The Big Pitch 2026 – Shaping the future of health and care research

Nicky Draper is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and serves as a member of the Health and Care Board and the Lifelong Learning Committee. She is Director of Life & Health Consulting at Crystallise, where she works at the intersection of clinical evidence, insurance innovation, and longevity strategy.

With extensive experience in mortality, morbidity, and longevity risk, Nicky advises insurers, reinsurers, and pension actuaries on product development, underwriting, and risk modelling. Her background includes a long career in the UK National Health Service, spanning intensive care and public health.

Nicky has chaired and contributed to several IFoA working parties, including those on diabetes, antimicrobial resistance, and the COVID-19 Actuarial Response Group. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has authored thought leadership pieces on public health and actuarial implications, including the IFoA’s ‘think’ series.

Fiona Fan is a research actuary at Gen Re, with a career focused on protection business across reinsurance, consulting, and life insurance. She took a keen interest in the IFoA’s Data Science in Healthcare Working Party, exploring how data science can be applied within health care actuarial practice.

Dr Paul Klumpes, now retired, was Associate Professor of Accounting at Aalborg University. He holds a PhD in accounting which was obtained from the University of New South Wales in 1997. He was previously Professor of Accounting at EDHEC Business School, Abu Dhabi University, Nottingham Business School and Imperial College London. He is Fellow of CPA Australia and Honorary Fellow of the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. His research interests cover the inter-relationship between corporate governance structures, generational public policy issues and risk management reporting practices by financial sector organisations, related to financial sustainability climate, and cyber risk. 

Michiel Luteijn is chair of the Techniques in Data Science in Health and Care Working Party. Michiel holds a PhD in epidemiology and works as data science lead at Hannover Re. Michiel has 15 years of experience spanning academia and reinsurance and authored dozens of peer-reviewed publications. 

Michiel is an active contributor to the epidemiology and data science communities, having previously participated in IFoA and WHO working parties.

Ankit Nanda is Manager of Actuarial Advisory Services at a large US-based health insurance carrier and resides in Gurugram, India, where he leads a team of analysts and consultants supporting US healthcare clients. With nearly 13 years of experience across reinsurance, employer stop loss, managed care, and consulting, he brings a distinctive cross-border perspective to actuarial practice.
 
Ankit is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a member of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries. He serves on several professional committees, including the American Academy of Actuaries Health Care Delivery Committee, the Society of Actuaries India Committee, and the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Mental Health Working Party.

His research spans both US and Indian healthcare markets, with recent work focused on emerging risks in health insurance, such as GLP-1 coverage frameworks and value-based care models - topics increasingly relevant to India’s evolving insurance landscape. He holds a masters in mathematical finance from Boston University.

Jacky Tam is Deputy Chair of the Techniques in Data Science in Health and Care Working Party. He has experience in valuation risk and control in banking, as well as pricing and peril modelling in personal lines insurance. Between his banking and insurance careers, he completed an MSc in Computational Statistics and Machine Learning at UCL. He is a data science lead at Verisk, covering both underwriting and claims UK divisions.