The MAHSC (Manchester Academic Health Science Centre) inaugural lecture series celebrates the remarkable contributions of our honorary MAHSC clinical chairs. These prestigious honors, awarded by the University of Manchester’s Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, recognise distinguished individuals across Greater Manchester who have demonstrated excellence in research, education, and clinical practice.

Through this lecture series, MAHSC provides a platform to showcase not only the achievements of these clinical leaders, but also the real-world impact of their work on patient care, innovation, and population health. Each lecture offers a unique insight into the personal and professional journeys behind the research, highlighting how clinical practice, collaboration, and curiosity come together to drive meaningful change across our health and care system.

In this lecture, Professor Ngozi Edi-Osagie, Consultant in Neonatal Medicine and National Clinical Director for Neonatology at NHS England, shares her journey and her work to address inequalities in neonatal care, demonstrating how system-wide change can improve outcomes for babies and families.

During her MAHSC inaugural lecture, Professor Ngozi Edi-Osagie delivered a powerful and personal reflection on her career in neonatal medicine, alongside a compelling call to action to address inequalities in health outcomes.

Framed around her lecture, Inequalities in health outcomes and neonatal care, she explored how clinical leadership, data, and system-wide collaboration can be used to drive meaningful improvements in care for some of the most vulnerable patients.

A journey shaped by Manchester and beyond

Professor Edi-Osagie began by reflecting on her deep and longstanding connection to Manchester – one that spans generations.

Born in Withington Hospital and raised within a family closely connected to the local NHS, her personal story is intertwined with the city’s healthcare system. Her early life and training were shaped both in the UK and internationally, including time spent studying medicine in Nigeria before returning to Manchester to complete her postgraduate training.

This dual perspective has informed her approach to care, combining global insight with a strong local commitment to improving outcomes for patients and families in Greater Manchester.

A career driven by impact

From early in her career, Professor Edi-Osagie was drawn to paediatrics and neonatology, motivated by the opportunity to make an immediate and visible difference to patients’ lives.

She described how the ability to treat critically unwell children and see rapid recovery had a profound influence on her, reinforcing her decision to pursue a career where intervention could have life-changing outcomes.

Her work as a neonatologist has since focused on improving outcomes at a critical moment in the patient journey – birth – where timely, effective care can shape lifelong health.

Understanding and addressing inequalities

A central theme of the lecture was inequality in health outcomes, particularly within neonatal care.

Professor Edi-Osagie highlighted the significant variation in outcomes that can exist even within the same city, noting that patients with similar conditions can experience very different results depending on where they access care.

She reflected on work across Manchester to address these disparities, including her role as a clinical lead in the development of a more integrated hospital model aimed at standardising care and improving outcomes.

This work demonstrated how system-level change – bringing services together and reducing duplication – can lead to more equitable access to specialist care and better patient outcomes across populations.

Data, evidence, and tackling bias

Professor Edi-Osagie also explored the broader structural factors that contribute to inequality, including the role of bias and gaps in data.

She highlighted how national reports and initiatives have brought increased attention to racial inequalities in healthcare, and the importance of recognising these not only as social issues, but as patient safety concerns.

A key message was the need for better data and accountability – ensuring that disparities are visible, understood, and actively addressed.

Her work in this area includes collaboration with organisations such as the NHS Race and Health Observatory, supporting efforts to identify and reduce inequities across the healthcare system.

Driving change through practical innovation

Alongside system-level leadership, Professor Edi-Osagie highlighted examples of practical interventions that can make a real difference to patient outcomes.

These include initiatives to improve the recognition and treatment of conditions such as jaundice in newborn babies – particularly in those with a darker skin colour, where symptoms can be more difficult to detect.

She also discussed the implementation of tools such as pulse oximetry to support earlier detection of serious conditions, demonstrating how relatively simple interventions can have a significant impact when applied consistently at scale.

These approaches reflect her focus on combining clinical insight with innovation to deliver measurable improvements in care.

National leadership and future priorities

In her national role at NHS England, Professor Edi-Osagie is now working to embed these improvements more widely across the healthcare system.

She outlined key priorities for the future, including expanding access to effective screening and diagnostic approaches, improving early detection of conditions, and ensuring that the benefits of research and innovation -such as genomic testing- are accessible to all patients.

Her work highlights the importance of translating local success into national impact, ensuring that improvements in care are not limited to individual organisations but are shared across the system.

A call to action

Professor Ngozi Edi-Osagie’s lecture offered both a personal narrative and a clear call to action.

By combining clinical expertise with a strong focus on equity, she is helping to shape a healthcare system that better reflects the needs of all patients – particularly those who have historically experienced poorer outcomes.

Her work demonstrates that addressing inequalities is not only a moral imperative, but an essential part of improving patient safety, quality of care, and long-term health outcomes.