Executive team

Dr Sam Roberts is the chief executive of NICE.

Before joining us in February 2022, Sam was the managing director of health and care at Legal and General, a financial services firm. In this role, she had responsibility for identifying promising areas for investment across health and care.

Prior to that, Sam was the first chief executive of the Accelerated Access Collaborative. This is a national umbrella organisation for health innovation, hosted by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI).

She originally trained as a doctor and practiced medicine in South Africa, the UK, and Australia before undertaking an MBA. She then joined McKinsey and Company, where she worked in a wide range of industries before specialising in healthcare.

After McKinsey, Sam moved into the NHS as a senior manager at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She was also a director in UCLPartners, an Academic Health Sciences Centre and Network. Last year, she took on the role of director of innovation, research and life sciences at NHSEI.

Over the last 5 years Sam has become involved in research, working with health economic models to inform evidence-based policy at the London School of Economics. She then moved to the University of Oxford where she undertook a DPhil (Doctor of Philosophy).

Jonathan is our deputy chief executive and chief medical officer. From March 2023 he has also acted as interim director of the centre for guidelines. 

Prior to this he was the interim chief clinical information officer (CCIO) at NHS England (2022), the chief medical officer (CMO) of NHS Digital (2019 to 2022), and the national clinical director for urgent and emergency care at NHS England (2013 to 2019).

In his clinical work, Jonathan is a consultant in emergency medicine at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and also does regular shifts with the Great Western Air Ambulance, which he established as its first medical advisor between 2007 and 2011.

Jonathan is professor of emergency care in the school of health and social wellbeing at the University of the West of England, and a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) senior investigator. His main research interests relate to cardiac arrest, emergency and pre-hospital care, service organization and delivery, and design research.

Helen joined us in January 2023 as chief people officer. 

She has over 25 years of experience in human resources and has held a variety of HR roles. Initially Helen built her career in the retail industry and over the last 12 years has worked within MedTech for Medtronic. Within Medtronic Helen has served as the HR director looking after three business units across Europe in Neuroscience.  Prior to this Helen partnered with the business as HR director for the UK and Ireland. 

In her roles Helen has ensured close alignment with the business strategies and has been heavily involved in transformation. Helen is a true partner with the business and is particularly passionate about talent management. Helen strongly endorses a culture where people at all levels feel fulfilled and included. 

A fellow of the CIPD Helen holds a Diploma in HR Management and a BA (Hons) in Sociology and Social Policy from Durham University and has also completed a certificate programme in organisational development with NTL. 

Mark joined us in 2022 as director of HealthTech. This includes diagnostics, digital and medtech that can be implantable or assistive. Mark has 30 years of experience in the medtech arena. He initially trained as a Clinical Physiologist, and worked for 10 years within the UK NHS, Tertiary Cardiac Care, with a specialist interest in complex cardiac devices.

Moving into Industry in 2001, holding various clinical and commercial roles. In parallel, he has held roles, including committee member on our technology appraisal programme. Is a past member of the External Advisory Board, University of Leeds EPSRC Centre for innovative Manufacturing of Medical Devices. Mark has also undertaken secondment within the UK Government, Office for Life science, Department of Business, as MedTech Policy Advisor. Since 2014 Mark was the Director of Health Economics and Commissioning for UK & Ireland at Medtronic.

Jane joined us in 2008 and is responsible for the delivery of our strategic communications programme. Jane graduated from the University of New Brunswick in Canada with a BA Honours degree in political science. She subsequently obtained an MA in this field from Carleton University in Ottawa and went on to undertake a graduate journalism programme at the same university.

Jane was previously the head of corporate communications at the Medical Research Council, the UK's largest publicly funded medical research organisation. Her remit covered the full spectrum of corporate communications, including strategic development, public involvement and consultation, media relations and brand management.

Jane has worked extensively in the political field in Canada, including as press secretary for the official opposition and former prime minister of Canada and as director of communications for the Canadian Federation of Labour. Jane has also held senior positions in charitable organisations including the Scout Association and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

Nick had a 20-year career in analytical science, process technology and general management in the chemical, pharmaceutical and contract laboratory industries prior to joining NICE in 2010. His initial role was to establish and manage the diagnostics assessment programme and he was later appointed programme director, scientific affairs. Nick currently oversees our science, evidence and analytics directorate.

He has broad scientific and policy interests relating to the evaluation of technologies and interventions to support the development of clinical, public health and social care guidance. His experience includes consideration of health technology assessment (HTA) issues arising from the availability of novel new products such as cell and gene therapies and work on methods issues relating to the evaluation of antimicrobials.

Nick was the NICE lead on a collaborative pilot project with NHS England to develop and test innovative models for the evaluation and purchase of antimicrobials. Nick also has interests around the alignment of regulatory and HTA processes and collaborates closely with national and international regulators.

Helen is the director of medicines evaluation at NICE.

Helen is responsible for designing and operating methods and systems to produce national guidance and other advice on medicines and other relevant therapies for the NHS in England. With an academic background in biochemistry and health economics, and over 20 years of experience in health technology assessment, she has extensive knowledge of the principles of evidence-based healthcare, methods and processes of health technology assessment and experience over a wide range of technologies and disease areas.

Clare is our director of impact and partnerships, leading on collaboration with key stakeholders to enable effective implementation of NICE products across health and social care. Her portfolio also includes patient involvement & participation.

Clare was previously the director of strategy at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; leading on organisation and system wide strategy, transformation and partnerships in an integrated care system responsible for tackling some of the worst health inequalities in the UK and Europe. Prior to this Clare was the national life sciences industry and research director for the NIHR Clinical Research Network for thirteen years, during which she spent a year in the South Yorkshire & Bassetlaw Integrated Care System leading on research and innovation. She also brings significant experience of the clinical research ecosystem, gained through roles in contract research organisations, the pharmaceutical industry and within academia.

Clare has a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Immunology and an academic background in biomedical sciences.

Pete is an experienced NHS and DHSC Arm’s-Length Body (ALB) Director of Finance and Corporate Services with a track record of leading effective and efficient delivery and large-scale change. He is passionate about improving the delivery of healthcare for patients and the public; and committed to working inclusively and collaboratively to build a culture that values diversity, fosters trust and promotes innovation and continuous improvement.

Pete joined NHS England in February 2023 as Director of Finance following its merger with NHS Digital. Prior to the merger, he was Chief Financial Officer and previously Finance Director and Commercial Director at NHS Digital from January 2016. In both organisations he led teams through periods of significant change and sustained pressure on delivery.

Between January 2013 and January 2016, Pete was Commercial Director at NHS Yorkshire and Humber Commissioning Support Unit (CSU) and was previously Interim Chief Financial Officer at NHS West Yorkshire CSU. He worked for many years in professional services, focusing on financial management and corporate and project finance, and advising public and private sector organisations including the DHSC and the NHS.