The Team

Dr Carl Edwards – Director

Carl joined the Hub as Director in 2005 from his previous role as Innovation Executive with Imperial Innovations, with special responsibility for the Institute of Biomedical Engineering. Prior to that he worked at Cranfield University leading technology transfer activities out of the Royal Military College of Science. Carl has a background of research, completing PhD (Leicester) and Post-doctoral studies (Nottingham) in the field of blood coagulation, post-surgical thrombosis and non-biological ‘blood substitutes’. He gained commercial experience through working as a consultant with a large number of biotech, technology and pharma companies including GW Pharmaceuticals, Alizyme and Biofocus. Carl is also the current Chair of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland NHS Research Ethics Committee 1. » contact Carl

Simon Calvert – Assistant Director

Simon joined the Innovation Hub in 2007; in his previous role as General Manager for Research and Development at Nuffield Hospitals, he had responsibility for gathering intelligence on emerging technologies and identifying business opportunities, and influencing the management board on their innovation participation strategy. Simon has a proven track record of innovation within both product and service provision; his expertise is broad, covering retailing and manufacturing within blue chip organisations such as Boots the Chemist and Tesco. During his time at Boots, Simon focused on the needs of healthcare needs of customers with a Chronic Heart Disease (CHD) concordance programme for pharmacies. Simon manages individual projects involving commercial partnering, contract negotiation and forming start-up companies as well as supporting and advising the other members the team. He is a qualified Prince2 Practitioner. » contact Simon

Dr Lisa Banks - Innovation Manager

Lisa Banks joined the innovation hub in 2007 following 5 years at a Nottingham biotechnology spin out company. In her role as a Project and IP Manager she was responsible for identifying and protecting the intellectual property assets of the company, negotiating research contracts and licence agreements in addition to her management of scientific projects. Lisa is a qualified pharmacist (trained at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust) and has both NHS hospital and community practice experience. She holds a PhD in Tissue Engineering from the University of Nottingham and a BSc (First class Hons) in Pharmacy from the University of Manchester. Lisa is a Prince2 qualified practitioner with a broad range of experience in medical device technology and both the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. » contact Lisa

Beth DeGraft-Johnson – Communications & Innovations Executive

Beth, a former member of the Institute of Legal Executives, has a legal and administrative background. She has extensive paralegal and administration experience gained more latterly, at The University of Nottingham. She managed the University’s patent portfolio and provided a high throughput Intellectual Property support function. She also managed an administrative team, assigning resources in relation to all aspects of IP prosecution from due diligence, to technology transfer and the commercialisation stages. Beth was involved in the establishment of the hub. She was responsible for the day to day administration and the implementation of the initial operational systems. She is currently responsible for the development and implementation of the hub’s overall communications strategy. She is also the first point of contact for all general enquiries. She is currently studying for a CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing. » contact Beth

Philip Hartley – Intellectual Property Manager

Philip Hartley has worked for the East Midlands NHS Innovation Hub since July 2002 as Intellectual Property Project Manager with responsibility for commercialisation of NHS innovations. He also leads on training in knowledge transfer and IP. Philip Hartley has worked with new technologies in the computer industry for more than twenty five years including more than fifteen years spent working abroad in Norway and The Netherlands. His career has spanned both technical and commercial roles. He has started up and run his own companies, specialising in electronic document management and web based application services. He has broad experience in the practical aspects of protecting and commercialising innovations. Philip Hartley has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Warwick and a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow. » contact Philip