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Pioneering change: never let the urgent crowd out the important – Baroness Nicola Blackwood, Chair, Genomics England

About This Episode

We’re delighted to welcome Baroness Nicola Blackwood, chair of Genomics England, which has a mission to turn world class genomic science into world leadership in genomic medicine. As minister for innovation in the Department for Health and Social Care under two Prime Ministers, and having served as the youngest ever chair on the House of Lords Science & Technology Select Committee, Nicola has built a reputation as a pioneer of transformative solutions in the healthcare sector.

Baroness Nicola Blackwood, Chair, Genomics England

Baroness Nicola Blackwood is a leader in health innovation policy and entrepreneurship. She is Chair of Genomics England and a Member of the House of Lords Science & Technology Select Committee. Nicola served as Minister for Innovation in the Department for Health and Social Care (UK) under two Prime Ministers where she led on Life Sciences, NHS Data and Digital Transformation and Global Health Security. She was the first female MP for Oxford and she was elected by MPs of all parties to Chair the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. Nicola remains the youngest ever select committee chair in British history and the only woman to have held in that position.

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Lockdown List

What is a book that has changed your life?

Most recently Caroline Criado Perez Invisible Women had a huge impact on me. Still today women are missing from clinical trials data, get misdiagnosed and have poorer health outcomes. In March I chaired a conference on women’s health inequalities and will lead a year long report into improving global health outcomes for women with Public Policy Projects.

What are you watching at the moment?

I think I’ve finished all of Netflix. I loved The Queen’s Gambit, Lupin and Seaspiracy

Who is your biggest inspiration and why?

My Dad. He was working as a cardiologist in Soweto when I was born and scheduled a national rheumatic fever conference for the very day I was due (my mother was not amused). On the actual day I was born – two weeks early – he made national headlines speaking out about the pay of black doctors and overcrowding in the hospital. He went on to have a long and distinguished career in the UK as NHS cardiologist. All while being a kind and good father and teaching me so much of what I needed for life. He is still my first call.

In one sentence, describe your ‘new normal’.

Simplified – materially and mentally – I decluttered over lockdown which has been great but I’m definitely ready for a very messy night out.

 

What is your best tip for life?

Every relationship that matters – personal and professional – is based on trust. Do not break that trust, it is incredibly difficult to restore. Instead work each and every day to strengthen it.

A quote for life

“Never let the urgent crowd out the important” – Leo McGarry from The West Wing

What is your lockdown soundtrack?

Leonard Cohen – Dance Me to the End of Love

Master KG & Nomcebo – Jersusalema

Beyonce – Freedom

Peter Liesewetter – Tango Pathetique (Martha Argerich, Gidon Kremer, Mischa Maisky)

From Copland, Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson: The World Feels Dusty – Barbara Bonney & Andre Previn

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