Anchoring in humanity, how George Anibaba navigated digital pivots and found purpose

Topol Fellowship alumnus George Anibaba Data Lead, Sussex Primary Care Provider Collaborative sat down with Tash Willcocks from the TPXimpact and Topol delivery team to talk about what’s happened since he graduated.

For George, digital transformation isn't about the "bits, bots, and gadgets."

It's about the people behind the data. As a former Topol Digital Fellow, George's journey is a great case in professional resilience, the power of pivoting (both in Excel and real life) and the importance of staying grounded in human-centred care while genuinely engaging with what digital innovation can offer.

George is a Topol Fellow alumni and we talked to him about his Topol journey and reflections since. George's story begins with an ambitious premise: social listening. If global brands like Coca-Cola can use digital tools to understand exactly what their customers want, why shouldn't the NHS use those same insights to better serve its patients?

The power of the pivot

Initially, George set out to capture the "digital voice" of the public to inform healthcare interventions. However, he soon ran into the "technical and financial intricacies" of high-end social listening tools. Rather than letting that derail the project, George embraced one of the core tenets of the Topol Fellowship: agility. Which turned out to be one of the most important things the fellowship taught him.

"The fellowship helped me identify my blind spots. I realised that social listening isn't a blunt instrument; it has to work alongside traditional approaches like focus groups and community engagement."

He shifted his focus toward building capacity and capability across Sussex, focusing on health inequalities and population health. The result? The Sussex Population Health Academy. George transitioned from a purely technical pursuit to a mission of empowerment, designing a series of webinars.

In this inaugural year, here is what the webinars looked like in numbers:

• 700 registrations/expressions of interest for webinars
• 391 webinar attendances across 3 system-wide sessions
• 250+ training delegates engaged via wider Academy activity  

Some of the key impacts of the Sussex Population Health Academy

• Widespread Engagement: Three webinars in Year 1 attracted triple-figure attendance for every session
• Skill Building: The academy provided a methodical framework for staff to apply an "equity lens" to their daily work
• Sustainable Knowledge: The webinars remain on YouTube as a permanent resource for the region
• Increased Confidence: Pre- and post-session surveys showed a significant upward trend in how confident staff felt applying health equity principles

Year 1 built reach, awareness, and infrastructure, laying the foundations for system-wide capability. Every webinar attracted triple-figure attendance. Pre- and post-session surveys showed a meaningful increase in how confident staff felt applying health equity principles.

The webinars remain on YouTube as a permanent resource for the region, and the Academy itself still exists today, long after George's role at the organisation that hosted it ended.

From empathy to AI playbooks

George's experience on the fellowship sparked a deeper curiosity about the technical and ethical side of healthcare, leading George to explore the history and ethics of machine learning.

More than a purely academic task, it translated into real leadership in this space.

George went on to become the Digital, Data, and AI Portfolio Lead for Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex, working with senior leaders across the health and care system to move the conversation from ambition to action. His work led to the development of an AI Playbook for the safe and responsible adoption of artificial intelligence in healthcare, a guide covering everything from clinical governance to workforce ethics.

It was built through a series of facilitated round table events drawing in people from across the NHS, Academia, Local Authorities and industry.

"I wasn't just looking at it from a techie perspective," George explains. "I was looking at it from a people perspective. The playbook came to life because it included the human elements… ethics, capacity and care... and was built collaboratively, involving all those with a stake in the outcome, while also being deliberate about identifying who wasn’t yet at the table."

Finding an anchor in the storm

There is a personal dimension to George's Topol story that he does not shy away from. The programme arrived at a time in his life that was testing his sense of purpose and he found it "genuinely nourishing."

The fellowship provided an anchor. Through a dedicated Fellows WhatsApp group with his peers and the support of mentors like Simeon and Leah from the Wessex team, and energy from people like Tash from the TPXimpact team, George found a "village" that helped him navigate a challenging professional season.

"The fellowship gave me a sense of re-anchoring," he reflects. "It makes you question what you’re actually here for professionally at least. It’s about being humble enough to understand different needs, but confident enough to deal with the tension of complexity, ambition intricate humans."

Legacy over slogans

For George, the word "legacy" has proven to be more than just a buzzword; it’s been a measurement of success. Even as roles change and the NHS landscape shifts through mergers and restructures, the Academy he helped build still exists. The principles of health equity he championed are still being applied.

His view on resilience in the digital space is direct: it’s a team sport. Whether it’s conducting a "pre-mortem" to prepare for shifting political tides or simply checking in on a peer, the human connection is what prevents a Topol project and a person from toppling (see what we did there).

What's next?

George remains a passionate advocate for social listening and the ethical use of AI (and innovation in general) to drive health equity. He continues to champion the idea that while technology can be like fire, destructive if mismanaged, it can also be the very thing that keeps us warm during bitterly cold seasons and moves us forward.

George left us with a paraphrase of great quote from Immanuel Kant* that he heard a long time ago but still finds helps "Without a concept, an idea is just a thought."

Kant's original goes further: "Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind." For George, the fellowship was where thought met framework and where framework met purpose.

George Anibaba has spent his fellowship turning those thoughts into a lasting framework for a fairer, more equitable NHS.

George would also like to acknowledge the support of Health Innovation Kent Surrey Sussex and in particular Professor Hatim Abdulhussein, Dr MaryAnn Ferreux, Lisa James and Peter Carpenter, whose encouragement during his time there created the conditions for him to undertake the Topol Fellowship.

If you are interested in health equity or the responsible adoption of AI in healthcare, George is always open to connecting with fellow innovators to share insights and build more resilient systems together, you can contact George via LinkedIn.