London Region Meeting - March 2021

Register for the event here.

Chaired by Sue Alexander

Principal Biomedical Scientist & Pathology Services Manager, Trust Lead Scientist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Mike Hubank

Head of Clinical Genomics, Royal Marsden Hospital, London

Scientific Director, NHS England North Thames Genomic Laboratory Hub

Hon. Reader in Translational Genomics, Institute for Cancer Research

Mike has worked in Genomics for over 20 years, working at UCL, the University of Sussex and Yale University before returning to the UCL Institute of Child Health in 2000 to run UCL Genomics. In 2016 he moved into clinical diagnostics at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, to lead a translational laboratory focused on the development and clinical application of genomic assays for cancer diagnostics. More recently he took up a role at the NHS England North Thames Genomic Lab Hub, with overall responsibility for the scientific direction of the hub. 

Mike is a joint investigator on several research projects using multiomic profiling for optimising personalised diagnostics and treatments for childhood cancer patients. He has a strong focus on developing and applying genomic assays, and a particular interest in moving circulating biomarkers into standard of care testing. 

Victoria "Kip" Heath

Lead Quality and Risk Assurance Manager for Physiological Sciences & Deputy Trust Lead Healthcare Scientist at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Kip Heath has been a healthcare scientist in the NHS since she was 18 and desperately needed an alternative to going to university. A fact multiple people remind of every time she registers for a new degree (particularly as she started degree number five in 2021).

Never one to take the easy route in life, she specialised in both virology and immunology and has worked in hospitals across the UK. In 2015 Kip was deployed with the UK Government to Sierra Leone where she worked in an Ebola Treatment Centre as part of the outbreak response. 

Currently she works as deputy lead healthcare scientist at a London hospital where she supports a workforce of 770 scientists. As she has never learned to say no, Kip is also a lead IQA assessor for healthcare science apprenticeships nationally, a lecturer at a London university, a STEM Ambassador, Enterprise Advisor in both London and Oxfordshire and is passionate enough about science communication that she also has a side job in stand up comedy. Despite being so terrified of public speaking that the first time she nearly tripped backwards down a flight of stairs to land in a converted jail cell.