The West Midlands Health Tech Cluster (WMHTC) has announced the appointment of a new Advisory Board, bringing together senior leaders from across industry, academia, the NHS and the wider innovation ecosystem to help shape the future of health and life sciences in the region.
Chaired by Dr Ewa Truchanowicz, the Board represents a cross-sector group of experts spanning medical technologies, clinical research, digital health, advanced manufacturing and commercialisation. The appointments mark a significant step in the next phase of the Cluster’s development, as it strengthens its role in supporting innovation, investment and growth across the West Midlands.
The formation of the Board comes at a pivotal moment for the region. While the West Midlands has a strong and increasingly investable health and life sciences base, spanning over 1,000 companies and contributing £3.66bn in GVA, innovators and businesses continue to face challenges navigating a complex and fragmented ecosystem. This can limit the region’s ability to translate innovation into real-world adoption, scale and economic impact.
To address this, WMHTC has been working with partners across the ecosystem through a series of “North Star” workshops, bringing together voices from industry, academia and government to define a clear and shared direction for the Cluster.
This work has established a long-term ambition for the West Midlands to become a globally recognised leader in health and medtech, where clear and connected pathways enable innovators and businesses to start, scale and stay in the region.
At the heart of this is a renewed mission for WMHTC: to convene, coordinate and advocate across the ecosystem – connecting businesses with the partners, expertise and infrastructure they need to successfully develop, validate and scale health technologies.
The Advisory Board will play a critical role in shaping and guiding this vision, ensuring the Cluster remains industry-led, focused and aligned with real-world needs.
Four priority areas have been identified through the North Star process:
- Improving navigation and access to support for innovators and businesses
- Strengthening collaboration across industry, academia and the NHS
- Building a stronger regional voice and identity for health and medtech
- Supporting business growth, scaling and commercialisation
Together, these priorities aim to create a more connected, visible and effective ecosystem, one that not only supports innovation, but accelerates its path to adoption and impact.
The Board will support WMHTC’s role in aligning clinical trials infrastructure, translational capability and medtech innovation, helping to strengthen pathways from research through to validation, adoption and scale.
Chair of the WMHTC Advisory Board, Dr Ewa Truchanowicz, said:
“The West Midlands has all the foundations of a strong health technology ecosystem, from world-class research and clinical expertise to a growing base of innovative businesses. The opportunity now is to better connect these strengths, creating clearer, more accessible pathways for innovators and enabling stronger collaboration across the system. Through WMHTC, we can help strengthen the region’s position as a leading UK cluster with growing international relevance, ensuring that innovation is not only developed here, but successfully translated into real-world impact.”
Melanie Davidson, Executive Lead, added:
“This is about moving from capability to coordination. The West Midlands has significant strengths, but to compete globally we need a clearer, more compelling and more connected proposition. WMHTC has a vital role to play in bringing partners together, amplifying regional strengths and ensuring that innovation translates into real impact for patients, the NHS and the economy.”
Neil Rami, Chief Executive at West Midlands Growth Company, said:
“Bringing together senior regional representatives from high growth businesses, research, NHS and the public sector, the Advisory Board can now support the development of a clear vision for health and life sciences in the region. This will enable us to promote a differentiated proposition that attracts investment and removes barriers to growth.”
The establishment of the new Advisory Board reflects a shared commitment across the region to strengthen collaboration, improve coordination and position the West Midlands as a leading destination for health and life sciences innovation and investment.
Notes to Editors:
WMHTC Advisory Board Members include:
- Dr Ewa Truchanowicz (Chair) – Bidshaper
- Jane Coleman – University of Warwick
- Dr Eliot Marston – University of Birmingham
- Judith Stewart – Health Innovation West Midlands
- Nazneen Bagdadi – Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Bob Roopra – Roopra Medtech
- Richard Howells – Bronze Labs
- Dr Karl Obszanski – Aston Vision Sciences
- Michael Adeogun – The National Physical Laboratory (NPL)
- John Hattersley – University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (UHCW)
- Anton Illsley – Healthcare Outcomes Performance
- Professor Helen Maddock – Coventry University
- Marco Morgado – Vicente Advisory
- Kathryn Wagstaff – West Midlands Growth Company (observer)
- Dr Mohammed Yasin – Hydrogel Healthcare
- Melanie Davidson – Medilink Midlands
- Declan Hadley – Cisco
For any media queries, please contact:
Zoe Heather, Marketing Manager marketing@wmhtc.co.uk
www.medilinkmidlands.com/wmhtc-home
