Neelam Patel re-appointed as Non-Executive Director

‘I’m delighted to extend my time with the Health Research Authority. This is a really exciting time to be working in research. The recent recommendations from the Lord O'Shaughnessy review have given us a clear direction to push forward, make changes and play our part to ensure the UK is an attractive place to do research.

‘I have really enjoyed working alongside the amazing volunteers in our Research Ethics Committees and Confidentiality Advisory Group – the work they do is phenomenal and makes a real difference.

‘Over the next three years I’m looking forward to being involved in the work to help accelerate research in the UK. This is a key focus in the HRA’s strategy and I want to use my experience of working in the pharmaceutical industry to help streamline processes and make it easy to do research people can trust.

‘I also want to make sure that research being carried out in the UK involves a more diverse range of participants. By involving people from all backgrounds we can ensure more effective results and I’ll proudly be championing this as part of my role for the next three years.’

‘Working with and learning from Neelam over the past few years has been immensely rewarding for me personally, and for the HRA as an organisation. As a Non-Executive Director, Neelam skilfully balances holding us to account, with providing fresh insights from her extensive experience in the life sciences sector.

'I am delighted that our Minister has appointed Neelam for a second term, and I am excited that Neelam will continue to play a key role for the HRA delivering our strategy of making it easy to do research that people can trust.’