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Senior Management Team
Accelerating innovation that transforms health and wellbeing
The Team

Dr Paula Bennett
Associate Director of Clinical Development/Utilisation Management Unit

Richard Deed
Associate Director of Industry

Lloyd Gregory
Academic Partnerships Director
Dr Paula Bennett
Associate Director of Clinical Development/Utilisation Management Unit
Paula has had a long clinical career as an Emergency Nurse leading developments in Advanced Practice, Paediatric emergency care and informatics. She completed a Doctorate at the University of Salford in 2014 after undertaking research into the effectiveness of computerised decision support.
Paula joined HInM in 2016 and now leads the Utilisation Management (UM) Unit. The UM Unit provides specialised urgent and emergency care improvement support to the provider and commissioner organisations in GM and other parts of the UK.
Paula’s passion is high quality urgent and emergency care and the creation of pathways to ensure equitable access to services.
Richard Deed
Associate Director of Industry
Richard manages the industry delivery team that is supported by the Office of Life Science Funding to HInM. This programme has four core functions; 1. Identify need 2. Signpost and support innovators 3. Broker real world evaluations 4. Enhance adoption and spread. This work synergises with the other HInM programmes and activities and is an integral part of the HInM offer to large and small companies plus innovators from academia and the healthcare sector.
With an earlier significant career in oncology research, Richard is experienced in clinical research, analytical thinking, innovation and project management, entrepreneurship and commercialisation, and access to funding.
Lloyd Gregory
Academic Partnerships Director
Lloyd plays a leading role in developing academic partnerships with local, national and international organisations to improve the health and well-being of Greater Manchester’s population. In addition, Lloyd is responsible for education and capacity building within the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC). He is also the Operational Lead for a Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership Award (TPA), providing resource to help unblock bottlenecks to research translation or move existing projects forward along the translational pathway.
Previously, he was the Associate Research Director in Manchester’s Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC). He led the development of the Greater Manchester Research Hub – a regional coordination service supporting the generation and delivery of high quality, high impact, translational and clinical research. Lloyd completed his PhD, in Psychology and Neuroimaging, at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London.

Philippa Guymer
Associate Director of Finance and Contract Management

Julie Halliwell
Associate Director of HR & OD

Jay Hamilton
Associate Director of Health & Implementation/Patient Safety Collaborative Lead
Philippa Guymer
Associate Director of Finance and Contract Management
Philippa is a qualified accountant with extensive knowledge of public sector finance and strategic planning.
She qualified as an accountant in the private sector, where she had over 10 years’ experience of audit and assurance, governance, risk management, management consultancy and corporate finance. She joined Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2007 as Head of Financial Planning where she was responsible for strategic financial planning and the Trust’s costing systems.
At HInM she is responsible for the provision of financial systems to ensure the best possible stewardship of public money, financial sustainability of the organisation ultimately ensuring best value is obtained for patients.
She provides professional and business planning advice to the senior management team, and supports the organisation to deliver the aims and vision as set out in the Business Plan through the performance management of the operational plan.
Julie Halliwell
Associate Director of HR & OD
Julie is the Associate Director of HR & OD.
Jay Hamilton
Associate Director of Health & Implementation/Patient Safety Collaborative Lead
Prior to joining Health Innovation Manchester, Jay worked as a project consultant working with both the NHS and pharmaceutical companies helping them to navigate complex Joint Working arrangements.
Before this Jay worked in pharma in a number of roles including Senior Sales Management, Market Access and Training and Development.
She brings deep insight and understanding to the organisation around collaborative project work and a passion for transforming ideas into action.

Sue Wood
Head of NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM)

Peter Richards
Head Of Communications

Christine Holt
Head of Programme Management Office
Sue Wood
Head of NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester (ARC-GM)
Sue Wood is Head of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester and plays a lead role in the operational management of ARC-GM, one of 15 ARCs across England.
ARC-GM supports health and care research that responds to and meets the needs of local populations and local health and care systems. Sue also has a leadership role in Public Involvement and Engagement ensuring that the diverse communities of Greater Manchester and the Voluntary, Charity and Social Enterprise Groups that work within these communities, have the opportunity to influence and shape the research agenda.
Sue has worked for the NHS in a number of roles, previously as a nurse and then moving into research roles.
To find out more about ARC-GM, please visit: https://www.arc-gm.nihr.ac.uk/
Peter Richards
Head Of Communications
Peter has extensive experience in insight and communications planning across the public sector, health, pharma and consumer industries and leads on the delivery of Health Innovation Manchester’s communications strategy. This includes supporting the communications of our programmes and promoting the role of innovation in Greater Manchester’s health and care system.
In recent times, he’s developed a particular interest in the role of digital innovation in health and care and led the communications on the rollout of the Greater Manchester Care Record – from health and care organisations and frontline workers, and most importantly, to the public. Indeed it’s the impact of Health Innovation Manchester’s work on the citizens of Greater Manchester that drives his interest and bringing this to life through innovative use of communications.
Christine Holt
Head of Programme Management Office
At HInM, Christine is responsible for the APMO function, assuring progress across HInM’s innovation pipeline and delivery portfolio, including tracking, monitoring, risk and issue management are aligned with local, national and regional objectives. Reporting to the Director of Corporate Strategy, working in collaboration with other executives and programme directors, in assuring delivery of the agreed HInM business plan and delivery portfolio.
Prior to joining Health Innovation Manchester, Christine has worked in Programme and Project Management in different areas of Public and Third Sector. Most recently for the NHS at North Manchester Hospital leading on the transaction from Pennine Acute to Manchester Foundation Trust and PMO Manager in the Estates and Facilities Team.
Other key roles: Leading on the Design and Build of the award winning Number One Riverside for Rochdale Borough Council; Lead PM at Chester Zoo delivering key animal enclosure and other visitor attractions. Christine also worked for a number of years as a Civil Servant for the Department of Work and Pensions where she started her project experience working as IT Transformation Lead for Manchester Central District Jobcentre Plus