Speakers

Pete Hodgson is a former Cabinet Minister (New Zealand Government 1999 –2008) governing a variety of portfolios included Research, Science and Technology; Economic Development; and Commerce. 

Pete is the Chair of Callaghan Innovation and the Southern District Health Board. Following a period on the Board of Otago Innovation Limited (OIL), Pete was appointed Chief Executive of the company in 2014. OIL is responsible for supporting University of Otago researchers in developing and commercialising their intellectual property.

He has a Bachelor's degree in Veterinary Science from Massey University and a Master’s degree in Public Policy (with Distinction) from Victoria University of Wellington.

Professor Frank Bloomfield is the Director of the Liggins Institute.  He is a Professor in Neonatology, and until recently a Consultant Neonatologist at Auckland City Hospital.
Frank took a BSc (first class honours) in Experimental Immunology and Oncology at the University of Manchester and then MBChB, also at Manchester. He trained in paediatrics in the north-west of England, obtaining MRCP before moving to New Zealand where he specialised in neonatal paediatrics, obtaining FRACP. He took a PhD in paediatrics at The University of Auckland and spent two years in Toronto as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and a neonatal transport fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children. He was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Neonatology at The University of Auckland and a specialist neonatologist at Auckland City Hospital in 2002.  In 2013 he was promoted to Professor and in 2015 was appointed Director of the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland.

As Director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Auckland, Peter Hunter is helping to develop standards based physiological models and the use of computational methods for understanding the integrated physiological function of the body in terms of the structure and function of tissues, cells and proteins.

Robyn is a public health physician and Clinical Director Innovation at Waitemata DHB’s Institute for Innovation and Improvement. She is also Assoc Prof at the National Institute for Health Innovation (NIHI) at the University of Auckland. Her research interests are in developing mHealth interventions to be delivered to people directly using their mobile phones.

As General Manager of Healthcare and Education Global at Soul Machines Erica Lloyd works to add empathy with humanized AI into patient and healthcare workforce experiences at scale and to deploy Soul Machines autonomously animated Digital People for the benefit of healthcare and education enterprises globally. Erica works with multiple clients worldwide and is a seasoned executive with a background in technology, innovation ecosystem and research in both the private and public sector.