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Executive Team
Accelerating innovation that transforms health and wellbeing
The Team
Ben Bridgewater
Chief Executive
Laura Rooney
Director of Strategy
Dr Tracey Vell MBE
Medical Director
Gareth Thomas
Digital Innovation Director
Ben Bridgewater
Chief Executive
Ben Bridgewater is Chief Executive of Health Innovation Manchester, an academic health science system that brings together health, academia and industry. The mission is to accelerate innovation into practice at pace and scale, so to transform the lives of Greater Manchester’s 2.8 million citizens.
He is a leading expert on health informatics, national clinical audit, clinical governance, healthcare transparency, patient experience measurement and digital transformation in healthcare, publishing numerous high profile academic outputs and delivering innovative IT tools for disseminating clinical outcomes to professionals and the public.
Prior to joining Health Innovation Manchester, Ben worked for global technology company DXC Technology as the Director of the Healthcare and Lifesciences Global Build Advisory Team. Until January 2016, he was a cardiac surgeon at the University Hospital of South Manchester for nearly 18 years.
Ben also provided clinical leadership for the UK national cardiac audit programme, as well as leading analyses that provides UK hospital and cardiac surgery mortality rates to the public. The programme is world-leading and associated with a 50% reduction in risk-adjusted mortality over 10 years.
Laura Rooney
Director of Strategy
Laura is an experienced healthcare leader and communications professional, with extensive experience across the NHS, digital and life sciences industries. She is currently Director of Strategy, overseeing HInM’s strategic priorities across the research and innovation portfolio, working closely with the rest of the executive team, HInM staff, key stakeholders and partners. Her broad portfolio includes strategy and planning, innovation pipeline curation, user-led design and public engagement, programme assurance, organisational development, stakeholder engagement and partnerships, and strategic communications.
Laura has spent 15 years working in senior roles across the NHS in Greater Manchester, both in commissioning and provider organisations, and prior to that worked in corporate agencies specialising in business to business PR. She has a wealth of experience in managing complex and sensitive issues, strategy development and delivery, media relations and corporate affairs.
She enjoys using creative processes to see things differently and elicit new ideas and concepts towards solving problems, as well as encouraging success and creativity in others through positive leadership, inclusion, and coproduction.
Dr Tracey Vell MBE
Medical Director
Dr Vell has worked in general practice for 25 years. She joined the LMC 24 years ago as a GP Registrar representative and becoming chief executive in 2013.
In 2013 also became the Chair of the Association of Greater Manchester LMCs. She persevered to bring primary care to the GMH&SC Devolution programme and now works as associate lead for primary and community care for the GMHSCP.
She has recently also taken on the role of clinical director for Health Innovation Manchester to spread innovation across health and care settings.
She supports,advises and works amongst GPs and is passionate about the need for front-line clinicians to direct strategy with an approach that tackles wider determinants of health.
She was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s honours in 2018 for her work.
Gareth Thomas
Digital Innovation Director
Gareth Thomas joined the Greater Manchester health and care system early 2023 as Digital Innovation Director. He joined as part of a joint appointment between Health Innovation Manchester, and NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care.
Gareth’s previous role was Deputy National Chief Clinical Information Officer (CCIO) within the Transformation Directorate at NHS England, where he brought clinical leadership to national policy, strategy, systems liaison, and workforce development initiatives.
He is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine and Anaesthesia, and worked as Clinical Director at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to his national role he was the Group Chief Clinical Information Officer at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.