Tony is a practising frontline NHS consultant urological surgeon and Associate Medical Director at Mid and South Essex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Director of Medical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University, and the founder of four Med-Tech start-ups.
In September 2014 became the first National Clinical Lead for Innovation for the NHS. In this role he provides clinical leadership and support in delivering improved health outcomes in England. He drives the uptake of proven innovations across the NHS, promotes economic growth through innovation, and helps make the NHS the go-to place on the planet for medical innovation.
In 2015, Tony founded the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme (CEP). This has become the world’s largest entrepreneurial workforce development programme in healthcare and life sciences. The CEP has delivered over £1bn of inward investment into the UK and created over 500 life science companies. In the 2019 New Year's Honours list Tony was awarded the OBE for services to clinical leadership.
Tony’s portfolio at NHS England covers the whole landscape of health and social care innovation. This currently includes leadership and oversight of programmes and policy areas including: The National Innovation Accelerator, the CEP, the patient entrepreneur programme, the dementia innovators programme, SBRI Healthcare, the NHSE/NICE prioritisation subgroup and updating NHS IP policy, Tech transfer and investment capability.