We are delighted to announce that Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford, will be joining the Reuben College Advisory Board, as of 1st March 2021.
The Advisory Board has been formed to offer advice and support to the College’s Senior Management Team on its strategic objectives and its profile beyond Oxford.
Nicola Blackwood is well-known to both the city and University of Oxford, having been a Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon from 2010 to 2017. 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. She 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 is currently Chair of Genomics England and a Member of the House of Lords Science & Technology Select Committee.
Professor Lionel Tarassenko, President of Reuben College said:
“Baroness Blackwood is a leader in health innovation policy and entrepreneurship, two areas of interest to Reuben College. As our local MP, Nicola was a strong supporter of the Department of Engineering Science, when I was Head of Department, and we worked together when she was Chair of the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. I got to know her further when we were both members of the Oxford University Innovation Board. I am absolutely delighted that she has agreed to join our Advisory Board to offer strategic advice on how the College may provide a high-quality, well-governed scholarly home where students will thrive in an environment driven by entrepreneurial thinking, collaborative working and intellectual discovery.”
Baroness Blackwood joins Lisa Reuben and Dr Vishal Gulati who became members of the Reuben College Advisory Board in late 2020.
Lisa Reuben is a trustee of the Reuben Foundation, which is committed to the betterment of society in the UK and around the globe through focused charitable giving in the areas of education, health and the community. In 2020, the Reuben Foundation generously contributed a founding donation of £80 million to the University of Oxford in support of Reuben College and the Oxford-Reuben Graduate Scholarships fund. Lisa is deeply committed to Reuben College’s goal of fostering a diverse interdisciplinary community of scholars focused on addressing challenges of the 21st century.
Dr Vishal Gulati trained as a physician in India and did his postgraduate research in clinical medicine at the University of Oxford and Imperial College as a UNESCO MCBN Fellow and a Rhodes Scholar. Over the last two decades, Vishal has focused on helping innovators transform great scientific discoveries into successful businesses in digital health, AI and computational biology, most recently at Draper Esprit plc. He has helped commercialise clinical products in the mental health, women’s health and primary care sectors, improving the lives of millions of people worldwide. Vishal is also a Senior Advisor at Oxford Science Innovation (OSI), and serves on the awards panels of the British Heart Foundation, Innovate UK, MRC, and Cancer Research UK.
All three Advisory Board members bring a unique set of perspectives and valued expertise, which will be of great benefit to the ongoing development of Reuben College.
Professor Tarassenko concludes:
“We are looking forward to introducing our new Advisory Board members to the academic community at Reuben College, and seeking their input on some of the innovative, interdisciplinary initiatives we are planning for our first cohort of students, who will arrive for the new academic year in October this year.”
