Sonia Garcia Gonzalez-Moral
Sonia Garcia Gonzalez-Moral is a seasoned Research Associate at the National Institute for Health Research Innovation Observatory (IO), a £16 million publicly funded initiative hosted by Newcastle University in the UK. Since joining the IO at its inception in April 2017, Sonia has been instrumental in advancing horizon scanning methodologies. Her contributions have significantly shaped the processes that underpin the medicines and MedTech horizon scanning outputs, which are vital for informing national stakeholders and decision-makers.
Before her tenure at the IO, Sonia served as a Systematic Reviewer at a specialist consultancy company, where she played a crucial role in delivering high-quality systematic reviews for both national and international technology assessment organizations. In this capacity, she was actively involved in preparing and reviewing company submissions to NICE and peer-reviewed publications for the Swiss Medical Journal. Her role afforded her the opportunity to collaborate closely with industry representatives, gaining deep insights into the decision-making processes surrounding innovative pharmaceuticals and diagnostics in development.
With over two decades of experience as an information specialist, Sonia has also led the National Library for Public Health, a digital specialist library for the NHS and allied professionals. In this role, she conducted horizon-scanning literature searches for high-quality public health research, producing and disseminating specialist outputs to alert stakeholders to the latest evidence in the field.
Sonia is a recognized authority in horizon scanning methods, regularly speaking at national and international conferences, including The Cochrane Colloquium, Health Technology Assessment International, and the Global Evidence Summit. She also advises both national and international working groups on the development of horizon scanning systems and publishes on this topic.
Sonia holds a degree in Information Science from Granada University (Spain) and an MSc in Applied Health Research Methods from the University of York (UK). Currently, she is pursuing a part-time PhD at Newcastle University, focusing on advancing horizon scanning methods for innovative MedTech.