Meet The Team
Medilink Midlands
Advisory Board Members
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WMHTC is a hybrid organisation, and we recommend emailing us in the first instance. By clicking the following button.
WMHTC is a hybrid organisation, and we recommend emailing us in the first instance. By clicking the following button.
Melanie Davidson is Chief Executive Officer of Medilink Midlands, the unified voice of the life sciences and medtech sector across the Midlands and East of England. She leads the organisation’s mission to help companies innovate, scale, and succeed by strengthening regional collaboration and driving industry, academic, and clinical connectivity.
Melanie also serves as Executive Lead for the West Midlands Health Technologies Cluster (WMHTC), where she plays a central role in shaping a joined-up regional strategy to accelerate healthtech innovation and boost the Midlands’ visibility on the national and global stage.
Over her fifteen years with Medilink Midlands, Melanie has progressed from Innovation Project Manager to COO and now CEO. She has been instrumental in bringing together Medilink West Midlands and Medilink East Midlands into a single organisation, and in guiding significant funding programmes that enhance the region’s innovation ecosystem.
With a background spanning industrial research, business and economic development, and international investment – gained through roles at emda, bioKneX, and West Pharmaceutical Services, Melanie brings deep sector insight and strategic focus to her leadership. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science from the University of Nottingham.
Ben joined Medilink Midlands in 2022 as an Innovation Adviser after completing his PhD in Biomedical Research at the University of Warwick. Now serving as Interim Cluster Manager, continuing his role in supporting health tech innovation in the West Midlands through the WMHTC, and previous to that the WMHTIA programme and delivering Medilink Midlands Innovation Builder (MMIB). Ben plays a key role in assessing the technical, clinical, and scientific risks of diagnostic and medtech companies, helping innovators strengthen their clinical adoption, investment readiness and fundraising potential. As Academic Patron Lead, he champions initiatives that foster spin-outs, translational research, and student engagement across the region. A passionate advocate for sustainability, Ben also supports SMEs on their journey towards Net Zero. He is a driving force within the Innovation team – bringing fresh thinking, collaborative energy, and a deep commitment to impactful work that advances the region’s health and life sciences ecosystem.
Ewa is an experienced business leader and independent advisor with experience of building successful enterprises who is now providing consulting services to technology-focused enterprises ranging from startups to multinationals. Until recently a Managing Director of a health tech company, her expertise is in supporting international companies within digital and med-tech, building highly performing teams and operations, and creating networks of strategic support to help innovative companies succeed.
Ewa is an educator on tech and health, a speaker at national and international events, and a mentor, healthtech executive, and a former NED of publicly funded organisations (GBS LEP and WMHTC).
She is also a successful published academic and has authored peer-reviewed publications including in the highest ranking medical journals including BMJ and NEJM. A former bid reviewer for NIHR, an assessor forInnovate UK and an honorary lecturer in a medical school at a UK University.
With over 25 years of in the healthcare industry, Bob Roopra has carved out a successful career ranging from blue chip multinationals to start ups and scale ups. His specialist area of expertise is business planning, commercial strategy and execution, in his own words ‘Transforming Science to Revenue’, with a particular interest in successfully growing businesses with innovative, disruptive Medtech.
Bob started his career in the UK NHS as a Heamatology and Transfusion Biomedical Scientist. He then moved to Bayer Diagnostics, holding a variety of roles in Technical Support, Project Implementation, Sales and Marketing. It is here that he completed his MBA with a major business transformation project, before transitioning to Siemens as a Product Manager in Informatics where he earned himself a seat on the global informatics development team.
In 2010 Bob joined Abbott Point of Care as International Product Manager where he supported the marketing needs of both, Direct and Distribution channels in the international regions. Before a global role launching an innovative Heamatology product. His final role at Abbott Point of Care was Country Manager (GM) UK and Ireland.
In 2016 Bob set up Roopra Medical and has worked with a number or early stage, scale up and mature companies to support their commercial plans a role that he continues to today.
In 2020 Bob joined his client Sight Diagnostics as VP of sales International then Chief Commercial Officer and was responsible for growing the business globally.
Jane leads on health innovation strategy development and implementation at the University of Warwick and is also leading the University’s plans for the Arden Cross HealthTech Campus, which will sit within a large mixed-use development at the HS2 Interchange station site. She played a leading role in establishing Central England Health Partners, is engaged on a range of regional innovation initiatives and bodies, and co-convenes a national women’s leadership network in health and Innovation. Prior to her current role, Jane spent over 16 years in Warwick Manufacturing Group as Chief Operating Officer and a member of its Executive team. She studied Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University.
As the Director for Economic, Commercial and Business Development for Health Innovation West Midlands, Judith support innovators and health care systems to discover, develop and deploy innovations for the betterment of all. She sits on a number of regional and national Advisory Boards, building the ecosystems to support people with employability, skills and health. Across her 25+ year career, she has been instrumental in economic, employment and community development across the South West and the Midlands. With a wide ranging network of contacts and connections to support organisations, she enjoys tackling challenges with curiosity and creativity, always seeking better outcomes for the communities she serves.
As a lifelong engineer who loves science and technology, Karl has now tuned his hobby into a fully time passion by founding Aston Vision Sciences, which delivers elegantly designed medical devices that enable people and communities around the world to receive lifesaving eye care that is currently beyond their reach.
Karl has navigated the journey of raising investment, product development, regulatory compliance and international sales and he is keen to share his knowledge to help grow the MedTech community that will help bring wonderful solutions out of the lab and into real life impact.
Marco Morgado works with early-stage founders and investors, bringing a practical perspective on the current investor landscape and what it means for growing businesses. With 25 years’ experience across enterprise, mid-market and SME environments, he supports pre-seed and seed-stage companies with strategy, positioning, routes to market. His work with investors gives him a clear view of how opportunities are assessed before investment decisions are made. Marco combines commercial judgement, practical structure and a warm, founder-focused approach to helping teams shape credible, scalable and investable businesses in complex markets, including healthcare.
Dr Mohammed Yasin PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons), FIMMM is a polymer scientist and innovation leader with expertise in biomedical polymer technologies. With nearly 20 years at Aston University from undergraduate to postdoctoral research, he has built a career spanning academia, industry, and the public sector, leading R&D, manufacturing, innovation, and commercialisation. He has held senior industry positions, contributed to regional innovation at AWM, and supported EPSRC research impact and industry engagement at the University of Sheffield. In 2012, he founded Hydrogel Healthcare Limited to develop advanced hydrogels for electrodes, wearables, wound care and related applications. He has established hydrogel manufacturing facilities in China, the USA, Italy, and the Netherlands. He is named on seven patents and has authored 23 publications.
Nazneen Bagdadi is an Innovation Facilitator at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, working across the Trust and, project dependent, across NHS organisations to support the development and implementation of digital health solutions. She brings extensive experience across national, regional, and local levels, with a strong focus on digital transformation, enabling teams to deliver improved patient care and operational efficiency. Nazneen is passionate about inclusive innovation, ensuring technologies are accessible, equitable, and sustainable in practice. As an Advisory Board Member for the West Midlands Health Technology Cluster, she brings valuable frontline NHS insight to support the adoption, scaling, and real-world impact of health technologies.
Richard Howells OBE is CEO of applied research company Bronze Software Labs and Founder of The Tribe Project. A ‘tech for good’ entrepreneur, Richard has a proven track record in the implementation and scaling of AI-centric digital initiatives aimed at addressing national and global inequalities.
Richard is the driving force behind The Tribe Project, winner of the British Industrial Strategy Ageing Grand Challenge, an initiative which directly tackles national home care inequality. Tribe has been recognised by the WHO and UN as one of the top ten global innovations in healthy ageing, and Richard has been named British Tech Pioneer of the Year for his advancements in AI.
In June 2025, Richard was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by King Charles III for Services to Business, Technology & Innovation.
Richard holds a Doctorate in Computer Science (honoris causa) and is an NHS Innovation Fellow. He is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) researching the macroeconomics and socio-economic impact of community-based care models.
The Medilink Midlands Awards are now open, celebrating outstanding innovation across the region’s medtech and life sciences sector.
With 10 categories to enter, now’s the time to showcase your achievements.
Extended Deadline Date: 16th January
Start your application today.