NICE welcomes new senior executive team appointments

25 Jan 2023 09:07 PM

New Chief Medical Officer, Chief People Officer and Director of Implementation and Partnerships appointed by NICE

NICE is pleased to welcome several new appointments to senior roles within the organisation, including a new Chief Medical Officer, Chief People Officer and Director of Implementation and Partnerships.

The new appointments are:

Professor Jonathan Benger CBE joined NICE earlier this month. He is the former Chief Medical Officer of NHS Digital, and for the past six months has been the interim Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) for NHS England. Between May 2013 and July 2019 Jonathan was the National Clinical Director for Urgent and Emergency Care at NHS England.

In his clinical work, Jonathan is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and does regular shifts with the Great Western Air Ambulance which he founded as its first Clinical Director in 2007. He is also Professor of Emergency Care in the School of Health and Social Wellbeing at the University of the West of England, and a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator.

Jonathan takes over from Dr Gail Allsopp who has returned to the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

Helen Brown has over 25 years of experience in human resources and has held a variety of HR roles. Initially, Helen built her career in the retail industry and over the last 12 years has worked within MedTech for Medtronic. Within Medtronic Helen has served as the HR Director looking after three business units across Europe in neuroscience. Prior to this, she worked as HR Director for the UK and Ireland.

In her roles Helen has ensured close alignment with business strategies and has been heavily involved in transformation. She is a fellow of the CIPD and holds a Diploma in HR Management and a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Social Policy from Durham University and has also completed a certificate programme in organisational development with NTL.

Dr Clare Morgan joins NICE from her role as Director of Strategy at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, leading on organisation and system wide strategy, transformation and partnerships in an integrated care system responsible for tackling some of the worst health inequalities in the UK and Europe. Prior to this Clare was the national research delivery director for the NIHR Clinical Research Network for 13 years, during which she spent a year in the South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Integrated Care System leading on research and innovation. She also brings significant experience of the clinical research ecosystem, gained through roles in contract research organisations, the pharmaceutical industry and within academia.

Dr Sam Roberts, NICE chief executive said: "I am very pleased to welcome all of our new appointments to their roles, I know they will make significant contributions which will help NICE continue to get the best care to patients, ensure value for money for the taxpayer, and help us create useful and useable advice for the NHS.

“Jonathan’s extensive experience as a health system leader and frontline doctor in the NHS will be a great asset to our team. Helen is a dedicated and adaptable leader with a proven track record of driving transformation and delivering pragmatic solutions to complex challenges and Clare is a compassionate, wise manager who brings a deep understanding of the realities of the NHS, which I know will be invaluable.

"I would also like to thank Gail for her tremendous work with us; her knowledge, positivity and creativity during her time with NICE proved vital. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Gail as a valued partner in her role at the RCGP."

Naomi Lee also joins in a new role of Head of Organisational Transformation. She was previously Senior Executive Editor at The Lancet and has a passion for using health research and data to improve people’s lives through medical science.

In addition, Boryana Stambolova has been appointed as our interim Director of Finance and Helen Knight is substantively appointed as Director of Medicines Evaluation.