Our Board

Professor Mark Britnell

Chair of Health Innovation Manchester

Professor Mark Britnell joined Health Innovation Manchester as its new chair in September 2024, joining the board of senior leaders to accelerate world-leading innovation to improve the lives of Greater Manchester’s 2.8m population. Mark brings his vast experience of global public and private health systems across 81 countries, having led organisations at local, regional and national levels.

Mark, who is originally from Chester, has dedicated all his 35 years of professional experience to the development of healthcare around the world, working in 81 countries. He was vice chair of KPMG UK until the end of December 2022 and before that was Global Chairman and Senior Partner for Healthcare, Government and Infrastructure at KPMG International.  

In 2000, Mark was appointed Chief Executive of University Hospitals Birmingham, where he masterminded the largest new hospital build in NHS history, and later went on to run the NHS South Central region before joining the NHS management board as Director General at the Department of Health, including leading the national NHS innovation strategy at the time.  

He is a Trustee of The King’s Fund, a professor at the Global Business School for Health at University College London and an adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. 

Steve Oldfield CB

Deputy Chair of Health Innovation Manchester

Steve Oldfield CB was appointed non-executive director at Health Innovation Manchester in February 2023.

Steve has international leadership experience across the private and public sector, in healthcare and life sciences. He was appointed Chief Commercial Officer at the Department of Health and Social Care in 2017, where he worked at the centre of healthcare policy & operations throughout Brexit and COVID-19. Steve was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 2021 in recognition of his work on the COVID 19 response

Steve was formerly Chief Operating Officer for PGT Healthcare, a consumer-health joint venture between Procter & Gamble and Teva, and UK Managing Director for the Sanofi Group. He has strong record of delivery against ambitious targets and has successfully led major organisation transformation initiatives.

Steve was previously a non-executive director at Genomics England Ltd, and a member of the Advisory Board of Healthcare UK. He was the Chair of EU Medicines Group (EMG), UK Government Medicines Access Group (MAG) and Metrics Oversight Group (MOG), He was also an ABPI Board member, and a member of the UK NHS Industry Council & Accelerated Access Group.

Prof Ben Bridgewater

Chief Executive, Health Innovation Manchester

Ben Bridgewater is Chief Executive of Health Innovation Manchester, a place-based innovation organisation with a vision to be world leading in improving the lives of local people, transforming care and boosting the economy through innovation. Since 2018, Ben has led the organisation through a period of growth and transformation, securing significant external investment and delivering nationally recognised programmes such as the Greater Manchester Care Record and pioneering work in obesity care.

Ben is also the Executive Chair of the Health Innovation Network, representing England’s 15 regional health innovation networks nationally. He spearheads the Network’s mission to harness innovation to improve health outcomes and drive economic growth.

Ben 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.

He brings extensive experience as a former cardiac surgeon for 18 years,  as a clinical leader and innovator, with a track record of delivering national policy, leading digital transformation, and forging major NHS-industry partnerships.

Dr Mark Chakravarty

Non-Executive Director

Dr Mark Chakravarty was appointed non-executive director at Health Innovation Manchester in January 2023.

Mark is a business leader and physician with more 20 years’ international leadership experience in both the private and public sector, including Novartis, Procter and Gamble and the NHS. He has worked in a variety of roles, including medical, scientific, external relations and communications.

Mark is currently the Vice Chair of the unitary board of directors at National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE). He was formerly the global head of communications and patient advocacy for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and also led communications for the feminine and family care sector at Procter & Gamble.

Anthony Hassall

Chief Executive of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

Anthony joined Pennine Care as Chief Executive in April 2022.

He was previously Regional Chief People Officer at NHS England and Improvement North West, and before that was Chief Accountable Officer at Salford Clinical Commissioning Group for six years. At Salford Clinical Commissioning Group, Anthony led a successful team who achieved an NHS England and Improvement ‘outstanding’ rating every year.

Prior to his role in Salford, Anthony worked at Board and senior level in a range of NHS organisations in Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Merseyside.

Anthony is Chair of the North West mental health, learning disability and autism collaborative, which ensures the voice of NHS trusts specialising in these areas across the region are represented and heard at a national level.

His earlier experience includes being trustee of a mental health charity and leading a service user engagement programme to redesign community services in a US mental health organisation.

Anthony has led work regionally around inequalities and inclusion and is also currently trustee of the Salford Foundation charity where he lives, which supports people with mental and physical health challenges back into employment and training.

Dr Helen Routh

Non-Executive Director

Dr. Helen Routh is a board director, advisor and senior executive with more than 25 years’ healthcare technology experience in business management, strategy and innovation. She currently works with public and private companies and clinical groups focused on the use of data to drive new solutions, business models and outcome improvements.

As well as being a non-executive director at Health Innovation Manchester, Dr Routh is currently non-executive Chair of Ultromics, and non-executive Director of Agfa Gevaert N.V. She is also an advisor to Nina Capital.

Previously, Helen held senior business and functional roles at Philips, leading teams in the Americas, Europe and Asia, working with multi-billion businesses and new ventures. Her responsibilities included Philips corporate research in North America, Senior VP and General Manager of the global clinical informatics businesses, and Senior VP Strategy and Innovation working across all the professional and consumer health businesses at Philips.

Professor Colin Scales

Acting Chief Executive, NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care

Professor Ashley Blom

Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, University of Manchester

Professor Ashley Blom MBChB MD PhD FRCS (Tr&Orth) FMedSci joins the University of Manchester as the new Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology from the University of Sheffield where he was the Vice-President and Head of the Faculty of Health. He is an Orthopaedic surgeon whose research covers a broad range of basic science and applied methodologies primarily focussing on arthroplasty. He is part of the team that holds the contract to analyse the National Joint Registry, the largest arthroplasty database in the world. He is an NIHR Senior Investigator, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and past President of the European Orthopaedic Research Society.

Dr Tracey Vell

Chief Officer, Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board and PC Provider Collaborative

Dr Vell has worked in general practice for 30 years and for the NHS for 34 years. She has political, digital, business and educational leadership backgrounds.

She has been involved in LMC leadership, educational leadership and in business start-ups across her years in practice.

She held the role of medical director for Health Innovation Manchester to spread innovation across all health and care settings for 6 years.

She persevered to bring primary care providers to the GMH&SC Devolution programme and has worked as lead for primary care for the GM health and social care partnership for 11 years and continues to do so as Chief Officer of the primary care provider collaborative. She developed GP excellence as a peer- based Quality Improvement and leadership development academy and connected front line primary care providers to ICS strategy.

She supports, advises and works amongst GPs and is passionate about the need for front-line providers 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.

Roger Spencer

Chief Executive, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Roger Spencer is Chief Executive at The Christie, having previously worked as Interim Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer.

Roger has managed significant service developments including satellite radiotherapy & chemotherapy centres across Greater Manchester, transforming delivery of Christie services to an outpatient model. He directed the establishment of Christie partnerships for pharmacy, pathology, specialist diagnostic services and private patients & our academic investment plan. Roger leads for Greater Manchester in the National Cancer Vanguard developing & testing new models of care. In 2016 Roger led the Trust to a CQC Outstanding rating and is in the top 15 chief executives ranked by the HSJ in 2017. Roger leads the Christie in delivering the first national Proton Therapy service in the UK, operational in 2018.

Roger holds an MBA, an honours degree in Nursing Studies, is a Registered Nurse and is an independent director of Southway Housing Trust.

Roger previously worked at Salford Royal, East Lancashire Hospitals & Greater Manchester SHA.

Professor Deborah James

Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor Health and Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University

My research and knowledge exchange projects have been funded by the Economic Social Research Council, Technology Strategy Board and National Institute of Health Research and have explored relationship-based interventions and their impact within and around families in schools, health and social care settings.

I am currently co-designing relationship-based leadership practice with early years leaders in Greater Manchester and am a senior academic advisor on the Nuffield Strategic Fund award; Local learning, national change: data and voice to improve children’s lives.

I led the development of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Health and Education at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Mark Cubbon

Chief Executive, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

Mark Cubbon is Group Chief Executive of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust since April 2023 and has worked in the NHS for his entire career.  He joined the NHS as a nurse in Greater Manchester in 1992.

Prior to his role in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, he was Chief Delivery Officer for NHS England.

Mark has held a range of senior leadership roles in his career, including Chief Executive at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, regional Chief Operating Officer for NHS Improvement in the Midlands and East of England, and several director roles in London NHS trusts, including Moorfields Eye Hospital, Whipps Cross and Barts Health.

Professor Duncan Ivison

President and Vice Chancellor of The University of Manchester

Professor Duncan Ivison, FAHA FRSN, is President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester. He holds degrees from McGill University and the London School of Economics. With over 20 years at the University of Sydney, Duncan has extensive experience in academic leadership, including roles as Dean and Deputy Vice Chancellor. A distinguished political and moral philosopher, he’s received numerous awards and held visiting positions at prestigious institutions worldwide. Duncan is passionate about public engagement and building partnerships between universities, communities, industry, and governments.

Professor Vicky Halliwell

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Health, Community & Life Sciences, University of Salford

I am the Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Health, Community and Life Sciences and Professor of Industry Collaboration in Health Care Education at the University of Salford. I have extensive executive leadership experience spanning higher education, health and care systems, workforce transformation, research collaboration and civic engagement.
My career has focused on building strategic partnerships that drive innovation, knowledge exchange and measurable impact across health, education and industry.

My leadership extends across major strategic health and education initiatives. I have served as Chair of the Greater Manchester Allied Health Professions Council, co-leading the development of its regional strategy, and as a member of the Council of Deans of Health England and Chair of the Council of Deans North West. I have also contributed nationally through NHS England and Health Education England programmes, including the Allied Health Professions Preceptorship and Foundation Support Steering Group and the development of the Allied Health Careers Development Framework.

A key aspect of my role is enabling research and innovation partnerships across the University’s Faculty of Health, Community and Life Sciences. I actively support the development and translation of research excellence spanning life sciences, human movement and rehabilitation, applied health and care research, digital health innovation, workforce
development and models of integrated care. I am particularly committed to advancing research that addresses inclusion, societal challenges, health inequalities and social justice, ensuring that research evidence informs policy, practice and service transformation for the benefit of communities.

My work focuses on fostering environments where academic expertise, professional practice and industry insight come together to address complex societal and health challenges.

I have also led the development of the University’s £55 million Thrive Health and Wellbeing Building, from initial concept and business case through to construction and delivery. Opening in January 2027, the facility will provide a flagship environment for interdisciplinary education, research, innovation and enterprise, strengthening collaboration between academia, industry, healthcare providers and communities.

My approach is characterised by collaborative leadership, strategic vision and a commitment to using education, research, innovation and knowledge exchange to improve health outcomes, tackle inequalities and deliver lasting societal impact.