugural Oxford Health Innovation Forum

Dr Christiaan de Koning, Associate Fellow and Chair of the Founders & Funders Foundation reports on the launch of a new initiative in May 2025

The inaugural Oxford Health Innovation Forum marked the launch of an ambitious new effort to connect Oxford’s medical, scientific, entrepreneurial, and policy communities. Held at Green Templeton College, the event brought together students, alumni, researchers, clinicians, start-up founders, investors, and industry professionals: a new platform to spark collaboration and turn innovation into real-world healthcare impact.

Green Templeton’s roots in both medicine and management made it a fitting home for this new Forum. The College was born from the merger of Green College – founded to advance clinical medicine and public health – and Templeton College, Oxford’s centre for leadership and management studies. Together, they created a unique environment where medicine and business intersect. As Sir Michael Dixon, Principal of the college, stated in his opening remarks: ‘There ought to be some extraordinary things that we could make happen if you could bring those two communities together in the right way.’

Professor Chas Bountra, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation at Oxford, echoed this. He pointed to Oxford’s track record in global health innovation – from the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to the DISCOVERY trial showing that dexamethasone reduced mortality from COVID-19, to the recent development of the malaria vaccine. These breakthroughs, he said, show what is possible when research, entrepreneurship, and courage come together.

Voices at the Forefront of Health Innovation

The Forum featured an experienced panel of speakers:

• Dr Emma Stanton, CEO of Pathogena at the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT)
• Dr Oliver Harrison, Founder & CEO of Koa Health and Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence at Oxford
• Professor Angela J. Russell, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Oxford
• With a Flash Talk from Professor Thomas Hellmann, DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship, on EnSpire Oxford; promoting the University’s flagship entrepreneurship education programme.

From Tragedy to Transformation – Oliver Harrison

For Oliver Harrison, innovation was born out of grief: ‘Two friends of mine committed suicide while on NHS waiting lists for depression treatment,’ he recalled. ‘I could be the person who complains at dinner parties – or I could do something.’

That choice led him from psychiatry to public health leadership in the UAE, where he built national data systems that helped improve life expectancy. Now at the helm of Koa Health, he and his team use AI to predict mental health hospitalisations and deliver real-time, preventative care to over 5.5 million people each month.

Global Health, Local Innovation – Emma Stanton

Dr Emma Stanton brought insight from her work at EIT – a phenomenal legacy project by Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle: ‘We’re not just a research institute or a philanthropic foundation,’ she explained. ‘We build businesses around global problems.’

Their flagship project, Pathogena, seeks to build the world’s most advanced genomic surveillance system for tracking and preventing pandemics. With a £100 million commitment to co-develop research with the University of Oxford, EIT’s goal is not just to innovate, but to industrialise innovation.

From Molecules to Markets – Angela Russell

Angie shared a story familiar to many in academia: a breakthrough discovery with few to take it forward at scale. ‘I never thought I would be an entrepreneur’ she admitted. ‘But when no one else stepped up, I realised I had to be the one to move it forward.’

One of her early inventions – a molecule that changes colour in the presence of tumour cells – eventually led to multiple company spinouts from the University and two compounds now in clinical development. Having co-founded seventeen ventures (‘some more successful than others’), she has become a leading voice on how academic science can translate into real-world health solutions, at scale.

 Key Themes and Takeaways

Throughout the panel six core themes emerged:

1. Collaboration across disciplines is critical – The most transformative healthcare ideas come from intersections – where medicine meets tech, academia meets business, and local knowledge meets global thinking. ‘Creativity meets mentality,’ as one speaker put it.
2. Balance scientific ambition with commercial reality – The panel cited models like Google X: aiming for breakthroughs that are both technically and commercially validated. ‘You want to reach the star in the top right quadrant,’ said Harrison.
3. Equity must be part of the design – Emma Stanton reminded the audience that billions still lack access to even basic healthcare infrastructure.
   ‘Innovation must serve everyone not just the wealthy few.’
4. Trust is everything in data-driven health – As AI and data take centre stage, transparency and ethics must be at the core. Harrison compared the journey to fintech – where breakthroughs came fast but trust came slow. ‘Healthcare can’t afford that kind of delay.’
5. We need new career narratives – The panel urged students and researchers to break out of linear career thinking. The most impactful professionals, they argued, often have multi-chapter careers that span medicine, policy, business, and science. Over 90% of UK PhDs in life sciences, engineering, and medicine now build their careers outside academia; and impact occurs across multiple sectors.
6. Culture is a lever for change – Real innovation requires a culture that supports risk, tolerates failure, and prizes purpose over prestige. ‘Mentorship, mindset, and mission,’ said Russell, ‘are what carry you when the work gets hard.’ 

A call to action

The speakers were hopeful – but clear-eyed. Systemic challenges remain:

• Policy and regulation often lag behind science
• Early-stage translational research remains underfunded
• Silos persist across disciplines
• And first-time academic entrepreneurs often lack support

But there are bright spots too: Oxford’s innovation ecosystem is growing stronger, AI is unlocking new tools, and purpose-driven science ventures are gaining momentum.

As the Forum drew to a close, one message echoed across the room: Be bold. Build diverse teams. Focus on real needs. Don’t wait for permission. Make failure part of the process.

As Sir Michael Dixon put it, the goal is simple – to turn the Forum into a ‘catalyst for future opportunities’ across health, science, and entrepreneurship. Or, in the words of Oliver Harrison: ‘A trillion-dollar company will come out of Oxford. And it will be in health.’