Biography
Frances is a senior communications professional with over 25 years' experience in healthcare. Before joining the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in 2017, she worked in-house for multinational corporations (Lilly, GSK, GE Healthcare) and also for leading PR consultancies in London and New York.
Working across NIHR's distributed structure and in close partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, Frances is now responsible for engaging the academic community, health, public health and social care professionals, industry and charity stakeholders, patients, service users, patients and the public in research and the work of NIHR. Her role encompasses brand management, media relations, digital communications, events and campaigns, and employee engagement.
COVID-19 has dominated the last year, with NIHR prioritising, funding and/or delivering world-leading research into treatments and vaccines. NIHR is now working to restore a more balanced portfolio of research. Other areas of focus include ensuring that the research community and the people who participate in this research reflect the diversity of our society, developing research that meets the needs of people with multiple long-term conditions (multi-morbidity), and transforming the delivery of clinical trials.
