Entrepreneurial Alumni of the Year, winner: Jane Hearst

Jane is a Doctor of Creative Health, known for her work integrating the arts into healthcare systems. She currently serves as the Research and Policy Manager at the National Centre for Creative Health (NCCH) and creates film and book content under her professional brand, Creative Synthesist. As an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL, she works on the Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities (MCA) programme, where she uses Implementation Science approaches to identify barriers and limitations to developing Creative Health infrastructure.

Jane would describe her work as pragmatic, creative, and nonpartisan; informed by entrepreneurial practice and systems change theory.

Her role at NCCH involves:
- Developing APPG events and policy briefings,
- Compiling evidence submissions for government and healthcare,
- Editing special editions issues of journals,
- Compiling the annual Creative Health Research Round-Up,
- Reporting on the charity's impact,
- Developing accessible blogs, videos, and resources to support knowledge mobilisation,
- Managing NCCH's case study and research databases.

Some notable outputs from Creative Synthesist include:
- The Edited Book (professional audience) 'Creative Health in Systems: The People, Priorities and Challenges Shaping Integration'
- A Long-form Podcast (public audience) entitled 'Creating Mental Wellbeing'
- The Authored Book (academic audience) 'A Creative Health Communication Framework: Addressing the Compatibility and Marketability of Mental Health and Wellbeing Services'
- An Explainer Video (professional audience) called 'Creative Health Across the System: ICBs, Hospitals, Public Health, and Combined Authorities'