IBMS Congress 2025

Ravi Chana

Executive Director, Diagnostics , ABHI

With a degree in Pharmacology and over 30 years of experience in the Life Sciences sector, Ravi has built a distinguished career specialising in Healthcare Diagnostics. His expertise spans Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Business Development, and Health Economics. Ravi has worked with both the UK Department of Health and the Department for International Trade, where he played a pivotal role in connecting HealthTech innovators with leading UK universities and the NHS.

Ravi has contributed to influential working groups at esteemed organisations like NICE, NIHR, BIVDA, and ABHI. As the Executive Director, Diagnostics at ABHI, Ravi is driving collaboration between government, the NHS, academia, and industry to highlight and champion the critical value of diagnostics in healthcare.

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Richard Devereaux-Phillips

Executive Director, Policy & Partnerships, Association of British HealthTech Industries (ABHI)

Richard has over 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries and has held number of advisory roles, including at NICE and has Chaired both the South West Academic Health Sciences Network and the Small Business Research Initiative (Healthcare).

Richard was a Non-Executive Director of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham for 7 years from 2017. He currently serves on the Management Board of Health Innovation West Midlands and continues to hold a number of positions on government policy and research initiatives. Richard was involved in the HealthTech industry's input into the 10YHP and the Government's industrial strategy.

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Lord James Bethell

Former Health Minister, Member of the House of Lords

No bio provided

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Chris Sleight

Chief Officer, Greater Manchester Diagnostic Network

Chris has over 35 years’ experience as an IBMS Fellow and working in the NHS starting in Pathology in 1988. Chris is renowned for progressing from a basic grade Biomedical Scientist to a Pathology Clinical Director within 5 years (along the M62 corridor from Hull to Harrogate to York, with a brief detour to Sherwood Forest NHS Foundation Trust) before moving to the North West into general management in 2008.

Since 2008 Chris has had several senior management roles in Operations and Strategy. He is currently Chief Officer and founder of the GM Diagnostics Networks. Chris also leads on the Digital Diagnostics programmes across Greater Manchester.

His primary areas of interest are:

· Using digital technology to improve patient outcomes.

· Creating sustainable workforce models for the future.

· Reducing Health Inequalities

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Alan Deacon

National Pathology Programme Lead, NHS Wales Executive

Alan Deacon is the National Pathology Programme Lead working as part of the NHS Wales Performance and Improvement. With a background as a Biomedical Scientist in Cellular Pathology, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science and has been a Chartered Scientist with The Science Council since 2004. He is currently a National Council Member of the Institute of Biomedical Science as well as a member of several industry National and European Pathology Advisory Boards. His career spans over 35 years, during which he has worked in both public and private healthcare sectors, always with a focus on improving Pathology services.

In recent years, Alan has held several senior leadership roles in the NHS, where he has been involved in service redesign and organisational collaboration as well as introduction of novel technologies and working practices. Since moving to Wales in 2022, his efforts have been centred on applying systemic leadership to effect positive change both within Pathology services and also the wider health system.

Through the National Programme, Alan has worked hard to promote better understanding of Pathology services and the critical role they play in patient pathways across the healthcare ecosystem. Alan lives with his family in North Wales and outside of work enjoys endurance (ultra) running, collecting vinyl records, appreciating Scottish malt whisky and getting to grips with learning to speak Italian, the latter of which represents a renaissance in language learning following a dark age stretching back to O levels and the mid 1980’s!

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Helen Gordon

President of Council, University of Reading

Helen is President of Council at University of Reading, a post held since August 2022.

Helen is also a self employed leadership coach and mentor, and offers bespoke advice to board and leaders. This is founded on more than a decade of coaching leaders at, and aspiring to executive/c-suite and board positions in a variety of sectors.

In January 2024 she was appointed a Non Executive Director of IDG Group.

She has served on University of Reading’s council from 2017, following nine years as a governor at Ravensbourne University. She is also a trustee of the charity Aesop: Arts Enterprise for Social Purpose.

In addition to her non executive roles, Helen held a variety of Chief Executive posts in professional bodies and the NHS. Most recently, she was Chief Executive of the Science Council. Originally training as a nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, she progressed through a number of clinical and managerial positions in hospitals in the NHS becoming Chief Executive at The Hillingdon Hospital for a year before moving on to lead Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust in South East London as their Chief Executive from 2000-2005. In 2005, she moved from the NHS to Chief Executive of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and from July 2010 to February 2017, she was Chief Executive of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. She then led moved to the Royal Society of Medicine in early 2017 before joining the Science Council in February 2019 and concluding her full time executive life there in August 2023.

She is also a keen scuba diver and saxophonist.

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Robert Simpson CSci, FIBMS, FRSM, MAIMS, FBCS, LFEDIP

Interim Network Director, ME-5 Pathology Network

Robert is the Institute’s clinical informatics lead and IT Specialist Advisor, he represents the IBMS on the NHSE Pathology Standards Governance Board and other professional informatics forums. He has worked as a biomedical scientist for many years, initially specialising in clinical chemistry. He has held leadership and management roles in several UK hospitals and is currently interim network director of the ME-5 Pathology Network in the East of England. He has a long-term interest in the use of IT and clinical informatics by pathology and for patient benefit.

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Simon Brewer

Managing Director, South West London Pathology

No bio provided

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