Healthcare data analytics company Draper & Dash today announced the appointment of entrepreneur and pharmaceutical industry specialist Natalie Douglas (pictured) as a non-executive director.

Douglas began her career at Johnson & Johnson, moving to pharmaceutical firm IDIS, where she led a private equity backed management buyout, becoming chief executive before selling the business for more than £200 million.

She then became chief executive of Healthcare at Home and now invests in healthcare and technology companies across Europe and the US as chair and founder of Lucidity.

Douglas said: “We need to rethink how healthcare is delivered, not just in the NHS, but in every system around the world. Powerful data analytics will be at the forefront of this change and Draper & Dash is already demonstrating the potential that exists. By embracing this technology, decision-makers are more informed and empowered to drive better results and efficiencies. New ways of partnering with pharmaceutical companies are essential if we are to address the affordability and cost issues that dominate most healthcare delivery models. Being creative with technology and using alternative compensation methods – outcome-based payments for example – will be the foundation for the next stage of healthcare development.

“Monitoring, accurately measuring and processing these outcomes will be critical in making this work. With up to 90% of healthcare spending in the hands of physicians, it’s important that they have the best data and the most powerful AI support as possible to make the right decisions. They need to understand the efficacy of the medicine, how specific patient demographics have responded in the past, whether treatment is better at home and get reliable predictive insight into the likely outcomes.”