#DHA2025London
DHA 2025
Scaling Emerging Healthcare Technologies for Social Good
Global Business School for Health, UCL, London
28-30 August, 2025
Conference Inaugural and Keynote Speakers
Professor Nora Colton
Director, Global Business School for Health, UCL
Bio:
Professor Nora Colton is Director of the UCL Global Business School of Health and a health-and-development economist specialising in change management and strategy. Formerly UCL Pro-Vice-Provost (Postgraduate Education) and Joint Director of Education at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology / Moorfields Eye Hospital, she has also served as Dean of Business and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of East London and Professor of International Economics at Drew University (USA). She earned her DPhil at the University of Oxford and holds a Cornell certificate in Change Management.
A serial Fulbright and Carnegie grantee, Professor Colton has taught at Harvard, Arizona State, American University in Cairo and Beirut, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. She has authored numerous articles on Middle-East economics and politics, co-written Middle East Finance: Missed Opportunities or Future Prospects, and is completing a Palgrave-Macmillan volume on Yemen’s political economy. Her current research focuses on healthcare management and strategic leadership, and she designs postgraduate and executive programmes that apply change-management principles to the health sector.
Dr. Sikhululiwe Ngwenya
Chief Medical Officer, Virtual Hospital Africa
Bio:
Sikhululiwe Ngwenya is a medical doctor and digital health leader with comprehensive experience in clinical care, research, and health promotion, and community education in rural settings.Dr. Sikhululiwe is passionate about using technology to solve real-world healthcare challenges and improve the lives of patients.
Keynote Topic: Reimagining Care in Africa: The development and validation of Virtual Hospitals Africa, a digital health platform using structured health data for transformed health services at all levels of care
Abstract: Digital health technologies are reshaping care delivery, yet systemic gaps persist in accessibility, coordination, and outcomes—particularly across Africa. Virtual Hospitals Africa is a co-designed, data-driven digital health platform that integrates patients, providers, and systems to enhance triage, referrals, and collaborative care. It supports learning health systems, real-time evidence generation, and continuous service improvement. By building a Consortium of innovative practitioners, we aim to overcome infrastructure, policy, and socio-cultural barriers while advancing education, equity, and economic sustainability. We recognize that technology alone is insufficient without inclusive design, professional capacity-building, and cultural relevance. This initiative reimagines care by combining connected platforms, artificial intelligence, structured data, and human-centered innovation to strengthen healthcare delivery at all levels.