Anica Alvarez Nishio

Anica specialises in values-led risk management, pragmatic governance and long-term stewardship within complex highly regulated sectors.  Her core focus is around the ethics and practical considerations of digital deployment, including but not exclusively AI.  She places special emphasis on effective stakeholder engagement.  Current roles include Vice Chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Quality Standards Advisory Committee, membership of the Programme Grants for Applied Research funding committee of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), various research projects at the Universities of Oxford, Liverpool and Kent, and sitting as a Non-Executive Director for VAPC, an arms’ length advisory body to the UK Ministry of Defence. 

Focusing on the ethical and effective deployment of digital technology, she brings multi-sector experience in health, academia, the penal system and veterans’ affairs.  She is an advocate for including the stakeholder voice at all stages of a project, from design and development to decision making and distribution. She has a particular interest in the equitable delivery of health and social care within the context of marginalised and vulnerable communities. 

In addition to her professional expertise, she brings a wealth of multi-cultural lived experience to her work.  Through various front-line roles in her community, she has first-hand experience in the practical delivery of health and mental-health care, primarily making these equitably accessible for those in mixed, rural and military communities.  Additionally, she has hands-on/lived experience of end-of-life and dementia care, youth and adult mental health concerns, and multiple long-term conditions.  She is honoured to be asked to present to AIM RSF.