We proudly announce that John Jeans has become the latest member of our exceptional Global Health Connector Ambassador team.
Brian O’Connor, Chair of Global Health Connector, shared his welcome:
“I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with John for many years. His international background and experience will strengthen us as we continue our expansion globally. A warm welcome.”
John Jeans is a distinguished leader in global life sciences, medtech and digital health, serving as a Non-Executive Director, Chair and mentor to innovative companies. He currently chairs 52 North Health and HistoIndex and has previously led organisations such as EM Imaging, the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, Imanova and the UK BioCentre. His board experience further includes senior roles at Renishaw, Alliance Medical and Prometic Life Sciences, Prometic Pharma SMT, Karoo CGT and Myconostica, reflecting a career deeply rooted in research, diagnostics and health innovation.
He brings extensive international experience through his work as Co-Chair of Singapore Government’s Diagnostics Hub and Digital Health Accelerator, and his past advisory roles within the country’s Manufacturing and Engineering and Health and Biomedical Sciences ecosystems. In the UK, Dr Jeans has held influential national positions, including Deputy Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council and Chair of the MRC Technology (LifeArc) Trustee Board. Appointed by the Prime Minister as the UK’s Life Science Champion for Medical Technology, he has contributed to advisory panels for the MRC, EPSRC, NIHR, HDR UK, NCUB, NPL, HDRUK and the Wellcome Trust, and played a foundational role in establishing the Francis Crick Institute.
Across a 35-year industry career, John held senior international leadership roles at Smith & Nephew, Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, and GE Healthcare, where he headed the commercial function of GE’s Life Sciences business. His expertise spans medical devices, pharmaceuticals, in-vivo and in-vitro diagnostics, shaping advancements across research, development, manufacturing and commercialisation. In addition to his professional work, he supports several charities, including the Africa Research Excellence Fund.
John is a Fellow of the Royal College of Art and Cardiff University, where he formerly served as Chair of Council and a Director of the University Employers Association. His significant contributions to healthcare and science have been recognised with the award of a CBE in 2012 and Singapore’s Public Service Medal in 2021.
John views healthcare inequalities and demand outstripping supply as the biggest issues that have persisted for decades and will likely remain in the years ahead. Opportunities to address them require as much political and economic action as innovation. He says:
‘’The massive benefits of data, both in terms of quantity and accessibility (through technology) has the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare. The caveat, however, is that adoption at scale of these transformations continues to be as challenging as any technology-based improvements have been historically.
When considering key lessons and strategies for driving innovation in global health, John highlights the importance of focusing on adoption rather than invention.
“I believe that we need new approaches to enabling the adoption of innovation as opposed to focusing on the innovation itself,” he explains.
“This is particularly true of digital innovation, where there are no ‘shiny new things’ to excite potential users. By definition, digital innovation requires practitioners, patients, payers, and regulators to change their behaviours, and this demands much greater connectivity and joint action than any other area of healthcare innovation.”
John is motivated to explore how the Global Health Connector can be a positive actor in addressing these global issues, and what contribution he can make toward that goal.
‘’It’s through agents such as this that the potential for grasping the opportunities to improve global health and social care can hopefully be achieved.’’
Watch John’s reflections on global health challenges and innovation, as well as his new role as a Global Health Connector Ambassador, below:
