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Health

We back new ideas that give people the power to be at the centre of their health, care and wellbeing

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Good help

Whether we want to improve our health, find work or get the most out of education, we need to feel confident to take action. And yet too often the services that are trying to help us undermine our confidence to act. This project aims to change that.
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Team

Christina Cornwell

Christina Cornwell

Interim Director, Health Lab

Christina is Interim Director of the Health Lab, leading Nesta’s work on nurturing and growing effective sources of support to improve people’s health and well being. Her current areas of focus include accelerating ideas, creating confidence, health as a social movement, and continuing to make the case for more person and community centred approaches to health.

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Esther Flanagan

Esther Flanagan

Programme Manager

Esther joined the Health Lab in January 2017 and is working in the social health team on a range of projects. One project she is working on explores the factors that help people to take positive action. These include understanding the psychological elements of behaviour change, such as tapping into a person’s individual motivations for change. Esther is a qualified Clinical Psychologist and runs a weekly clinic where she helps people with chronic pain and a range of mental health difficulties, such as anxiety, trauma and depression. She is experienced in designing online psychological interventions and developed two programmes for people with chronic pain and sexual pain.

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Halima Khan

Halima Khan

Executive Director, Health Lab

Halima is Executive Director of the Health Lab, which aims to create a people powered health system. Health Lab brings together Nesta's practical work on health and ageing to achieve more impact. The aim of Health Lab is to create real change to improve people's health, through working towards a health and care system that is for people, by people and with people. Halima works with innovators across public services, civil society and business to develop and scale new responses to ageing and health. Current areas of focus include making the case for person and community centred care, rapid system change, mobilising communities, digital health and the Coalition for Collaborative Care.  Halima advises on health and ageing innovation and has published Five hours a day: systemic innovation for an ageing population and People Powered Health: Health for people, by people and with people.

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Annie Finnis

Annie Finnis

Director, Health Lab

Annie is Director of the Health Lab at Nesta.

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Accelerating Ideas

We’re working with Big Lottery Fund to support eight highly promising ageing innovations to increase their reach and impact to many more people across the UK.
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Team

Halima Khan

Halima Khan

Executive Director, Health Lab

Halima is Executive Director of the Health Lab, which aims to create a people powered health system. Health Lab brings together Nesta's practical work on health and ageing to achieve more impact. The aim of Health Lab is to create real change to improve people's health, through working towards a health and care system that is for people, by people and with people. Halima works with innovators across public services, civil society and business to develop and scale new responses to ageing and health. Current areas of focus include making the case for person and community centred care, rapid system change, mobilising communities, digital health and the Coalition for Collaborative Care.  Halima advises on health and ageing innovation and has published Five hours a day: systemic innovation for an ageing population and People Powered Health: Health for people, by people and with people.

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Annie Finnis

Annie Finnis

Director, Health Lab

Annie is Director of the Health Lab at Nesta.

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Isabella Blatter

Isabella Blatter

Intern, Health Lab

Isabella joins Nesta as a Health Lab intern to research and analyse challenges, derive strategies for new opportunities focusing on people powered health and well-being. Thereby, she will support the team in different projects such as People Powered Results or the Accelerating Ideas - a fund which supports eight highly promising aging innovations.

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Christina Cornwell

Christina Cornwell

Interim Director, Health Lab

Christina is Interim Director of the Health Lab, leading Nesta’s work on nurturing and growing effective sources of support to improve people’s health and well being. Her current areas of focus include accelerating ideas, creating confidence, health as a social movement, and continuing to make the case for more person and community centred approaches to health.

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Katy Rutherford

Katy Rutherford

Senior Programme Manager, Health Lab

Katy is a Senior Programme Manager in Health Lab. She currently manages Accelerating Ideas, a five year partnership between Nesta and Big Lottery Fund to support eight highly promising ageing innovation to scale their reach and impact to many more people across the UK.

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Health as a Social Movement

We are exploring how social movements effectively impact health and care as well as the wider culture and environment in which health and care happen.
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Team

Jacqueline del Castillo

Jacqueline del Castillo

Senior Programme Manager

Jacqueline works in Nesta's Health Lab on initiatives that empower people and communities to improve their own health and the systems which shape it. Most recently, she has been involved in NHS England's Health as a Social Movement programme in collaboration with RSA and the New Economics Foundation.

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Christina Cornwell

Christina Cornwell

Interim Director, Health Lab

Christina is Interim Director of the Health Lab, leading Nesta’s work on nurturing and growing effective sources of support to improve people’s health and well being. Her current areas of focus include accelerating ideas, creating confidence, health as a social movement, and continuing to make the case for more person and community centred approaches to health.

View profile

Halima Khan

Halima Khan

Executive Director, Health Lab

Halima is Executive Director of the Health Lab, which aims to create a people powered health system. Health Lab brings together Nesta's practical work on health and ageing to achieve more impact. The aim of Health Lab is to create real change to improve people's health, through working towards a health and care system that is for people, by people and with people. Halima works with innovators across public services, civil society and business to develop and scale new responses to ageing and health. Current areas of focus include making the case for person and community centred care, rapid system change, mobilising communities, digital health and the Coalition for Collaborative Care.  Halima advises on health and ageing innovation and has published Five hours a day: systemic innovation for an ageing population and People Powered Health: Health for people, by people and with people.

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Lydia Nicholas

Lydia Nicholas

Senior Researcher, Explorations

Lydia was a senior researcher in Nesta’s Explorations team, focusing on how minds, systems and technologies come together to perform better at complex challenges with particular focus on health and on big data and artificial intelligence in public services. She worked closely with Nesta’s Health Lab and complemented traditional research with new methodologies, fictions and interactive formats. She tweets @lydnicholas.

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Annie Finnis

Annie Finnis

Director, Health Lab

Annie is Director of the Health Lab at Nesta.

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Rachel Nye

Rachel Nye

Researcher, Health Lab

Rachel was a researcher in the Health Lab working on the NHS England's Health as a Social Movement programme in collaboration with RSA and the New Economics Foundation.

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