Healthcare Advisor & former Chair, NICE

Gillian Leng has had a long career in academia and public service, supporting quality improvement through the use of evidence-based guidelines and policy. As a junior doctor she was struck by variations in clinical practice and this developed into a passion for using evidence to improve care. Her career has spanned research, evidence synthesis, management, healthcare and the life sciences. She spent over 20 years in senior roles at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, becoming only its second Chief Executive. She published a new 5 year strategy for the organisation aiming to put NICE at the forefront of evaluating new medicines, devices and diagnostics, and delivering dynamic, living guidelines. Gillian trained in medicine at Leeds, worked on clinical trials and epidemiological research in Edinburgh, and was a public health consultant in London. She was an editor of the Cochrane Collaboration, chair of the Guidelines International Network and is a visiting professor at King’s College London and an affiliate professor at the National University of Singapore.