Dr John Biggs

Dr John Biggs is a consultant anaesthetist in Private Practice. He is involved in clinical

systems architecture, specialising in perioperative operations, digital health platforms, and governed Clinician AI support systems. He is the founder of Periopp, a perioperative

coordination platform entering the market through low-risk operational automation, and a Harvard Medical School Leading AI Innovation in Healthcare graduate.

His work focuses on designing healthcare systems that scale safely while prioritising

coordination before intelligence, governance before automation, and human accountability over autonomy. John works at the intersection of clinical practice, platform architecture, and regulatory-aware AI design, demonstrating how hospitals can adopt digital systems that are defensible, auditable and trusted by clinicians.

Synopsis of Talk
Coordination Before Intelligence:

Why Hospital AI Fails – and How to Build Systems That Actually Scale

Hospitals do not fail at AI because of poor algorithms – they fail because of coordination, governance, and escalation pathways are broken long before intelligence is introduced.

Hospitals are surrounded by AI pilots, dashboards, and digital tools – yet many fail to scale or deliver real impact. This session argues that the root cause is not technology, but broken coordination, weak governance, and the absence of safe escalation pathways for the frontline staff. Using Periopp as a real-world case study and insights from Harvard-led work on system accountability, the talk explores why intelligence must follow operational trust, how governed platforms outperform isolated pilots, and what hospitals must fix before AI can add value responsibly.