UCL GBSH Leadership Roundtable series
A series of conversations exploring what it means to be human in the age of AI (Artificial Intelligence) convened by the UCL Global Business School for Health.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming healthcare delivery, from diagnostics and treatment pathways to leadership models and patient engagement.
As these technologies advance, leaders face fundamental questions: How do we ensure AI augments, rather than replaces, human judgement, compassion, and wellbeing?
Hosted by our Founding Director, Professor Nora Colton, and Jean Gomes, various distinct voices shaping the AI and healthcare agenda come together for our GBSH Leadership Series, which aims to explore the role humans play in an automated healthcare system.
These conversations bring together global experts, health leaders and frontline practitioners in exploring how to innovate and manage change amidst these complex realities.
Together, these perspectives ask: What does it mean to be human in an age of AI?
Conversation 1: AI and the Future of Healthcare Delivery
8 October 2025
This live panel discussion, moderated by our Founding Director, Nora Colton, and Honorary Professor of Practice, Jean Gomes, brought together five distinct voices shaping the AI and healthcare agenda: Dr Dimitrios Kalogeropoulos (Global Health and Digital Innovation Foundation), Dr Christin Henein (Moorfields Eye Hospital), Dr Katerina Spranger (Oxford Heartbeat) and Mike Sanders (VitalHub UK).
The conversation unpacked three core challenges shaping the future of healthcare delivery:
Trust: How can we build clinician confidence in AI without eroding professional judgement?
Training: What does meaningful upskilling look like in an era where every clinician needs digital and ethical fluency?
Leadership: As AI integrates deeper into health systems, how can leaders balance innovation with accountability and care?
From surgical innovation to global ethical trade-offs, our speakers offered powerful perspectives on what it means to be human in an age of AI, sharing insights on how human judgement, compassion and wellbeing can thrive, not disappear, in an AI augmented world.
Conversation 2: The Human in the Machine
22 October 2025
Artificial intelligence isn’t just a tech revolution, it’s a moral one. It challenges us to redefine the role, worth, and future of humans at work.
This session sparked powerful reflections on the human dimension of AI in healthcare. During the fireside chat, Professor Nora Colton and Jean Gomes drew on insights from leading thinkers in the field, with one theme standing out: ethical leadership is not optional, it’s urgent.
Neil Lawrence reminded us that what machines can measure, they can replace. Leaders must protect the immeasurable: empathy, moral judgement, and human connection.
Pritesh Mistry challenged us to rethink AI not as a task-replacer, but as a tool for empowerment that can support clinicians and patients to do more, not less.
Shannon Vallor warned of the risk of “mirror AI” - tools that reflect the biases of the past and threaten to deskill our workforce if not carefully designed and deployed.
Susie Alegre called for dignity to be at the heart of AI adoption. Technology must support, rather than replace, the human care that defines healthcare at its best.
As we move forward, healthcare leaders must ask:
Are we using AI to enhance humanity or to sideline it?
Conversation 3: The Human at Work: Creativity, Leadership and Purpose in the AI Economy
24 November 2025
How will humans need to adapt to new realities of a world where machines can think? What will be the new leadership agenda, and how will work evolve?
In the latest edition of the GBSH Leadership Series, Jean Gomes showcased interviews with three leading voices: Dr Susan Thomas (Director, Google Health UK), Nigel Toon (CEO & Co-Founder, Graphcore and Author of How AI Thinks) and Dr Charlotte Blease (Associate Professor at Uppsala University, Researcher at Harvard Medical School and Author of Dr Bot to explore the leadership challenges facing managers in an automating world.
Drawing upon their insights, he fostered a timely discussion on how AI is reshaping healthcare delivery while keeping human needs at the centre.
Their perspectives highlighted both the transformative potential of AI and the challenges that leaders must navigate as technology becomes more embedded in clinical practice.
Key insights from the conversation
1. AI is already improving the everyday work of clinicians
Tools that support documentation, summarise consultations and reduce cognitive load are freeing up more time for meaningful patient interaction.
2. Adoption is accelerating faster than guidance
Around a quarter of UK GPs have already used chatbots in practice. This reflects real appetite for support but also a need for clearer governance and literacy.
3. The biggest barriers are cultural, not technical
Long-established behaviours, professional identity and clinical tradition often slow down change more than the technology itself.
4. Patients are increasingly using AI before they seek care
This shift in behaviour may improve decision making and access, but it also raises important questions about equity and safety.
5. A nuanced approach is essential
AI brings opportunities to reduce errors and expand capacity, alongside ethical, social and professional considerations that require thoughtful leadership.
The opportunity ahead
To ensure that innovation enhances rather than replaces human expertise, leaders will need to guide the integration of AI in ways that strengthen connection, trust and quality of care.
Food for thought:
Where do you think AI can make the most meaningful improvement to the clinical experience?
