Welcome to #OurEntrepreneurs, a series where we meet our innovators and uncover what inspired them to create change. Today, we’re delighted to introduce Dr Syeda Insha Hussaini, joining us from Cambridgeshire.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I am a UK-trained GP with a Specialist Interest in Women’s Health, Medical Educator, NHS Clinical Entrepreneur and Founder of ThriveHer.Clinic. Over the past nine years, I have worked across the NHS and independent healthcare, combining frontline clinical practice with education, service improvement and healthcare innovation to improve outcomes for patients.
Throughout my career, I have been driven by a passion for prevention, reducing health inequalities and improving the way women experience healthcare. Alongside my clinical work, I deliver education to GPs, GP trainees and multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, translating evidence into practical, patient-centred care that can be implemented in everyday practice.
Beyond the consulting room, I contribute to national women’s health initiatives through my work with the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA), supporting evidence-based education, community engagement and advocacy to improve health outcomes for underserved communities.
My interest in research and digital innovation has led me to serve on the Advisory Panel for a Coventry University PhD research project exploring digital technology in menopause care, providing clinical insight to support the development of evidence-informed digital health solutions.
More recently, I was selected for Cohort 10 of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, where I am developing ThriveHer.Clinic – a doctor-led social enterprise inspired by both my clinical experience and lived experience, with a mission to reduce health inequalities through culturally responsive prevention, education and innovation. I have also been honoured with a Global Recognition Award for my contribution to healthcare innovation and women’s health.
Name: Dr Syeda Insha Hussaini, NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Cohort 10
Occupation: GP with Specialist Interest in Women’s Health | Medical Educator
At the heart of everything I do is a simple belief: every woman deserves to understand her health, feel heard, and have equitable access to the knowledge, support and opportunities needed to live well.
Tell us about your innovation
As a GP with a specialist interest in Women’s Health, I had already witnessed the health inequalities experienced by many women, particularly those from underserved communities. Time and again, I saw opportunities for prevention missed because women’s concerns were dismissed, important health risks were under-recognised, and cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic barriers limited equitable access to healthcare.
During my own postpartum journey within the NHS, I experienced some of these inequalities from a patient’s perspective. That experience profoundly changed how I viewed women’s healthcare. It reinforced my belief that no woman should feel unheard, unsupported or left without the knowledge and confidence to understand and advocate for her own health.
Those experiences became the catalyst for founding ThriveHer.Clinic, a doctor-led social enterprise dedicated to reducing health inequalities through culturally responsive prevention, education and innovation.
Our first innovation is the ThriveHer Heart Health Pre-Screen, a digital cardiovascular prevention tool designed to help women better understand their heart health and encourage earlier engagement with preventative healthcare. The innovation aims to improve health literacy, support informed conversations between women and healthcare professionals, and strengthen prevention within primary care, while offering wider benefits across secondary care through earlier risk recognition and more timely access to appropriate care.
The Heart Health Pre-Screen is currently being developed and evaluated with the ambition of supporting more equitable cardiovascular prevention, improving engagement with NHS prevention pathways and empowering women to take a more proactive role in their health.
As an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur, I am working with clinicians, researchers, community organisations and academic partners to build the evidence base and explore how this approach can be implemented responsibly and sustainably within NHS services.
Why did you join the programme and how do you hope it will support you?
I first heard about the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme through one of my close friends during their Public Health training in London. At the time, I was already reflecting on how my experiences as a GP and personal experiences, that later inspired ThriveHer.Clinic, had highlighted persistent gaps in women’s preventative healthcare. The programme felt like a natural opportunity to learn how those ideas could be developed responsibly within the NHS.
Drawn to its strong focus on supporting clinician-led innovation that can create meaningful system impact. I applied because I wanted to further develop prevention-focused healthcare solutions that address health inequalities and improve engagement with underserved communities.
I hope the programme will support me through mentorship, strategic guidance, and opportunities to connect with clinicians, academics, innovators, and healthcare partners. As an early-stage founder and clinician, I am particularly interested in learning more about implementation, evaluation, partnership development, and how to responsibly build and scale preventative healthcare innovation within NHS systems.
I am most looking forward to learning from experienced innovators, collaborating with multidisciplinary peers, and building partnerships that can help translate early ideas into scalable, evidence-based NHS innovation.
What are your ambitions for the next year?
Over the next year, my ambition is to continue developing ThriveHer.Clinic into an evidence-informed platform that helps improve equitable access to preventative healthcare for women. Our current focus is the ThriveHer Heart Health Pre-Screen, and I hope to continue strengthening its evidence base while learning from patients, clinicians and partners to ensure it is both clinically meaningful and responsive to the needs of the communities it aims to serve.
As the innovation continues to evolve, I am keen to collaborate with clinicians, researchers, NHS organisations, universities, charities and community partners who share a passion for prevention, women’s health and reducing health inequalities. I believe meaningful innovation is built through collaboration, and I am excited to work with others who can help shape, challenge and strengthen these ideas so they can create lasting impact for patients and the wider healthcare system.
Ultimately, my ambition is not simply to develop a digital tool, but to contribute to a future where prevention is more personalised, equitable and accessible, ensuring that every woman, regardless of her background has the opportunity to recognise health risks earlier and engage confidently with the care she needs.
Why do you think innovation is healthcare is important?
I see innovation as the lifeblood of healthcare. Like a flowing river, it allows ideas, evidence and experience to move, adapt and nourish the wider system. Without innovation, healthcare risks becoming stagnant, struggling to respond to changing patient needs and widening health inequalities.
For me, innovation is not about creating something new for the sake of it; it is about solving meaningful problems. It is about listening to patients, learning from lived experience, challenging the status quo and translating evidence into practical solutions that improve care. When done responsibly and collaboratively, innovation has the power not only to improve individual outcomes but also to strengthen the NHS for future generations.