Hello, I’m Mairi Wac, a digital health PhD graduate and engineer stepping into the world of entrepreneurship.
This year I’ll be leaving the research lab to travel around the world and begin the exciting journey of commercialising clinical AI research. This website is where I’ll share my transition from the lab to the world of business, capturing the challenges, milestones, and everything in between.
If you’re interested in collaborating, sharing ideas, or just saying hello, feel free to get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!
Latest Post
Building Systems That Work
Another week, another city (or 3) and another blog post! This week has been another whirlwind, I’ve been in Milan, Amsterdam and Oxford to continue my market exploration journey. For those that have been reading from the start, you may remember…
Dubai Debrief – Arab Health 2025
Hello from Dubai! This week on the ICURe programme I set off to one of the most anticipated healthtech events the year, Arab Health 2025! I’m writing this blog post from the balcony of my hotel in downtown Dubai, looking out…
Meaningful Conversations 101
The training wheels well and truly came off this week as I officially began my ICURe market exploration journey. It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole week since bootcamp in Southampton and I never imagined having a more productive and…
Previous Work
Exploring the Use of VR in Supporting Teenage and Young Adults with Cancer
I completed my PhD at the University of Bristol and was funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital and the EPSRC. My research involved working with young people with cancer (aged 16-25) to identify opportunities for Virtual Reality (VR) to support their care. I adopted a co-design methodology, conducting a series of workshops with patients to understand their experiences of cancer care in the UK and design VR applications that could improve this care. This work also involved engaging with oncology healthcare professionals to identify the challenges and opportunities for implementing VR in the NHS.
Social Virtual Reality as a Mental Health Tool
This work explored how users of social VR platforms engage with these technologies to support their mental health and wellbeing. Findings revealed that social VR is being explicitly used as a mental health support tool, with users reporting positive wellbeing benefits. Key factors included the anonymity of avatars, a sense of safety within digital spaces, and the supportive nature of online communities. Presented at CHI 2023 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems), this research contributes valuable insights into how emerging social VR platforms are reshaping approaches to mental health and social connection.
Co-designing an Application for Predicting Epileptic Seizures
This project is highly interdisciplinary, integrating expertise from data science, engineering, and healthcare, with the goal of creating a practical and effective solution for people living with epilepsy. By addressing the challenges of seizure unpredictability, this work has the potential to enhance safety, enable more informed clinical decision-making, and improve daily life for those affected by epilepsy. This project is ongoing, with my current focus as a research associate being on the regulation of the application as a software-based medical device.
Digital Tools for Assessing Chronic Pain in Children
This research involved conducting a systematic review to identify, describe, and evaluate digital tools for the assessment of chronic pain in children aged 5–11 years. Chronic pain in this population presents significant challenges for clinical management and research, yet little is known about the availability or effectiveness of digital pain measurement tools for younger children. This work provides insights into the current state of digital pain measurement tools and offers recommendations for future research to support the development of accessible, engaging, and effective tools for managing pediatric chronic pain.