Christopher Herbert

Chris is an experienced Operational Manager, Business Strategist and Business Development and Innovation professional with a focus on the translation and commercialisation of innovative healthtech research. He has worked in a variety of positions within the medical device and Advanced Therapy sectors with a focus on the development of translational R&D programmes led by clinicians, academics and SME’s.

As Director of Operations for Research and Innovation at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Chris oversees the strategic development and operational management of Research and Innovation across one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK. In this role, Chris is responsible for the strategic development and management of research at the Trust which at any one time supports >900 live clinical research projects and which hosts major national infrastructures including the NIHR Clinical Research Facility, NIHR Biomedical Research Facility and National Innovation Pathology Co-operative. The embedded Innovation team supports both innovators in the Trust and businesses who are looking to work with NHS organisations to develop and evaluate innovative healthtech products across a broad spectrum of clinical disciplines.  This growing portfolio of “innovation” projects includes the collaborative development of a wide range of medical devices, diagnostics and digital/AI tools aimed at improving the health of patients.

Chris has a strong belief in open innovation and collaboration to develop solutions to problems and in developing business and reimbursement strategies in parallel with strong scientific proof-of-concept data at an early stage to facilitate the development of investable propositions which link to real-life challenges within the NHS.  He supports the business and contracting elements of DATA-CAN on behalf of Leeds Teaching Hospitals which acts as host for DATA-CAN.