Big Health

Qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1980 and spent decades in Scotland's NHS before moving into academia, eventually becoming Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Glasgow and later Professor of Sleep Medicine at the University of Oxford, where he founded the Experimental & Clinical Sleep Medicine research programme at the Sir Jules Thorn Sleep & Circadian Research Institute. His life's research — over 300 publications on cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia — became the clinical foundation of Big Health. In 2010, he co-founded the company with Peter Hames, a former insomnia sufferer, turning his manualised CBT protocols into Sleepio, an FDA-cleared digital therapeutic. He is unusual among academic sleep researchers in having co-founded a commercially scaled, clinically validated digital health company and continues to serve as Big Health's Chief Scientist while holding his Oxford chair.

Co-founded Big Health in 2010 after his own experience with insomnia left him frustrated by the lack of non-drug treatment options. Holds a Master's in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University and is an NHS Innovation Fellow. Before Big Health, he served as Head of [undisclosed role at a prior organization] and went on to chair the Digital Therapeutics Alliance board. After 12 years as CEO, he transitioned to President in 2024 to let new leadership scale the company, while also taking on a role as VP of Health at Microsoft AI. His venture was built alongside Prof. Colin Espie, translating clinically validated cognitive behavioral therapy into automated, FDA-cleared digital products.