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Staff Profile

Dr Sarah Khan

Research Associate (Evidence Synthesis & Horizon Scanning)

Background

About me

After graduating as a medical doctor from Riphah University in Pakistan, I completed my internship in the departments of general surgery, general medicine, and anaesthesia. I moved into a teaching role at the CMH Medical College Lahore where I taught Human Anatomy to medical students for a year and Biochemistry to medical, dental, and nursing students for three years. I then did my masters in Global Health from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. This was followed by a seven month period working as a Female Medical Officer in the Emergency Department with Medicins Sans Frontiers in a remote area in Pakistan.


I started working at the Innovation Observatory in September 2017 where I first worked as an Evidence Synthesis/Horizon Scanning Specialist. I began working as a Research Associate in Evidence Synthesis and Horizon Scanning in 2021.


I am embedded in the Medicines Programme and lead the Medicines Horizon Scanning Team which identifies medicines in clinical development that might seek approval and are likely to become available to patients in the NHS in the next few years.


About the NIHR Innovation Observatory

Home - NIHR Innovation Observatory

The NIHR Innovation Observatory is a world leading health and care innovation scanning centre providing data-driven insights to foster innovation and equitable access to high quality care. We aim to transform health systems and improve population health by providing advanced data-driven insights that foster innovation and equitable access to high quality care. At the core of our work is the development of data-driven methods to identify, capture and synthesise intelligence on new health innovations. We develop and share cutting edge methods in horizon scanning, building capacity in the systems across the public, voluntary and industry sectors.

 

We deliver essential intelligence and insights about medicines and MedTech innovation to the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE), NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the NIHR, the UK Health Security Agency, the Department for Health and Social Care and industry - allowing these organisations to prepare for policies, regulation and frontline delivery for new, emerging and disruptive technologies.


Research

Previous projects

  • COVID-19 therapeutics in clinical development (2020-2023)
  • Upcoming indications for immuno-oncology products (2022)
  • Horizon scan for PET radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic purposes (2023)
  • Horizon scan for Molecular Radioligand Therapies (2024)
  • Horizon scan for interventions in early development for sarcopenia (2024)
  • Horizon scan for blood based biomarker tests for Alzheimer's disease (2024)


Current projects

  • Trends analysis of medicines identified in the Innovation Observatory's Medicines Horizon Scanning processes


Teaching

Training

I have been training team members on the Innovation Observatory's internal horizon scanning processes for medicines since 2019.


Teaching

  • Delivered lectures on Horizon Scanning and the Innovation Observatory's NICE process to masters students in Public Health at Birmingham University (2020, 2021, 2023)
  • Assisted in delivering a critical appraisal seminar to masters students in Public Health at Newcastle University (2022)


Workshops

I have conducted the following workshops:

  • Horizon scanning and Innovation Observatory's NICE process (Oslo University, 2019)
  • Horizon scanning of innovative health technologies for HTA stakeholders in England (HTAi Conference, 2020)
  • Horizon scanning of innovative medicines, devices, diagnostics, and digital technologies for stakeholders in England (HTAi Conference, 2021)
  • Horizon scanning for medicines and medtech (2023)
  • Horizon scanning for innovative health technologies (Future, Foresight, and Horizon Scanning Conference, 2024) lie


Teaching

red a workshop health technologies for HTA stakeholders in England

Publications