UCL GBSH Student of the Week: Elizabet Gomes Dos Santos

Background and Professional Journey

I am a Consultant Medical Oncologist and the Clinical Lead for Cancer Services and Screening in Jersey, Channel Islands. I have worked in oncology since 1999, with a career spanning direct clinical care, service leadership, and system improvement in multiple countries, including Portugal, the Eastern Caribbean, and the Channel Islands. Alongside my clinical role, I lead strategic delivery as Chair of the Jersey Cancer Strategy Implementation Committee, bringing together stakeholders across sectors through shared priorities, agreed indicators, and delivery governance to translate strategy into measurable outcomes. In Jersey’s small integrated health system, my work sits across the full cancer pathway, with a particular focus on earlier diagnosis, safe and equitable access to treatment, and data-enabled governance across public health, primary care, and secondary care.

Why I Chose the DBA Health at UCL

I chose the DBA Health at UCL because it offers a rare combination of academic rigour and practical relevance for senior leaders working in complex health systems, with an applied focus on health systems, leadership, and real-world impact. I wanted a programme that would deepen my conceptual toolkit while remaining grounded in implementation, particularly around governance, trust, and data sharing. The UCL Global Business School for Health, and the calibre of faculty and peers, provide an ideal setting to develop research that is academically credible and operationally meaningful, with direct applicability to my role in Jersey.

What the Programme Means to Me

The DBA has become a structured space for deeper thinking, challenge, and growth, helping me move from intuition-led change to theory-informed decision-making. It has strengthened how I frame problems, test assumptions, and design change in a way that is evidence-informed and context-sensitive. It has also expanded my confidence and capability in digital health, governance, and leadership, particularly in relation to data sharing and responsible adoption of artificial intelligence-enabled tools. Importantly, the programme has connected me to a cohort of experienced professionals, sharpening my thinking through diverse perspectives across sectors and countries.

Goals for the Future

My goal is to translate my research into practical frameworks that help health systems implement digital innovation safely, ethically, and effectively across organisational boundaries, so that innovation translates into earlier diagnosis and better outcomes. In the immediate term, this means supporting cancer services and earlier diagnosis work in Jersey, while developing a thesis-by-publication that produces actionable governance guidance on how trust and data sharing can enable responsible implementation. Longer term, I hope to help other small and medium health systems accelerate learning and delivery, turning size into agility while maintaining patient safety and public confidence, and demonstrating that small systems can lead in safe, scalable innovation when governance is designed well.