Innovation is at the heart of all advances and has the capacity to solve problems facing humanity. Societies which have turned away from innovation and technological development have failed in their ability to support their populations. Understanding the nature of innovation in the life sciences and in particular healthcare, how it operates, what enables and hinders it is therefore of great importance to meeting the challenges ahead. This book, originally and concurrently published in the International Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2007, offers the latest research and insights concerning innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Rifat A Atun (MBBS MBA DIC FFPHM FRCGP) is Professor of International Health Management and Director of the Centre for Health Management at Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London, where he leads a multidisciplinary group of researchers. His research focuses on analysis of how contextual and health systems factors influence the implementation of complex health innovations, new health technologies and technology-enabled healthcare services. He works closely with the World Health Organization, the World Bank and governments in a number of countries in Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to design, implement and evaluate health systems development programmes.
Professor Atun chairs the WHO Task Force on Health Systems and Tuberculosis Control. He is a director of Molecular Vision Ltd, an Imperial College spinout company operating in the medical diagnostics, founding director of Visbion Ltd, a health information and imaging solutions company and Medixine Oy, a Finnish company which offers multimodal information and communication software for healthcare and wellness.
Desmond Sheridan (MD, PhD, FRCP) is Professor of Cardiology at Imperial College London and the Royal Brompton and St. Mary s Hospitals, London. He qualified in Medicine at Trinity College Dublin, where he undertook his initial training and obtained his MD. He combined his clinical and research development at Leeds, St Louis and Newcastle upon Tyne, where he obtained his PhD. He was appointed Senior Lecturer and Consultant Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales in 1981 and to the Chair of Cardiology at St. Mary s Medical School, London in 1985 and Imperial College in 1988. He was clinical Dean of Imperial College School of Medicine from 1998-2001 and was appointed Principal Cardiovascular Advisor, Pfizer Global Research and Development from 2002 2005.
Professor Sheridan is a practicing clinician; he teaches clinical medicine, supervises the scientific training medical and science graduates and undertakes research to investigate the mechanisms of cardiovascular disease. His publications relate to the understanding of disturbances in the heart rhythm and the mechanisms and consequences of normal and abnormal growth of heart muscle.
