Managing complex responsibilities is a common task for digital leaders. However, for Erik Mayer, transformation chief clinical information officer (CCIO) at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the mix of responsibilities is central to his role.
He spends about 40% of his time in the clinic and the rest helping to define the future of digital healthcare.
“I enjoy both roles because, actually, they should be intertwined,” he says. “I have many conversations with clinical and academic colleagues who say, ‘Can I get access to this data?’ That’s why it should be intertwined, because what you put in is what you get out.”
Mayer’s successful transition from the surgery room to the IT department began during his PhD research from 2006 to 2009, when he analysed data to produce evidence for centralising cancer services and improving patient care. Through his role at the trust, he became involved in technology implementation projects.
“I’ve always been in and around data and producing robust evidence for why we should or shouldn’t do things,” he says.
“Then, at Imperial Trust, I was a surgical trainee and became involved in IT, informatics and data warehouse-type environments. I was heavily involved in the work when we went live with the Cerner electronic patient record in 2014.”
As Mayer’s experience grew, so did the opportunities to move into new areas. In 2018, after a competitive process, he was appointed to his current role. He has continued to expand his compass while working on the healthcare frontline.
“I wanted to be forward-thinking about creating secure environments to support access to data for driving research and innovation,” he says.
“I wear many hats. I’m a practising surgeon, transformation CCIO, clinical social professor in Imperial College, and I head up the directorate of the iCARE Secure Data Environment (SDE), which is a digital collaboration space that spans the university and the trust.”
Fostering collaboration
Looking back on his seven years in the CCIO role, Mayer says the data environment has evolved into today’s cloud-based platform using Microsoft Azure and Snowflake technology. He says the transformation process was accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’d already set up the environment and had some exemplar projects going on where we were supporting healthcare delivery in the trust,” he says.
“Then Covid hit and, suddenly, there was a huge appetite and urgency about accessing data to support basic decision-making around operational processes.”
These processes included monitoring the number of people with the virus and moving patients around the hospital to free up intensive care beds. Through a collaboration with the North West London Integrated Care Board, Mayer and his peers brought together two key datasets, making it possible to track trends across 2.8 million people.
“I wear many hats. I’m a practising surgeon, transformation CCIO, clinical social professor in Imperial College, and I head up the directorate of the iCARE Secure Data Environment”
Erik Mayer, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
“That created a burning platform for data,” he says, looking back on the interest in information that this initiative helped to foster for the longer term. “Today, that data is now fully migrated and held in the same secure environment as the Imperial Trust data, as well as other databases across different tendencies.”
Mayer says having all these databases together in a secure data environment makes it easier for people to link insights. This capability has changed the mindset of people using data. Previously, particularly in the academic world, people and organisations had to set up data-sharing agreements. Now, collaboration is fast becoming the standard way of working.
“This project brought people into the data environment to do their research and innovation. That approach brought academics together with clinicians and data scientists, meaning we could get quick answers around risk prediction and other insights,” he says.
“Our digital transformation was about bringing the right multidisciplinary people together to work collaboratively in a secure way. Fundamentally, of course, by doing that, you maintain the public trust because you’re not selling data off or moving it around.”
Integrating data
Mayer says the implementation of Snowflake technology has been a crucial component of his data-led approach to digital transformation. While it took weeks to ingest data using previous legacy architectures, the Snowflake AI Data Cloud enables data ingestion in days, supporting the work of healthcare professionals in various roles in a secure environment.
“A lot of the projects are research, but we also focus on direct care,” he says. “So, for example, there are several dashboards that are supporting our clinicians in understanding patients and high-risk cohorts. So it’s direct care research, but it’s also about operational decision-making and efficiencies.”
Our digital transformation was about bringing the right multidisciplinary people together to work collaboratively in a secure way Erik Mayer, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
The organisation is also tapping into the Snowflake Marketplace, an online platform where users source third-party data for its use in the AI Data Cloud. Through the marketplace, research and clinical teams have access to additional non-health data for research and clinical care. Potential sources include Ordnance Survey and the Met Office.
“This is an interesting area for us,” says Mayer, referring to the use of marketplace data. “We’re just starting on this journey. With some of the data, for example, you can start to understand where people live, what services they’re accessing, and why.”
This in-depth detail will be crucial as organisations attempt to support the long-term vision of the NHS 10-year health plan for neighbourhood-based healthcare services.
“You have the evidence to show what is happening, so you can start to plan better,” he says. “Bringing together data is now a way to help us support hospitals and the community.”
Mayer and his colleagues are exploring other ways to exploit the platform. One key use case is federation, including how other trusts in north-west London can share primary and secondary care data. Another use case is artificial intelligence (AI). The data team’s AI testbed in its SDE is supported by Snowflake and Accenture, with secure access to Microsoft AI services and models.
“If you can leave the source data in the separate SDEs and then federate to allow algorithms to run across those sources, you’re not duplicating the cost and resources,” he says.
“So, that’s the piece we’re just developing across environments, which will support, again, operational efficiency, direct care and, of course, research.”
“The interoperability piece for sharing information on individual patients across healthcare providers is critical,” he says. “Just in terms of time savings, you’re not having to sit there trying to understand what’s happened so far – it’s all linked up. And I’m seeing that in my practice now, it’s happening. That kind of federation is a game-changer.”
“These initiatives have gone a long way already to providing a front door for access to data with an explanation around what it is, the clinical definitions and the metadata,” he says.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need to build on what we’ve got so far, because that effort has been developing well over the last three or four years.”
This progress includes work in his own organisation. “Within the iCARE SDE, we have built the London analytics platform,” he says.
“We are one half of the London Secure Data Environment, so we are providing that architecture, and the data will start flowing soon. This effort is not just about our trust. It’s a framework that will support the national agenda.”
The NHS has a chequered history when it comes to IT initiatives. However, Mayer says the progress that’s been made recently in data-led projects is impressive. While digital transformation across large-scale organisations can be a challenging process, he’s positive about the opportunities ahead for UK healthcare.
“Now, I think there’s a requirement for a careful thought piece around how local NHS trusts fund, resource and keep up with change, and thinking about business intelligence units, and how those areas start to shape up,” he says.
Leading transformation
Mayer reflects on the pace of change. He suggests the speed of transformation continues to quicken and that AI will play a crucial role in the future of healthcare.
From optimising schedules to reducing the administrative burden by automating clinician note-taking, emerging technologies can have a big impact. However, the key to success is identifying the right, trusted technological solutions for the business challenges.
“We need to think about the problem and the opportunity, and then look at the technology to support us, as opposed to going, ‘AI is going to solve everything’,” he says.
“We’ve got to maintain the public trust around this transformation. They’re starting to engage with these technologies, so we must consider the digital literacy piece.”
This rapid pace of change can bring new and unexpected challenges to healthcare technologists. Mayer says effective digital leaders will develop professional resilience and respect by building a sense of social capital.
“It’s about being clear about the benefits and impact of what everyone’s doing as a multi-disciplinary team,” he says. “Our team includes data engineers, data scientists, clinicians and nurses. If they can feel, metaphorically, the impact and see the effect on care delivery, then they know they’re making a difference.”
Mayer says those results also inspire him. “As a leader, I see that impact, and that’s what gets me out of bed every day,” he says. “Essentially, successful delivery is about that team environment – it’s having a clear message and clear social capital where you say, ‘This is what we’re trying to do and why’.”
The world’s top AI research conference, the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems—better known as NeurIPS—became the latest organization this week to become embroiled in a growing clash between geopolitics and global scientific collaboration. The conference’s organizers announced and then quickly reversed controversial new restrictions for international participants after Chinese AI researchers threatened to boycott the event.
“This is a potential watershed moment,” says Paul Triolo, a partner at the advisory firm DGA-Albright Stonebridge who studies US-China relations. Triolo argues that attracting Chinese researchers to NeurIPS is beneficial to US interests, but some American officials have pushed for American and Chinese scientists to decouple their work—especially in AI, which has become a particularly sensitive topic in Washington.
The incident could deepen political tensions around AI research, as well as dissuade Chinese scientists from working at US universities and tech companies in the future. “At some level now it is going to be hard to keep basic AI research out of the [political] picture,” Triolo says.
In its annual handbook for paper submissions, issued in mid-March, NeurIPS organizers announced updated restrictions for participation. The rules stated that the event could not provide services including “peer review, editing, and publishing” to any organizations subject to US sanctions, and linked to a database of sanctioned entities. It included companies and organizations on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s entity list and those on another list with alleged ties to the Chinese military.
The new rules would have affected researchers at Chinese companies like Tencent and Huawei who regularly present work at NeurIPS. The database also includes entities from other countries such as Russia and Iran. The US places limits on doing business with these organizations, but there are no rules around academic publishing or conference participation.
The NeurIPS handbook has since been updated to specify that the restrictions apply only to Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, a list used primarily for terrorist groups and criminal organizations.
“In preparing the NeurIPS 2026 handbook, we included a link to a US government sanctions tool that covers a significantly broader set of restrictions than those NeurIPS is actually required to follow,” the event’s organizers said in a statement issued Friday. “This error was due to miscommunication between the NeurIPS Foundation and our legal team.”
Before they reversed course, the conference organizers initially said that the new rule was “about legal requirements that apply to the NeurIPS Foundation, which is responsible for complying with sanctions,” adding that it was seeking legal consultation on the issue.
Immediate Backlash
The new rule drew swift backlash from AI researchers around the world, particularly in China, which produces a large quantity of cutting-edge machine learning papers and is home to a growing share of the world’s top AI talent. Several academic groups there issued statements condemning the measure and, more importantly, discouraging Chinese academics from attending NeurIPS in the future. Some urged Chinese academics to contribute instead to domestic research conferences, potentially helping increase the country’s influence in relevant science and tech fields.
The China Association of Science and Technology (CAST), an influential government-affiliated organization for scientists and engineers, said Thursday that it would stop providing funding for Chinese scholars traveling to attend NeurIPS and would use the money instead to support domestic and international conferences that “respect the rights of Chinese scholars.”
CAST also said it will no longer count publications at the 2026 NeurIPS conference as academic achievements when evaluating future research funding. It’s unclear if the organization will reverse course now that NeurIPS has walked back the new rule.
Handala’s second claim, however—that it hacked the FBI—seems, for now, to be fiction. All evidence points to Handala having breached Patel’s older, personal Gmail account. Widely believed to be a “hacktivist” front for Iran’s intelligence agency the MOIS, Handala suggested on its website that the emails contained classified information, but the messages initially reviewed by WIRED didn’t appear to be related to any government work. TechCrunch did find, however, that Patel appears to have forwarded some emails from his Justice Department email account to his Gmail account in 2014.
Handala, which cybersecurity experts have described to WIRED as an “opportunistic” hacker group whose cyberattacks and breaches are often calculated more for their propaganda value than their tactical impacts, has nonetheless made the most of Patel’s embarrassing breach. “To the whole world, we declare: the FBI is just a name, and behind this name, there is no real security,” the group wrote in its statement. “If your director can be compromised this easily, what do you expect from your lower-level employees?”
Handala Hackers Put $50 Million Bounty on Trump and Netanyahu’s Heads
For further evidence of Handala’s bombastic rhetoric, look no further than another post on its website earlier this week (we’re intentionally not linking to it) that offered a $50 million bounty to anyone who could “eliminate” US president Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This substantial prize will be awarded, directly and securely, to any individual or group bold enough to show true action against tyranny,” the hackers’ statement read, along with an invitation to any would-be assassins to reach out via the encrypted messaging app Session. “All our communication and payment channels utilize the latest encryption and anonymization technologies, your safety and confidentiality are fully guaranteed.”
That bounty, Handala explained, was posted in answer to a statement about Handala published on the US Department of Justice website last week that offered $10 million for information leading to the identity or location of anyone who carries out “malicious cyber activities against US critical infrastructure” on behalf of a foreign government.
“Our message is clear: If you truly have the will and the power, come and find us!” Handala wrote in its response. “We fear no challenge and are prepared to respond to every attack with even greater force.”
In yet another post on its website this week, Handala also claimed to have doxed 28 engineers at military contractor Lockheed Martin working in Israel and threatened them with personal harm if they didn’t leave the country within 48 hours. When WIRED tried calling the phone numbers included in Handala’s leaked data, however, most of them didn’t work.
Apple says no device with its Lockdown Mode security feature enabled has ever been successfully compromised by mercenary spyware in the nearly four years since its launch. Amnesty International’s security lab head, Donncha Ó Cearbhaill, also says his team has seen no evidence of a successful attack against a Lockdown Mode–enabled iPhone. And Citizen Lab, which has documented several successful spyware attacks against iPhones, says none involve a Lockdown Mode bypass, while in two cases its researchers found the feature actively blocked attacks against NSO Group’s Pegasus and Intellexa’s Predator. Google researchers, meanwhile, found one spyware strain that simply abandons infection attempts when it detects the feature is enabled.
Lockdown Mode works by disabling commonly exploited iPhone features, such as most message attachment types and features like links and link previews. Incoming FaceTime calls are blocked unless the user has previously called that person within the past 30 days. When the iPhone is locked, it blocks connections with computers and accessories. The device will not automatically join nonsecure Wi-Fi networks, and 2G and 3G support is disabled. Apple has also doubled bounties for researchers who detect any Lockdown Mode bypass, with payouts up to $2 million.
Looking for an all-in-one soundbar that sounds as big as it looks? Sennheiser’s Ambeo Max uses its oversized body to produce beefy, enveloping sound, and right now you can grab it for just $2,000 at Best Buy, a sizable $1,000 markdown from the usual list price. It’s one of our favorite standalone premium soundbars, particularly if you don’t want to deal with an exterior subwoofer but still want bigger bass than you’re likely to find on smaller options.
While it might be a bit larger than your average soundbar, Sennheiser uses the space well, packing a ton of functionality and drivers into the less-than-compact body. There are both full-range and 1-inch tweeters combined in every conceivable direction, and the result is an impressive reproduction of true spatial audio, something few other standalone bars can claim. As a result, it also has an impressive low-end, with bass that doesn’t rival dedicated subwoofers, but comes really close for how much simpler the setup process will be.
The larger footprint also allows for a huge number of inputs, more than you’re likely to find on those tiny soundbars that slide under your screen. In addition to an HDMI 2.1 output with eARC, you’ll get three HDMI inputs with 4K pass-through at 60Hz, USB, Ethernet, and optical audio. There are even RCA ports in case you want to hook this up to your turntable. There’s also a dedicated subwoofer output, in case you decide you want to add one to your setup down the road, giving you a ton of options should you decide to put the Ambeo Max at the center of your home audio setup.
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