AI Healthcare: AI in Drug Discovery and Clinical Trials

As an MRC/GSK Clinician Scientist at the University of Liverpool and Consultant General & Major Trauma Surgeon at NHS University Hospitals Liverpool, Rishi focuses on advancing cutting-edge translational research in acute inflammatory diseases alongside performing acute biliary and visceral major trauma surgery at the region’s premier major trauma centre.

As part of his research he integrates the latest molecular and digital technologies including, multi-omics, AI and precision medicine to address unmet need in acute care, contributing to breakthroughs in patient management and drug discovery. With varied experience as a surgeon and scientist in a range of world-leading institutions across America, Europe and Asia, he collaborates with multidisciplinary teams across academia and industry to bridge clinical practice with research and innovation. His calibre in scientific research is evidenced by multiple high impact original publications and landmark awards, including national and international young investigator awards, twice awarded the Lord Smith Medal of the Pancreatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, and more recently, the Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

His commitment to global health is evident through roles such as Visiting Associate Professor at Sichuan University, China, and as a SPARC scheme reviewer for the Government of India. Driven by a mission to improve outcomes in acute care surgery, he is research lead for Emergency General Surgery at University Hospitals Liverpool alongside Research Committee member of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain & Ireland.

Ultimately, Rishi’s resilence and desire to deliver step changes in patient care is evidenced by him becoming the first acute care surgeon within the UK to be awarded a prestigious MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship to support him in continuing to innovate new tests and treatments at the intersection of acute inflammation and critical illness.

Nadia Somani is a BMJ-published first author and an AI-driven Global Health Product Manager and UX Researcher with more than a decade of experience across hospitals, nonprofits, and cross-border programmes. She blends product strategy, mixed-methods research, programme evaluation, and responsible AI, using systems thinking to navigate policy, organisational, and user-level interdependencies. End-to-end from discovery to launch, she turns qualitative insight and behavioural data into clear problem definitions, value hypotheses, roadmaps, KPI frameworks, and iteration plans. She scopes high-value AI use cases, conducts proportionate risk and ethics reviews, and builds adoption playbooks that help teams land change and measure impact.

Her UX research practice covers focus groups, one-to-one interviews, contextual inquiry, diary studies, usability testing, surveys, card sorts, and A/B experiments. She synthesises findings across methods to validate assumptions, reduce risk, and set evidence-led priorities. Grounded in evaluation, she creates theories of change and learning loops that link product metrics to real-world health outcomes.

Her work spans public health platforms, edtech partnerships, and global digital services, with a particular focus on accessibility, knowledge translation, and practical outcomes in low-resource settings.

She has experience in women’s and children’s nutrition, menopause and ageing, data and ML-enabled air-quality platforms, and ethics for research in conflict-affected populations.

She is open to roles in AI health product management, product strategy, and UX-led health platforms. Based in London and available for hybrid or remote work.

Natassa Spiridou is a clinical and biomedical informatics lead and programme manager with extensive experience guiding expert teams across NHS Trusts, Biomedical Research Centres, and the life sciences industry. Her expertise spans biomedical informatics, research platforms, genomics, open standards, and federated systems, alongside deep knowledge of information and research governance. She has a strong interest in advancing precision medicine to improve how patients are diagnosed and treated.

She currently serves as Research Informatics Lead and Implementation Manager in Genomics at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, and is also affiliated with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory – European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) in the UK.