Representing two of the city’s largest institutions, Leeds City Council’s new Chief Executive Ed Whiting and the University of Leeds’ new Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West joined the board of what is one of the biggest and most diverse of its kind in the UK – Leeds Academic Health Partnership.
The board comprises the chief executives and vice-chancellors of the Partner’s member organisations from across the city and the region.
Now entering its 10th year, the Partnership focuses on transforming health and care through research and innovation. It brings together expertise from across member organisations to help solve some of the city’s hardest health challenges, prioritising people experiencing the greatest inequalities.
Its achievements include:
- Conceiving and launching the Leeds Health and Care Academy – a pioneering approach and the first of its kind in the UK, supporting the learning and development for the city’s 60,000 people working in health and care.
- Establishing the region’s first cross-sector healthtech partnership, now a flourishing West Yorkshire Healthtech Cluster supporting the region’s healthtech strategy.
- Helping secure around £7 million in commercial investment and grant funding for personalised medicine focusing on research to transform cancer diagnostics and care for people with frailty.
- Launching Health Innovation Leeds, the city’s first unified approach to showcasing the city’s marketing leading strengths in this sector.
- Commissioning independent research* which shows that Leeds is a top UK health innovation hub and part of a wider West Yorkshire ecosystem.
The University of Leeds, part of the research-intensive Russell Group, is the largest of the three universities in the Partnership. Each covers complementary areas of health research which address some of today’s most pressing challenges.
Professor Shearer West said: “Our University’s health research excellence and impact is internationally renowned, so I’m delighted to have this opportunity to shape our support and impact right here in Leeds. This Partnership provides the ideal vehicle to ensure our focus on disease prevention and early, effective treatments of ill health also aligns with and responds to the city’s most pressing health needs.”
Leeds City Council is leading the development of the city’s £2 billion Innovation Arc, one of the largest regeneration schemes in the north of England. The Arc underlines Leeds’ position as an internationally recognised innovation hub, co-locating cutting edge academic research, world-leading clinical expertise and a global community of entrepreneurial businesses.
Ed Whiting said: “I welcome the opportunity to join this Partnership board as part of our city’s ‘Team Leeds’ approach to transforming health and care, especially for those most in need.
“As a city and a local authority, our commitment to inclusive growth underscores the important and complex link between health and wealth. This diverse Partnership provides the ideal forum for us to embrace that complexity and harness the city’s and region’s outstanding strengths to improve our population’s health and wellbeing.”
Also new to the Partnership board this month is Laura Squire, the new Chief Executive, St Gemma’s Hospice, with the following members joining in 2024:
- Kathy Scott, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber
- Magnus Harrison, Medical Director, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director of Inclusive Economy, Skills and Culture, West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Chair of the Partnership board and Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Professor Phil Wood said: “On behalf of the board, I welcome our new members. As the Partnership enters its 10th year, it’s testament to the city’s strong culture of cross-sector collaboration where partners share a common goal to advance health and care for all and help make Leeds a top city in which to live and work.”
* Pursuing Excellence (March 2024) commissioned by Leeds Academic Health Partnership https://healthinnovationleeds.com/pursuing-excellence/
