Profile: Andrew Goldberg

I first met Andy under rather strange circumstances. I was a patient and he was the assisting surgeon. He kindly popped on to the ward for a chat to help take my mind off things, and as we were both doctors we seemed to have a lot in common. Although I was a bit preoccupied, I couldn't help but be impressed as he told me all about his own idea, which has now grown into a phenomenon: Medical Futures.

The Medical Futures innovation awards, in May this year, were a huge success. Ten awards were given for innovations as diverse as an automated method for engineering human tissue (surgeon, Chris Mason) and for “Sweet Talk,” a novel text messaging service for teenagers with diabetes (specialist registrar in paediatrics, Victoria Franklin). Twenty six prestigious judges sat on the panel; industry and the corporate sector gave wide support and decided to donate all profits to charity. The national media coverage was huge, and Andy even appeared on the ITV news the next day. So how did it all start?

You may be as surprised as I was to learn that Medical Futures came into being only in January 2001. The first innovation awards a few months later were sponsored by major corporates and resulted …