We are delighted to share that Kate Gerrard, former MSc Enterprise and Entrepreneurship student at Leeds University Business School (2023–24), Spark Scholar, and one of our featured case studies, has been accepted onto the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurs Programme (Cohort 9, 2025–26).

Kate is currently completing her MBChB Medicine degree at the University of Leeds. The innovation she is developing through the programme is the same idea she first began working on during her MSc and through Spark: an AI-powered app designed to support people living with chronic pain. The app offers personalised advice, educational resources, and strategies to help ease the daily challenges of pain management.

Sharing the news on LinkedIn, Kate said she was “delighted” to have been accepted onto the programme, adding:

I submitted my proposal for an AI-powered app which acts as a personal assistant for people living with chronic pain. It offers personalised advice, educational resources and support with overcoming the mental burden of navigating pain day-to-day. I came up with this idea for my Masters in Enterprise & Entrepreneurship, and after handing in my dissertation, put the idea to sleep.

She explained that she revisited the idea in October 2024, when she decided to apply for the CEP:

I dusted off my business plan and sent off my application, not expecting much to come of it as there were so many fantastic clinical entrepreneurs in the mix. I was in disbelief when the offer email came through.

Looking ahead, Kate is excited to continue developing her idea:

I'm so excited to get the ball rolling and take those scary first steps towards a prototype app, with the support of the CEP community.

During her MSc, Kate was awarded a Spark Scholarship, which enabled her to pitch her idea in a “Dragons’ Den-style” format, attend workshops, and connect with entrepreneurs and enterprise ambassadors. Reflecting on that experience, she highlighted how enterprise and entrepreneurship complement her medical studies:

Entrepreneurial studies are all about problem solving and thinking innovatively. I’ve taken so many learnings back to medicine. Enterprise and entrepreneurship belong on the medical curriculum – because they can help us rethink how the NHS is run, and how we might improve it.

Kate’s long-term ambition is to combine her clinical practice with innovation, with a specialist focus on chronic pain.

Read Kate’s full journey in her case study here.