UCL GBSH Healthcare Dragons' Den Final - Live Pitching Event

The GBSH is hosting our inaugural Dragon's Den Competition. The competition is open to all postgraduate students from across the UK higher education sphere with innovative and novel business ideas to improve healthcare.

These ideas can be in any domain of the health eco-system, digital health, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, healthcare management, hospital management, patient safety, bioscience, public health and much more. Students can be from GBSH, from the wider UCL or from any university in the UK. As long as they are a postgraduate student with an idea for the business health space - we want to hear from them!

The Dragons will be from the investment world along with serial entrepreneurs in the health space and they will be keen to hear the students' ideas!

The application process has four rounds and in the final round, all 10 finalists will pitch live. All 10 finalists will receive £250 to help start their businesses and the pitch that impresses the Dragons the most, will win £500 and a year of free mentoring from experts.

Come and join us at this event, hear the pitches from all 10 finalists and see who will walk away with first prize!

Please note, this event is for those who would like to attend the final as an audience member.

The deadline for submissions to be a contestant for the Dragons' Den event have now closed.

Our Dragons' profiles are as follows:

Toby Goldblatt 

Toby is the Co-Founder of Health Tech scale-up Pivot Digital Health. His 25-year career has included periods as EVP/SVP in Tech corporates (Accenture/Avanade; Atos; CACI) and as a founder of startups and advocate and ally for rare talent from across the world, both through his own initiative and via supporting progressive organisations (Teens in AI; Microsoft Education; Junior Achievement; Princes Trust).

In recent years, he has led and worked on some ground breaking Health Tech programs (WHO / Covid; Norwegian Health Data Platform; Digitisation of NHS Trusts; AI for Genomics England & NHS Blood & Transplant; Covid Virtual Agents for Governments of Catalunya and India; Digital Therapeutics). He has also extensive experience supporting leading Biopharma (Novartis; Roche; Sanofi; GSK etc) to enhance their capabilities. Today, his organisation Pivot Digital Health helps Biopharma reach global audiences via advanced tech and communications, operating in a radically different virtual first way; and giving rare young talent from across the world the opportunity to impact major healthcare organisations early in their careers.

Rachel Murphy 

Rachel is a GBSH Health Executive in Residence. She is a public speaker, health tech advisor, investor and currently writing a book about the concept to sale of a digital business (Difrent). Since leaving the NHS, Rachel has brought her passion for good services for all, bringing user needs, service design, and actual delivery together for clients. In just 1,000 days, Rachel built and sold Difrent, which is an award winning delivery business providing services into Government and Health services. Since leaving Difrent, Rachel has taken 4 months off to finish writing the book, she continues as NED of Careology and has recently returned from helping on the front line in Ukraine having raised 20k to support refugees

Geoff Ross 

The Chairman of three companies which develop AI (artificial intelligence) based IT platforms and APPs which are deployed across the Asia Pacific and Australia for use in the financial services and traditional healthcare market sectors.

Ross completed his Master of Science (Majors in Physics and Electronic Engineering) and his Bachelor of Education from Melbourne University. He was a Senior Lecturer in the Electrical Engineering Department at Swinburne University before leaving his academic career for business to become a leading edge hi tech Australian entrepreneur with two successful IPOs on the ASX and founder of significant technology based joint venture businesses in Hong Kong with HSBC and PCCW and in China with local partners.

He is currently Executive Chairman of an AI digital health start-up, Cordouan Health Limited, which has developed game changing IP to assist in the early detec=on of mental health issues and is working in partnership with UCL by sponsoring a leading-edge R&D project.

Tiba Rao

Tiba Rao is Director of Innovation at Soar Beyond Ltd. She has a passion for change management to support the NHS and Pharmaceutical industry at individual and organisational level. She has been a Change Management Consultant for Accenture where she successfully project-managed the first national programme for IT implementation into the ambulance service. Tiba spend seven years with Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals and has a cross-section of customer-facing experience in sales, NHS liaison, project management and training.

One of the first-ever secondments from a pharmaceutical company to the NHS and therefore understands the need to work in an innovative and B2B relationship with the NHS and industry. She like to create innovative digital solutions and services that do not exist to meet healthcare system and workforce needs and has a track record of commercialisation of collaborative market opportunities – selling to both Pharma and the NHS.

Chair - Hassan Chaudhury  

He has one exit (Health iQ to CorEvitas LLC in 2019), is a founder at Vita and at Trade Aide, a NED at Opto Health, and an advisor at 8 firms including Newton’s Tree, Cognitant, Peerr, ORCHA and Inovia.Bio.

He is a Visiting Lecturer (and module lead for startups) on the MSc Digital Health and Entrepreneurship at UCL Global Business School for Health, and on the Editorial Board of The International Journal of Digital Health.

He is also currently a Vice-Chair of the HIMSS UK community, a mentor at 4 accelerators, a Commercial Consultant to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, and Commercial Director at the Health Data Research UK Hub for Cancer; DATA-CAN.