David Hancock, a long-standing expert on the health tech industry with a passion for interoperability, has become an associate of Highland Marketing.
In his new role, David will support clients of the specialist digital health agency that need advice on market entry or positioning, so they can communicate effectively with IT leaders at every level.
Mark Venables, the co-founder and chief executive of Highland Marketing, said: "We want to be able to offer the very best possible service to our clients and are confident that David's expertise will be a valuable addition to that of our existing team.
"This is all about combining David’s knowledge, skills and experience with our knowledge, skills and experience, in order to give companies that want to work in this exciting but challenging market the very best chance of success."
David Hancock has worked in enterprise IT for almost 40 years and has spent most of his career in life sciences and health tech.
He is well-known in the industry for his work at Orion Health, where he supported the early development of shared care records, and at InterSystems, where he helped to build an electronic patient record and health information exchange business.
David has also been a member of the techUK health and social care council since 2018 and is vendor co-chair of INTEROPen, which was set up to advocate for the use of open standards in healthcare IT systems.
Since October 2022, he has led New Found Consulting Services, which he set up to help software suppliers with go to market and product strategies - and to advise them on how to adopt interoperability standards to support transformation initiatives.
David said: "Becoming an associate of Highland Marketing is about being able to bring my set of skills to the work of an expanding team - and applying them in a different way.
"Companies that want to succeed in digital health need excellent intelligence and a good understanding of where their ideas, services and products sit in the market. Then they need effective marketing and PR to get their messages across.
"I am looking forward to working on that marketing piece, to help build successful companies that can support the NHS, social care and life sciences with the challenges they face."
Highland Marketing is an established marketing, PR and communications agency with more than 25 years’ experience in health, social care, med tech, life sciences and clinical research. It currently employs or works with more than 30 experts in strategy, campaigns and sales acceleration.
About David Hancock
David Hancock has spent nearly 40 years in IT in many roles across the development lifecycle. For the last 25, prior to joining Highland Marketing as an associate, he worked in software vendors including Oracle, Orion Health and InterSystems. At these companies he helped healthcare organisations in the UK, Europe and the Middle East to apply IT to drive digital transformation using both EPRs, interoperability solutions and data platform technologies. Today David also contributes towards influencing and developing technology policy in health and care across the UK through sitting on the techUK Health and Social Care Council. He chairs the techUK Health and Care Interoperability Working Group, is the vendor co-chair of INTEROPen and sits on the FHIR UK core board and the FHIR UK core senior leadership team where he focuses on the governance, strategy, development and adoption of open interoperability standards, especially HL7 FHIR.
About Highland Marketing
Highland Marketing is a marketing and communications agency specialising in healthcare technology, med tech, life sciences and clinical research. With an unrivalled reputation for supporting UK and international organisations, for over two decades Highland Marketing has built a reputation for being the go-to agency for the provision of market strategy planning, results driven marketing campaigns, research, branding, messaging, content marketing, PR, social media and sales acceleration.Website: www.highland-marketing.com