Challenge Director for Healthy Ageing, UKRI

George MacGinnis was appointed challenge director of Healthy Ageing in December 2018. He leads a £98 million research and innovation programme that supports people as they age, and also their carers. The programme includes funding for research into behavioural science and design for an ageing population, collaborative research and development projects for early-stage innovations and large-scale trials to show how innovations can work in real life.

Mr MacGinnis has a background in leading health and care innovation programmes. He read engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge and was commissioned into the Royal Engineers, seeing service in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Bosnia before making a move into healthcare management. For much of the past decade he worked with a global industry alliance to enable a consumer-friendly market for digital wellness and health services. On the way he has been involved in some of the major programmes in this field, including the Whole System Demonstrators and Dallas. He holds master’s degrees from the University of Cambridge and King’s College London as well as an MBA from the Open University.