Professor Nora Colton spoke on the importance of healthcare leadership in advancing digital health at the Collaborative Symposium hosted by the Bastas Academy for Health Leadership (BAHL) in partnership with UCL Global Business School for Health (GBSH). The event formed part of an ongoing collaboration between the two institutions focused on strengthening healthcare leadership capability at an international level.
The symposium brought together senior leaders from healthcare delivery, governance and digital innovation to examine how data and digital health technologies can support better decision making, system improvement and sustainable change across health systems.
Professor Colton joined a panel discussion alongside Professor Eugine Yafele, Chief Executive Officer of Monash Health; Jackie McLeod, Chief Operating Officer at the Royal Melbourne Hospital; and Stéphane Chatonsky, Non‑Executive Director and Board Chair specialising in technology, digital health and artificial intelligence. The panel was chaired by Professor Robert Saunders, Director of the Bastas Academy for Health Leadership at Melbourne Business School.
During the discussion, Professor Colton reflected on the role of people in driving change within healthcare systems. Panel members shared perspectives from across health service leadership, governance and digital strategy, discussing how healthcare leadership supports workforce engagement, builds trust and enables the effective adoption of digital health initiatives. The discussion highlighted the importance of aligning digital tools with organisational priorities, professional practice and system capability.
Speakers agreed that healthcare leaders need a clear understanding of how data and digital health technologies are used within their organisations in order to make informed decisions and support effective implementation. Leadership, governance and change management were identified as central to achieving lasting improvement rather than short‑term or fragmented innovation.
Professor Colton’s participation reflected the wider role of UCL Global Business School for Health in supporting leadership development across health systems internationally. Through our education, research and Executive Education programmes, we work with global partners to equip health professionals with the skills required to lead organisations operating in complex and increasingly data‑driven environments.
The Collaborative Symposium demonstrated the value of the partnership between GBSH and BAHL, and the importance of collaboration between academic institutions and healthcare leaders in addressing shared challenges in healthcare leadership and digital health.
Data can help us expose the problem, but it’s got to be the people who are the ones that are driving forward the solution.
