Dr Teresa Fortune
Chief Operating Officer
As the Chief Operating Officer, Teresa plays a leading role in the development, strategic management and delivery of both the local and national remit of the Innovation Observatory, working across all programmes and stakeholders.
Teresa draws on extensive experience of the health innovation landscape, including the NHS, wider NIHR and the facilitation of partnership working to realise health and life sciences innovation and to build the economy in the UK. She supports the Innovation Observatory to develop the infrastructure needed to develop the skills, tools, resources and expertise to deliver and build on the IO's cutting edge remit.
Teresa has a BSc Hons in Biochemistry and gained a PhD in the Molecular Genetics of human disease from Glasgow University, followed by a research fellowship at the University of Toronto. For the last 15 years Teresa has facilitated health improvement and economic growth by supporting innovation across clinical, academic, commercial and third sector partners along the bench to bedside pathway. Prior to joining the Innovation Observatory in August 2021 Teresa was Head of Innovation at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust where she established the Innovation Team. She has a particular interest in barriers to the adoption of clinical innovation and methods to demonstrate impact.
