AI Healthcare Consulting & Advisory
Prof. Susan Shelmerdine
The future of AI will be determined by how humans behave around it
Prof. Susan Shelmerdine advises leaders on the risks that emerge when AI enters real-world clinical systems - where human judgement shifts, trust becomes miscalibrated, and patient safety is on the line.
Positioning
AI changes systems.
Responsibility remains human.
Artificial intelligence is already reshaping clinical decisions, organisational priorities, and professional judgement across healthcare.
But its most significant risks are not technical alone.
They emerge through how people interpret, trust, override and act on AI within real-world settings.
Prof. Shelmerdine works with healthcare leaders, policy groups, innovators, and institutions where those dynamics matter most, especially when decisions are high-stakes and uncertainty is unavoidable.
AI doesn’t remove judgement.
It raises the stakes.
Leaders are being asked to make decisions about technologies that affect safety, trust, and professional responsibility.
That requires more than implementation plans or policy language. It requires clear thinking about how AI systems behave in practice, where risk accumulates, and what responsibility looks like when outcomes remain uncertain.
In practice, the hardest questions often sound like these
01.
What happens when clinical systems work differently in reality than in validation studies?
02.
How do organisations prevent automation bias and the erosion of skills needed for meaningful human oversight?
03.
What happens when staff or patients begin using AI beyond its intended scope?
04.
What structures, safeguards, and decision trails need to be in place before adoption?
05.
And when humans and AI appear to disagree, where does liability sit?
SERVICES
Strategic advisory and keynote speaking
Independent advice for leaders making decisions where AI affects high-risk systems, clinical judgement, and organisational trust.
Strategic advisory
Independent, non-vendor-aligned counsel for organisations navigating adoption, oversight, accountability, and system-level risk where clinical judgement and organisational trust are at stake.
Keynotes and executive briefings
Talks for boards, leadership teams, policy forums, and selected conferences on judgement, trust, behavioural risk, and responsible human-AI collaboration in healthcare.
Clinical credibility shaped by real-world systems
Doctor. Academic. Advisor.
Prof Shelmerdine’s work sits at the intersection of healthcare leadership, professional judgement, and emerging technology.
Her perspective is grounded in clinical practice, academic research, NHS implementation, and national advisory work on AI evaluation, deployment, and safety.
She focuses on what becomes harder, not easier, when systems become more automated.
"The question is not whether your AI system performs in a trial. The question is how it behaves in your system, with your people, under real pressure."
Prof. Susan Shelmerdine
AI Advisor & Strategist
Thought leadership
Writing on AI, medicine, and decision-making
Prof Shelmerdine writes about realities behind AI adoption in healthcare, including judgement, behavioural risk, trust, and implementation failure.
Thought leadership
THE REAL TEST
A briefing for healthcare leaders
Four questions every leader should ask to determine whether an AI system will work in a real-world system.
A short briefing for leaders who want to identify the hidden patterns behind AI adoption failures, especially where technology meets real human behaviour, service pressure, and organisational uncertainty.
Thought leadership
For organisations facing these decisions
Prof Shelmerdine works with healthcare leaders, institutions, and organisations thinking carefully about how AI affects judgement, safety, and responsibility.
