Out Of Programme

The Out Of Programme (OOP) podcast shines a spotlight on clinicians who have ventured beyond the traditional path of clinical training to forge unique and unconventional careers. Hosted by Dr Jing Ouyang, this series delves into the diverse backgrounds, driving motivations and transformative moments that shaped their journeys outside the realm of medicine. Whether you’re a clinician curious about life beyond the white coat or simply fascinated by stories of bold career reinvention, this podcast offers inspiring conversations and thought-provoking insights that go beyond the ordinary.

Out Of Programme is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 40 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Unknown Host hosts Out Of Programme, a business show with 40 episodes published.

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  Out Of Programme

  Episode 40: Beating the Odds from Kenya to UK Medicine, Becoming a GP and Building Healthcare AI Agents at Antler

  Sep 22, 202644 min

  What happens when one of 15,000 applicants wins a scholarship from Kenya to UCL Medicine — then rebuilds her idea of “scale” from the GP surgery to agentic AI? In this episode, we speak with Dr Sheliza Darvesh , GP, former Babylon clinical ops lead, and co-founder & COO of Conversico, building an agentic AI operating layer for healthcare (starting with a voice receptionist) as an Antler entrepreneur in residence. ️ Growing up on a Kenyan island in a single-parent home — school fees from a community “pot,” then learning who had quietly paid all along Beating 15,000 applicants for the African Educational Trust Scholarship to study medicine at UCL — and arriving with one suitcase, chickenpox scars, and a ruinous Heathrow black cab Staying in the top 10% every year to keep the scholarship, walking Camden to UCL to save bus fares, and finding family in friends’ kitchens Choosing GP for patient volume, then realising true scale meant helping more than one person every ten minutes — into Babylon, Manual/Voi, and clinical ops Co-founding Conversico with her husband to free clinicians from fragmented admin — and why Antler cared more about founder–market fit than the pitch deck Sheliza’s story is a masterclass in adversity, kindness, and redesigning a medical career so impact — and the freedom to give back — can finally scale. Follow us on: Substack LinkedIn ▶ YouTube Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts

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  Out Of Programme

  Episode 39: Dr Hatim Abdulhussein on Becoming an AI Professor With No PhD, Setting Up the Topol Fellowship, and Leading a Health Innovation Network

  Sep 8, 202642 min

  What happens when an "average medical student" co-founds the Topol Programme, becomes an AI professor without a PhD, and rises to run a health innovation network while still seeing patients every Friday? In this episode, we speak with Dr Hatim Abdulhussein , a GP who became CEO of Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex and Honorary Professor of Innovation and AI at the University of Surrey — one of the UK's leading clinician-innovators working inside the system. • How a foundation doctor in Bedford who "didn't think being an entrepreneur was an option" learned to make change from within the NHS • Co-founding the Topol Programme for Digital Health Fellows — the "gift of time" that's now run through six or seven cohorts of digital health leaders • Getting into AI before it was cool — building the subject-matter expertise that let him advise ministers before the ChatGPT explosion • ️ Why he chose to change the NHS from within rather than leave it, and the value of an entrepreneurial mindset inside organisations • Becoming an Honorary Professor of Innovation and AI without a PhD — the clinical teaching track and the power of "say yes and learn by doing" • Rising from Medical Director to CEO of a Health Innovation Network — and why he still protects his Friday GP clinic Hatim's story is a masterclass in experiential leadership — building a portfolio career on the clinical teaching track, saying yes to opportunity, and proving you don't need to leave the NHS to have a national impact. Follow us on: Substack LinkedIn ▶ YouTube Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts

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  Out Of Programme

  Episode 36: Dr Nick Appelbaum on How Lord Darzi Changed His Career, Building the First Machine-Readable BNF, and Why Academic Projects Die Without Commercial Infrastructure

  Jul 29, 202645 min

  What happens when a South African surgeon gets plucked out by Lord Darzi, builds the first machine-readable BNF, and spins a company out of Imperial that reduces prescribing errors by 83%? In this episode, we speak with Dr Nick Appelbaum , a surgeon turned entrepreneur who went from inventing spreadsheet-based prescribing safety tools in South Africa to completing a PhD with Lord Ara Darzi at Imperial, leading clinical research at the Helix Centre, and founding Dosium — a company now integrating the BNF into NHS prescribing systems. How a "self-help program that grew out of hand" — inventing medication safety tools in South Africa's trauma centres — landed him a meeting with Lord Darzi ️ Why Lord Darzi laughed at his plan to do an immunology PhD at Oxford and instead put him on the 10th floor at St Mary's to build something real The seven-year journey to create the first machine-readable British National Formulary, working with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Founding Dosium and integrating the BNF into NHS electronic prescribing — reducing the odds of a medication error by 83% across deployed trusts Why "academic projects die without putting the infrastructure in place upfront" — and how the NIHR I4I grant forced the spinout decision The advice he wishes he'd had earlier: "find the suits, speak to the CFO, validate the economic proposition early — don't leave it to the last minute" Nick's story is a masterclass in turning a clinical frustration into a national infrastructure play, with the right mentorship and institutional backing. Follow us on: Substack LinkedIn ▶ YouTube Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts

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  Out Of Programme

  Episode 35: Cosima Gretton on Leaving Medicine for Silicon Valley, Why Product Thinking Is the Opposite of Medical Training, and Scaling the UK's Biggest Health Research Programme

  Jul 14, 202640 min

  What happens when a doctor trained in experimental psychology leaves medicine in F2, builds products in Silicon Valley, runs a £10M/day COVID testing programme, and becomes Chief Product Officer of the UK's largest health research study? In this episode, we speak with Dr Cosima Gretton , a medical doctor who left clinical practice to pursue product management in the US, served as Deputy Director at NHS Test & Trace during the pandemic, and is now Chief Product Officer at Our Future Health — a research programme that has recruited over 2.5 million participants across the UK. • 🧠 Why studying human factors design and cross-modal integration at Oxford made her see clinical systems as fundamentally flawed — and why she couldn't unsee it • 🎨 Founding AXNS Collective as a medical student — bringing together artists, neuroscientists, and an LSD research project at Imperial College London • 🌉 How a friend's persistent invitation to apply for Singularity University in Silicon Valley changed the entire trajectory of her career • 🦠 Leading LAMP testing at NHS Test & Trace — the pressure of a 10-million-tests-per-day Christmas target and what it's like when government actually works at startup pace • 📊 Becoming CPO at Our Future Health and building the infrastructure to recontact 2.5 million participants for clinical research — and return their data back to them Cosima's story is a rare window into what happens when a clinician fully commits to the product discipline — and why the two mindsets are harder to reconcile than most people think. Follow us on: 🗞 Substack 💼 LinkedIn ▶ YouTube 🎧 Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts

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  Out Of Programme

  Episode 34: Dr Alastair Darwood on Selling a Startup in FY1, Licensing Medical Device IP Instead of Building Companies, and Why He Never Runs the Businesses He Creates

  Jun 30, 202649 min

  What happens when a medical student sells a surgical robotics startup before finishing FY1 — and then spends the next decade inventing devices he deliberately never runs? In this episode, we speak with Dr Alastair Darwood , a medical doctor with a bioengineering PhD who has built a career as an inventor and entrepreneur across medical devices, consumer hardware, and cycling technology. From orthopaedic robotics to analgesic masks to e-bikes, Alastair's playbook is always the same: invent, validate, license — then move on to the next problem. • 🔬 How he founded Prometheus Surgical as a medical student, raised £170k, and sold it to De Souter Medical in FY1 — the robot is now in use on patients as the Solito • 🫁 Building a low-cost ventilator during COVID with Red Bull Advanced Technologies — and why the project was shut down just as it started working • 🚴 Co-founding Scarpa, an e-bike electrification company with £14M raised and products now stocked in 70 UK shops — without touching the business side • 😷 Licensing an analgesic mask to Intersurgical that is currently in clinical trials at St Mary's — patient-controlled inhalational anaesthesia for procedures that don't need a GA • 🤖 Why AI has turned invention into Lego bricks — and how a project that would have taken a year now takes three weeks Alastair's story is a masterclass in finding your unfair advantage, building a playbook around it, and having the discipline to hand everything else to someone else. Follow us on: 🗞 Substack 💼 LinkedIn ▶ YouTube 🎧 Listen on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts

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