Movers and Shakers news roundup

Our latest Movers and Shakers features a new chair of the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) and the appointment of the first ever integrated care board (ICB) chief executive from a minority ethnic background.

Baroness Nicola Blackwood has been appointed as chair of the HDRS.

NHS England invited applications for the inaugural chair and chief executive of the service in August and Zubir Ahmed, health innovation minister, announced Blackwood’s appointment on 25 November during a speech in London.

Blackwood is chair of Oxford University Innovation and Genomics England and serves on the boards of biotechnology company BioNTech and investment fund RTW Biotech Opportunities.

Dr Bishoy Dimitri has joined Dedalus as chief clinical information officer (CCIO) and clinical lead for the UK and Ireland.

He was previously CCIO at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and vice chair of the Digital Health Networks CCIO Advisory Panel.

Dr Nnenna Osuji has been confirmed as chief executive of North East London Integrated Care Board (ICB).

She is joining from Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, where she serves as hospital chief executive for North Middlesex University Hospital and community services.

Dame Linda Pollard has stepped down as chair of the NHS Counter Fraud Authority after just four months in the role. She told HSJ that she resigned due to the death of her husband.

Frances O’Callaghan will leave her joint role at North Central London and North West London ICBs to become chief executive at NHS Blood and Transplant, just two months after taking up the post. She is due to move in February 2026.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust’s chief operating officer, Ade Odunlade, took over as interim chief executive on 1 December 2025.

Former Conservative MP Andy Carter will joint Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHTH) next year.

He is joining ahead of a planned merger between WHTH and Bridgewater Community Healthcare FT in April 2026. Both organisations currently share a chief executive, Nik Khashu.

Matthew Shaw will take over as chief executive of St George’s, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals and Health Group in spring 2026.

He will be leaving his job as chief executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, which he has led since 2018.

Jackie Smith is departing as chair of the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust at the end of this year, a few days after its board is due to decide whether to agree a close partnership with either Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, or the Royal Surrey/Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The Health Foundation has appointed Daniel Law as its new director of analysis. Law has been deputy director for strategy at NHS England since 2022.

He recently led analysis for the government’s 10 year health plan and was secretariat for Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the NHS.

Ergéa, a pan-European healthcare company specialising in diagnostic imaging and cancer care, has appointed David Rolfe as Group chief executive and named Mark Graves as chief executive of Ergéa UK.