Internet Explorer is no longer supported by Microsoft. To browse the NIHR site please use a modern, secure browser like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge.

Professor Lucy Chappell begins role as NIHR Chief Executive

Published: 02 August 2021

Professor Lucy Chappell has today taken up her new post as Chief Executive of the NIHR.

Professor Chappell - an NIHR Research Professor in Obstetrics working at the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s College London – will lead the NIHR as part of her wider role as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care. She takes over leadership of the NIHR from Professor Chris Whitty and will report to him in his capacity as Chief Medical Officer for England.

On secondment into government, while continuing some of her clinical and academic work, Professor Chappell will oversee the NIHR’s £1.3bn budget for health and social care research.

Professor Lucy Chappell said:

“Having been part of the NIHR in different ways over the years, I know first-hand the crucial role it plays in funding, enabling and delivering world-class health and social care research. I’m excited to get started and to work with our extraordinary research community to make a difference to the lives of people and communities across the nation.

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate Professor Whitty for his leadership of the NIHR over the last five years. In addition to his work on COVID-19, I particularly want to recognise him for his commitment to public health and social care and for successfully spearheading NIHR’s entry into global health research.”

Dr Louise Wood CBE, Director of Science, Research and Evidence at the Department of Health and Social Care and NIHR Deputy Chief Executive, said:

“Lucy is arriving at a time when the value of health research has never been higher or clearer. I look forward to partnering with her to deliver against NIHR’s priorities, building on Chris’s remarkable legacy.”

Latest news