Dr Ivan Beckley secured his place at the Amos Bursary in 2013 and soon began to add to his series of achievements. He is the first of three siblings all of whom have won places on the Bursary; the first of his family to go to graduate university… twice!
Whilst at medical school Ivan worked with a number of health technology companies, including Google DeepMind, working on AI healthcare algorithms. As part of his work, DeepMind sponsored his MSc in health data science (another first!), which he completed in 2018.
As recognition of Ivan’s achievements, he was awarded one of the top 10 black students in the UK by Rare recruitment in 2015 and No.3 on the list of Top 100 African and Caribbean graduates and undergraduates by Powerful Media the same year. Fundamentally Ivan believes there is no problem too big to solve. He hopes to focus his career on demonstrating the potential for technology to create a health system that is accessible, affordable and high quality for everyone.
Inspiration for Ivan comes in the form of the film director Ryan Coogler. “Ryan was a complete outsider to the industry of film but he went to film school and committed to the craft to such an extent that he created one of the highest-grossing films in history – The Black panther. If you listen to Ryan speak you can feel the passion he has for what he does while also being very aware he hasn’t compromised who he is along the journey. That combination of excellence and authenticity is what inspires me about Ryan”.
Today Ivan is a UCL medical school qualified doctor and an NHS clinical entrepreneur as CEO of Suvera, a healthcare company enabling virtual care for people with long-term conditions in the UK.
In Ivan’s words, “being part of the Amos Bursary prepared me to feel comfortable building relationships with extremely successful individuals. The intangible confidence that the Amos Bursary instils in every young man, is what makes the programme so successful and what has made the difference in my life. I am an anomaly to the image society paints and promotes of black men. Before studying medicine I had never met a black male doctor. I am him now. And I want as many young people as possible from a similar background to know that although my story is rare, it is possible.”