A conference for everyone working with or interested in neurotechnology, rehabilitation, therapy and research

Laura is a specialist Neurological Occupational Therapist with 15 years of experience, over 12 years of which is in the neurological sector. Laura has worked in the NHS from acute care through to community rehabilitation and outpatients and now works in the private sector where she is the lead Occupational Therapist for Hobbs Intensive outpatient rehabilitation service, coordinating intensive rehabilitation packages and treating patients with complex neurological requirements.

Her role within Hobbs has evolved and she has split clinical and research responsibilities. She is part of the MiNT Academy Development Team who have delivered an innovative neurotechnology platform combining clinical education and product development. Her role also involves leading on research projects and further collaborations. Laura has expert clinical skills used to implement neuro assistive and rehabilitation technology into functional contexts building the links between the companies and the patients. Laura presented at Virtual RehabWeek 2021 and is excited to be presenting at RehabWeek 2022 in Rotterdam, showcasing the merits and application of collaboration between skilled clinicians and engineers to create a device that has longevity with both clinicians and patients alike.

Outside of Hobbs Laura enjoys a busy family life, hiking, roller skating and painting.

Lizzie is a Specialist Neurological Physiotherapist working at Hobbs Rehabilitation since May 2020. She also has a background in orthopaedics, frailty and inpatient rehabilitation. Lizzie jumped at the opportunity to be involved in The MiNT Academy to combine her interest in technology and love for providing high quality rehabilitation for patients. Lizzie brings the perspective of a physiotherapist who routinely utilises neurotechnology with patients as well as teaching and supporting other clinicians in embedding it into practice.

Dr Louise Johnson is a clinical-academic physiotherapist. Clinically, she leads the multidisciplinary therapy team at University Hospitals Dorset, which has one of the largest stroke services in England, and was the first NHS stroke service to implement electromechanical gait training. Louise is an experienced and active rehabilitation researcher, and currently holds an NIHS Senior Clinical Practitioner Research Award. Her research interests include motor relearning, technology, implementation and personalised care. She is also co-lead for a global health partnership, working to improve stroke care delivery in Ghana, Gambia and Zambia.

Mark McIntosh is a highly experienced physiotherapist and case manager with thirteen years of expertise in both the NHS and private healthcare sectors. Based at our Intensive Neurotherapy Centre, he leads our Amputee and Trauma service, specialising in spinal cord injuries, amputee rehabilitation, complex neurology, adaptive sports, and traumatic brain injury recovery. Mark’s extensive background in active sports and amputee rehabilitation will greatly enhance the services offered at Chedington.

Mark’s passion for adaptive sports led him to establish New Zealand’s first funded adaptive sports service. He enjoys ultra-running, tennis, squash, skiing, and scuba diving. He volunteers as a blind running guide, adaptive sports instructor, and search and rescue member.

Dr Niall McCann is a National Geographic Explorer, broadcaster, and a global authority on conservation, whose anti-poaching work has been credited with saving populations of endangered species from extinction.He the Executive Director of National Park Rescue, co-Chair of the global EarthTeam Alliance, Trustee or Ambassador to multiple Charities, and is an award-winning wildlife TV presenter.

Outside of work, Niall is an avid outdoor enthusiast and member of his local Mountain Rescue Team. He is also a world-record breaking endurance athlete who overcame a life-changing spinal cord injury to return to a life of adventure and exploration.

If he’s not climbing mountains or coming up with a bonkers idea to raise money for charity then you'll probably find Ed at his laptop, all hours, watering the seeds of The M2M Foundation. Sounds pretty normal, an outgoing guy seeking adventure and hard work, and few would disagree but Ed is also a recovering quadriplegic.

Everything Mark Pollock does is about inspiring leaders and their teams to build resilience and collaborate with others so that they achieve more than they thought possible. Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra-endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps including being the first blind person to race to the South Pole. He also won silver and bronze medals for rowing at the Commonwealth Games and set up an international motivational speaking business.

In 2010, a fall from a second story window nearly killed him. Mark broke his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed. Now he is on a new expedition, this time exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide to cure paralysis in our lifetime.Chairman of Collaborative Cures and founder of the global running series Run in the Dark, Mark was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, served on the Global Futures Council on Human Enhancement and the Advisory Board of Cybathlon. He is a Wings for Life Ambassador (Europe) and was on the Board of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (USA) for a decade.

Author of ‘Making It Happen’, Mark is the subject of the acclaimed documentaries' Blind Man Walking ’and ‘Unbreakable – The Mark Pollock Story’. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and also from Queens University Belfast. Furthermore, he holds a diploma in Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century from Harvard University, degrees from Trinity College Dublin and UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School.

Dr Amit N. Pujari is an award winning Biomedical Engineer and a Neuroscientist and is currently an Associate Professor (Reader) in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Hertfordshire. Amit’s team is primarily working on developing rehabilitation and assistive technologies (neurotechnologies) to bring sensorimotor improvements in people living with neurological disordersspecifically Stroke, Spinal Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Parkinson’s etc. Amit is recipient of multiple prestigious research and travelling fellowships and his work is funded by grants from EPSRC, NIHR, GCRF/Academy of Medical Sciences and Royal Academy of Engineering. Amit has recently been recognised as one of the 25 emerging leaders in UK Health research by the Academy of Medical Sciences and was earlier elected to the membership of the ‘UK Young Academy’ supported by the Royal Society along with UK and Irish senior academies. Amit holds MSc and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from University of Strathclyde and Aberdeen respectively and has masters in Professional Innovation Management of Medical Devices from University of Leeds.

Rachael Edwards developed a specialist interest in the role of technology in upper limb neurorehabilitation, whilst working as an Occupational Therapist on the upper limb program at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square. Rachael has relocated to Bristol and is setting up an Occupational Therapy service at Hobbs Rehabilitation Intensive Neurotherapy Centre, where she continues to explore the use of technology to support delivering intensive upper limb rehabilitation.

Laura Jones has been working as a physiotherapist in adult neurological rehabilitation for over 18years, treating individuals with a wide range of neurological conditions including multiple sclerosis, stroke, head injury, Parkinson's disease and most recently vestibular disorders. 

Baker is interested in the control of movement, both in health and disease. He studies neural circuits responsible for coordinating movement, with a special interest in subcortical systems of the brainstem and spinal cord. His work on the reticulospinal tract has revealed an important contribution to the control of upper limb movements, including those of the hand. In health, movements are generated by a coordinated pattern of activity in both corticospinal and reticulospinal pathways. After stroke, surviving reticulospinal connections can partially compensate for lost corticospinal output. Baker uses electrophysiological experiments in monkey, as well as non-invasive studies in patients and healthy volunteers to address these scientific questions.

Miriam is the Director of the National Rehabilitation Centre. A physiotherapist and specialist in neurological rehabilitation, Miriam has spent her career championing the positive impact of rehabilitation. Miriam spent the first 15 years of her working life specialising firstly, within the neuroscience units and more latterly in rehabilitation. Her clinical work has always been in the acute sector, mainly at Oxford and Nottingham. In 2002 Miriam undertook an MBA and graduated with a distinction. This enabled a successful career outside direct clinical work. A variety of roles in operational and strategic posts led to Miriam establishing the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre in 2012 at Queens Medical Centre part of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) and was subsequently appointed Director of Rehabilitation for the East Midlands Major Trauma Network.

Miriam’s role leading the National Rehabilitation Centre started in 2016 when the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre programme (DNRC) approached NUH as the local provider of major trauma services. The major trauma system was achieving its target of saving 20% more lives and the programme recognised this put additional pressure on an already stretched rehabilitation service nationally. The opportunity was to in part start to address the huge capacity gap in rehabilitation but more importantly to transform the delivery of rehabilitation in this country. The location of the NRC on the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate allows sharing of facilities and expertise across the defence and NHS centres in one rehabilitation campus. Miriam led work at NUH to write the clinical case of need, deliver the NHS business cases to approval of £105m from HM Treasury in 2023 to build the NRC.

Alongside the significant capital programme is the national ambition work to deliver the NRC – national clinical model roll out, NRC training academy and the National research and innovation hub. The centre will be live to patients Autumn -2025.

Rui Loureiro is a Professor of Surgical & Rehabilitation Engineering at UCL, London, UK where he leads the Department of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science and the Aspire Centre for Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology. Recently he has been appointed Research Director and Chair of the Research & Innovation Board of the new NHS-led National Rehabilitation Centre. He specialises in advanced human interactive systems for surgery and rehabilitation. He has pioneered work in stroke rehabilitation, traumatic brain, spine and nerve injuries, bionics, movement disorders and neuropathic pain, and has a wealth of experience with both the design of rehabilitation technologies and the translation of such aids to clinical practice.

Keri has over 10 years experience in healthcare and academic research. Her area of specialism is the assessment and management of swallowing impairments (dysphagia). She worked in the NHS for 5 years before moving to New Zealand to pursue higher academic qualification. Keri's doctoral research explored the use of citric acid cough testing in the evaluation of airway protection. Her post-doctoral fellowship enabled her to continue exploring the role of sensation in upper aerodigestive function. Keri returned to the UK in September 2024 and is now utilising her clinical and research skills as a Speech and Language Therapist at Hobbs Rehabilitation.

Jen is a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) by background. Having worked in Southampton and across London in both clinical and leadership roles, she joined Hobbs in 2015 to develop and lead our SLT team, which has now grown to include over 10 clinicians working across a range of conditions. Jen has over 20 years of experience working in acquired neurology with a special interest in stroke, dysphagia assessment and treatment, and complex neurological impairments including acquired brain injury and Functional Neurological Disorder, and is passionate about the power of goal-focused, interdisciplinary rehab. Jen took on the role of Clinical Operations Lead in 2021 and works closely with the Company Directors and other members of the Senior Management Team in the daily management and development of Hobbs Rehabilitation services, ensuring excellent clinical quality, and compliance with key policies, procedures and governance standards across all of our services.

Rob has been the Commercial Director of SimFit2Drive for the past 2 years. Originally from an engineering background, he has previously held senior sales and marketing, product management and engineering positions with various technology companies in the UK and overseas, including a leading medical laser manufacturer and a supplier of force-plate technology for biomechanics.Over the past year, Rob has been integral to SimFit2Drive’s moves to develop their driving simulators into a dedicated treatment platform for neurorehabilitation in collaboration with Hobbs Rehabilitation.