Rhubarb 2021

ST EDWARD’S

Teddies definitely encouraged the all-rounder

in me... I’m sure the interdisciplinary base from an early age helped.

courses. During my time,Teddies wasn’t particularly known for its strength in science but as both my parents were sciencey, there was a strong influence at home. I have to say

started a Meetup group which aimed to bring health technologists together, and had a strong diversity and inclusion undertone to it. Fast forward a few years and we have almost 15,000 members, spread across 20 global locations, run by over 100 volunteers.The community runs events, supports skills

Dr Kendall Williams was an amazing biology teacher. He would set us these very taxing big topics in biology to write exploratory essays on (in hindsight, it was quite early to be talking about action potentials) which definitely piqued my interest in biosciences. But now having done some very diverse degrees, and with my job requiring a very balanced mix of science, ethics, policy and technical knowledge, I’m sure the interdisciplinary base from an early age helped.

...we have almost 15,000 members, spread across 20 global locations, run by over 100 volunteers.

INTERVIEW

development, connects people, runs advocacy campaigns and generally does oodles of inclusive community building. We’ve accidentally become one of the most influential and biggest networks in this space which has been really wonderful to see happen organically. What skills do you consider most valuable? Being unashamedly enthusiastic and curious. Always listening. Having a sense of self-belief (or high-risk appetite depending on your perspective) to take leaps and chances you might otherwise not. A sense of humour doesn’t hurt either. What inspires you? I get very inspired by oddballs and eccentrics.The people and things that have been burnt in my memory are the unexpected and unusual people doing wonderful things, but in their own style. Some of the most creative and impactful ideas come from bringing new things together, following paths untrodden or simply attacking a problem with a very distinctive take and approach. Lots of people call this authenticity I believe…. Any advice for Teddies pupils at the start of their careers? I always slightly worry about survivorship bias with questions like this but I’d always recommend just asking (even if you don’t know what your question is!). It can be emailing to see if there are any shadowing or work experience opportunities, asking for a coffee to just learn more about career paths or asking if you can help on the side in any way that (x) organisation needs.The worst someone can say is no, but it’s through those personal networks and experiences, however big or small, that down the line amazing opportunities become available. I would also not stress too much about long-term thinking. I hopped around doing really quite different degrees and jobs, following what was interesting and exciting to me at the time. It’s only now, 10 years later, that I’ve brought it all together, in a job that builds on the varied work and passions I have, into some sort of cohesive narrative.

What have been the highlights of your career so far? In late 2019, early 2020 I worked in Jakarta with the WHO developing a Big Data strategy for the Indonesian Department of Health. Indonesia is an incredibly large and complex country from a healthcare provision and data infrastructure perspective. It was an amazing experience, peppered with relaxing weekends in Bali! How has Covid affected the work you do? I started a new research role looking at using machine learning to improve operational efficiencies in hospitals a few weeks before Covid really started affecting the UK. It turns out no one cares about optimising same-day emergency care in a pandemic. I then spent a lot of time moving between different data-related pandemic projects as there was no shortage of need for some health data to be gathered and analysed!

Tell us about One HealthTech. When I was starting to explore the world of tech/ data/AI I found it really difficult to tap into and find

professional networks for those looking at the intersection of health and tech.When I did find a few, they tended to be a little stale and there was no one like me there. So I

@ Maxi_Macki

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