Hacking Humanity

What does the future of ageing look like in the world of AI? Will cutting-edge technologies revolutionise healthcare as we know it and close the gap between our health span and our lifespan?

Broadcaster, journalist, and author of ‘Hacking Humanity’, Lara Lewington, joins health and ageing experts Professor Prokar Dasgupta, Professor Georgina Ellison-Hughes, and ageing entrepreneur Dr Svitlana Surodina for a panel discussion that asks how today’s most exciting innovations will pave the way for tomorrow’s healthcare revolution. This discussion will appeal to all those with an interest in artificial intelligence how we might be able to harness its powers to live longer and happier lives.

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This event is part of the King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence’s AI Conversations series.

Meet the speakers

Lara Lewington is a leading technology broadcaster, journalist and author with a special focus on AI and future health. Her book, Hacking Humanity (Penguin, July 25), investigates the transformations that AI and cutting-edge science are bringing in the area. She has covered some of the world’s greatest innovations presenting the BBC’s flagship technology show, Click, and has fronted health tech episodes of ITV’s Tonight, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and others, exploring how artificial intelligence, science, and innovation are transforming our health and lives. As ITV Lorraine’s resident ‘AI Agony Aunt’ she demystifies tech to a mainstream audience, and presented BBC Panorama’s Beyond Human: Artificial Intelligence and Us.

Professor Prokar Dasgupta is a clinician-scientist whose career started over 30 years ago when he began studying the immunology of a parasitic disease called Leishmaniasis. Professor Dasgupta was appointed as the Foundation Professor of Surgery for King's Health Partners in 2020 and has been a Consultant Urologist at Guy's Hospital since 2002. He became the first Professor of Robotic Surgery and Urological Innovation at King's in 2009 and subsequently the Chairman of the King’s-Vattikuti Institute of Robotic Surgery. His main basic research interest is in the immunology of prostate cancer and he is part of the Prostate Cancer Research Centre at King's. Professor Dasgupta is also credited with describing an innovative technique of injecting Botulinum toxin (Botox) with a flexible telescope to target bladder nerves, a method which has been named after him and helped millions of patients worldwide.

Georgina Ellison-Hughes is Professor of Regenerative Muscle Physiology, King’s College London. Her research programme focuses on understanding the biology of ageing in the regeneration and repair of striated (skeletal and cardiac) muscle. Her work focuses on a particular biological hallmark of ageing called cell senescence, and whether modulating cell senescence can rejuvenate the regenerative capacity of the heart and skeletal muscle. The findings translate to the development of therapies and interventions that prevent and treat the loss of muscle mass associated with ageing and/or disease. She is the co-lead Theme 1: Biological ageing resilience in the Faculty Centre of Excellence for Ageing Resilience In a Changing Environment (CARICE). She is a member of the UNESCO Executive committee ‘Anti-Ageing and Disease Prevention’, launched in Beijing, 2019, where together with 17 members, she contributes to promoting research and development of effective, safe and accessible anti-ageing and preventive therapies to the world.

Svitlana Surodina is the Entrepreneur in Residence with Ageing Research at King's (ARK) where she supports commercialisation programmes and research on technological ecosystems for innovation in brain health and longevity. Svitlana is also the CEO of OPORA Health, oporahealth.com. She holds an MBA from the University of Oxford and is currently a PhD researcher in the Department of Informatics at KCL.

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