Associate Teaching Professor, Course Director for Healthcare Innovation and Principal Research Associate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge. Manager for the Centre for Engineering Better Care, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.

Dr James Ward is a Chartered Engineer with a degree in Engineering from the University of Warwick and a PhD in medical device design from the University of Cambridge. With a background in industry (Cambridge Consultants, Cambridge and Sofraco Engineering, Australia) he joined the University of Cambridge as a postdoctoral researcher in 2002.

James helped set up a new part-time three-year course on Healthcare Innovation, run by the Department of Engineering. The course aims to equip people from a range of backgrounds with the practical skills to innovate successfully in healthcare. He is Course Director and teaches on one of the units.

His research involves applying the learning from fields such as engineering design, systems engineering, safety engineering and ergonomics to the National Health Service, for quality improvement and novel design. Past projects include minimising never events involving retained surgical instruments, a risk assessment of a major trauma network, evaluating a new product range of packaging and labelling for a pharmaceutical manufacturer and, currently, the design of an intervention to increase engagement in pulmonary rehabilitation services.

The Centre for Engineering Better Care is located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus to act as a catalyst for projects and teaching that bridge the gap between engineering and clinical care. The CEBC works closely with CUH’s Clinical Engineering Innovation team and also with local industry. James set up the Centre and manages its day to day running.