Speaker Category: Featured Speakers

In 2005 Martin Bromiley’s late wife died needlessly during a routine hospital procedure.    A subsequent independent review identified that a well-equipped operating theatre and a team of clinicians all technically skilled, had failed to respond appropriately to an unanticipated emergency.

Matthew Syed is one of the world’s most influential thinkers in the field of high performance and cultural change.

Matthew explores a thought provoking approach to high performance in the context of a complex and fast-changing world. He draws on a vast array of case studies and real-world examples across sport, business, education and politics. Matthew looks at the inside story of how success really happens – and how we cannot grow unless we are prepared to learn from our mistakes.

He is the author of two bestselling books – Bounce and Black Box Thinking – having just released his latest book, The Greatest. He is a multiple award-winning journalist for The Times and a highly-acclaimed speaker, regularly contributing to radio and television.

Before becoming a writer, journalist and broadcaster, Matthew was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade, three-times Commonwealth Champion, and twice competed for Great Britain in the Olympic Games (in Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney in 2000). His style was unusually defensive, playing strokes from the back of the court described as “spectacular roof threatening parabolas”.

Matthew has worked with some of the world’s leading organisations to build a mindset of continuous improvement. He has now designed a cutting-edge thought leadership programme which is proving to be a catalyst for real and lasting change within business and the public sector. Here is a snapshot of what people are saying:

Matthew Syed’s Black Box Thinking

“It highlights the need for a growth mindset in life…It advocates for changing attitudes towards failure, and understanding that the only way we learn is by trying things and altering our behaviour based on the results.” Richard Branson, Virgin Group

Matthew Syed Speaking

“Matthew has focused our minds on the importance of re-evaluating our approach to development and progress, which has given us an insight and understanding as to how we can better succeed as a business. His time with us was a genuinely enlightening, entertaining and informative experience – Matthew is thought-provoking, challenging, insightful, fun and relevant to the most and the least experienced team member. The fact that “Black Box Thinking” and Matthew Syed anecdotes have become part of the everyday vocabulary of our team is a testament to the impact he has made.”
Andrew Masraf, Pinsent Masons LLP

Matthew Syed’s Thought Leadership Programme

“Fantastic, new approaches and techniques to transform our mindset.”
Matt Byrom, Siemens, reviewing Matthew’s Thought Leadership Programme

Stefan De Hert received his medical degree at the University of Antwerp, Belgium in 1984. Subsequently he completed anesthesiology residency training at the Antwerp University Hospital. After his training he accepted a faculty position in the department and served as vice chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the Antwerp University Hospital and professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Antwerp for over 10 years. From 2007 to 2010 he acted as Professor of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Director of the Division of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. Presently, he is Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of Research at the Department of Anesthesiology of the University Hospital of Ghent.

His early work and PhD thesis, which he defended in 1992, explored the role of the endocardial endothelium in the regulation of myocardial function. His academic interests have focused on perioperative cardiac function with emphasis on diastolic function, transesophageal echocardiography, perioperative organ protective strategies and outcome after anesthesia, hemodilution and volume replacement strategies, and perioperative cerebral oxygenation.

He has authored and co-authored over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and several chapters in different textbooks. He is Associate Editor the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia and acts as regular reviewer for several major anesthesiology, cardiology and surgery journals.

Prof. De Hert acted as chair of the ESA Scientific Committee. He is currently president of the European Society of Anesthesiology.

Edmund A. Tori, DO, FACP, CH is the Associate Director of the MedStar Institute for Innovation (MI2) and Director of The Influence Center at MI2.

Ed teaches physicians, nurses, mid-levels, executives, leaders and associates the sciences of influence, rapport and engagement for mindfulness, better communication and improved care delivery.

He conducts “Influence Consults” that touch nearly every aspect of healthcare – consults have included such diverse healthcare domains as patient experience, philanthropic efforts, patient adherence, system- wide change initiatives, government affairs, bedside manner, staff satisfaction, quality and safety, digital marketing, smoking cessation and the opening of new healthcare delivery facilities.

His training in influence and persuasion comes from over a decade of apprentice arrangements with experts in diverse influence domains, including coaching, social sciences, direct response marketing, advertising, game design, copywriting, hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, parenting, public speaking, internet marketing and others. Dr. Tori is a certified hypnotist.

Ed completed his Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine followed by a residency in internal medicine at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital where he was both Chief Resident and Resident of the Year. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies from Cornell University. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

@DrEdTori

Nicholas Kassebaum, MD, is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington from the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital. At IHME,  he works on the landmark Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study and the Cost-Effectiveness research team. Dr. Kassebaum researches the burden and effectiveness of interventions for specific conditions and analyzes hospital data on surgical cost-effectiveness in various health care settings around the world. Within GBD, he has a special interest in maternal and child health issues, including congenital diseases and hemoglobinopathies, anemia, oral and dental health, as well as sexually transmitted infections.

Dr. Kassebaum earned a BA cum laude from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, and also studied as an undergraduate at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. He earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University, did his residency in anesthesiology at the University of Washington, and completed a fellowship in pediatric anesthesiology at the Seattle Children’s Hospital, where he now practices clinically.

Dr. Kassebaum is leading a pilot project between PSM and IHME to help assess data and quantify results of the Patient Safety Movement.

 About IHME

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington that provides rigorous and comparable measurements of the world’s most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. Since its founding in 2007, IHME has grown to over 300 faculty and staff members and a global research network of more than 2,500 experts in 124 countries.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) is the largest and most comprehensive effort to date to measure epidemiological levels and trends worldwide. The ongoing release of Global Burden of Disease (GBD) results and the annual Financing Global Health reports, and their associated online data visualizations, provide examples of the capacity of IHME to undertake complex data integration and synthesis to yield policy-relevant information for health decision-making. The work is now regularly used by national governments, local policymakers, nonprofits, foundations, and corporations to set priorities and plan for the future. From clean cook stove programs in Rwanda to new teaching curricula in Washington State, the impact of IHME’s work can be seen in a wide range of areas.

Jeremy Hunt has been a Conservative Member of Parliament for South West Surrey since May 2005.

In May 2010 Jeremy was appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, during which time he oversaw a successful Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in the summer of 2012. He had shadowed this brief in opposition since July 2007. From September 2012 to July 2018, Jeremy held the position of Secretary of State for Health. He was reappointed in the role in January 2018 with the added responsibility of Social Care. In June 2018, Jeremy became the longest serving Secretary of State for Health in British history.

In July 2018, Jeremy was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, a position he held until July 2019.

Born on 1 November 1966, Mr. Hunt studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. He lives in Godalming and London with his wife Lucia and their three young children.

Frans van Houten is CEO of Royal Philips, a position he has held since April 2011. He is also Chairman of the Board of Management and the Executive Committee.

Frans is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship and business transformation. He is leading Philips on a course to leadership in health technology, dedicated to making the world healthier and more sustainable, with the aim of improving three billion lives per year by 2025.

Frans first joined Philips in 1986 and has held multiple global leadership positions across the company on three continents, including the role of co-CEO of the Consumer Electronics division. From 2004 to 2009 he led the successful Philips spin-off NXP Semiconductors. Between 2009 and 2010 he ran his own consultancy practice and was, among other roles, senior advisor to the board of Dutch financial services business ING Group, where he was responsible for the separation of the company’s banking and insurance activities.

Frans launched Philips’ global Accelerate! program in 2011 with the objective of improving customer focus, transforming the portfolio, driving innovation and operational excellence and improving competitiveness throughout the company in order to boost growth. Accelerate! remains the engine of the company’s improved results today.

Frans’ team has driven the transformation and revitalization of the portfolio to become a focused health technology company through targeted divestment, acquisition and organic business development. This is exemplified by the sale of the television business in 2012; the audio and video businesses in 2014 and the IPO of Philips Lighting on the Amsterdam Euronext stock exchange in May 2016. At the same time, Philips has invested in acquiring complementary health technology businesses, including  US image-guided therapy leader Volcano and population health analytics leader Wellcentive, while stepping-up in-house R&D to establish new businesses in areas like Digital Pathology, Medical Wearables, and Health Informatics. With these steps, Royal Philips is poised to accelerate growth and performance and capture the opportunities in the EUR 145+ billion market for health technology. As a stand-alone company, Philips Lighting is able to leverage its leadership in the EUR 65+ billion market for digital lighting solutions.

Frans holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Management from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and is a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists, an advocacy organization comprising the 50 largest European multinationals.

Since May 2016, he has been vice chairman and a member of the supervisory board of Philips Lighting. He was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of Novartis in February 2017.

Married with four children, Frans lives near Amsterdam and enjoys contributing to community projects, sailing, skiing, running, gardening and art.

Didier Pittet, MD, MS, is Professor of Medicine, the Hospital Epidemiologist & Director of the Infection Control Programme and World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland. He holds Honorary Professorships at Imperial College London, UK, Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Health Science, and the First Medical School of the Fu, Shanghai, China. Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine, Ireland. Professor Pittet is Lead Adviser of the WHO “Clean Care is Safe Care” & the African Partnerships for Patient Safety programmes, Patient Safety, WHO Headquarter.

Professor Pittet is the recipient of several national and international honours including a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) awarded by Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II for services to the prevention of healthcare-associated infection in the UK (2007), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Lectureship for his contribution to infection control and healthcare epidemiology (2008), the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases’ Award for Excellence (2009) and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM/ICAAC 2016). The book “Clean Hands Save Lives” by the French writer Thierry Crouzet (2014), published in 17 languages, and the movie “Clean Hands” (2016), describe Didier Pittet medical odyssey to promote patient safety worldwide.

Professor Pittet is co-author of more than 500 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 50 textbook chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and editorial consultant for the Lancet. The experience of his team in engaging nations and healthcare settings worldwide in a universal commitment to patient safety is unique.

Deborah Grubbe has over 35 years’ experience in the process industries, primarily in engineering, operations, and capital management and safety roles. Her unique blend of technical knowledge, when combined with her communications skills, enables her to analyze complex organizational issues and to offer potential solutions. She has participated in high profile investigations, including the Columbia Shuttle Accident Investigation Board, where Deborah served as an expert consultant in safety culture. She went on to work with NASA as a member of its Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. Additionally, Deborah has served on two National Academy of Sciences panels to draft facility operational and closure protocols for the US Army’s Chemical Weapons Demilitarization program. While at DuPont, Deborah developed thinking about how health affects safety. Her sponsorship of key pilots resulted in DuPont sites avoiding injuries and their associated costs by focusing on employee health and well-being at the “man-machine interface.” In 2001-2003, Deborah had a lead role and worked to take DuPont’s safety concepts and methods into the healthcare industry. The activity was successful and resulted in improved knowledge and implementation within two major clients. In 2013, Deborah was inducted into the US National Academy of Construction in recognition of her contributions to industrial and construction safety.