Strategy Board Members
Professor Quentin M. Anstee
Pro-vice Chancellor Faculty of Medical Sciences,
Newcastle University and Director of Newcastle Health Research Partnership
Professor Anstee is the Pro-vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University and currently the Ruth & Lionel Jacobson Chair of Personalised Medicine. A practising clinician, Quentin’s translational and clinical research has extended from the bench to the bedside with particular focus on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of Metabolic-dysfunction Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD).
He is also an NIHR Senior Investigator and has been named as one of the world’s most influential researchers in the Web of Science list of Highly Cited Researchers, amongst the top 1% of scientists by citation metrics.
Martin Dixon
Chief Operating Officer, Newcastle Health Research Partnership
Martin holds a dual role as the NHRP Chief Operating Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre.
In his expanded role with NHRP, Martin is committed to fostering collaboration across the partnership’s five member organisations. He plays a key role in aligning regional research strengths, building cross-sector relationships, and driving forward NHRP’s ambitious plans to maximise research impact. His continued leadership within the NIHR Newcastle BRC enables him to bring valuable insights and connections to NHRP, helping to catalyse innovation and deliver benefits for patients across the North East and beyond.
Rob Harrison
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Rob was appointed interim Chief Executive Officer in February 2024, taking responsibility for day-to-day management of Newcastle upon Tyne hospitals and services, on behalf of the chief executive and working through clinical board leadership teams.
Rob was previously managing director at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, having joined in 2020 from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, where he served as chief operating officer for ten years.
He holds a postgraduate diploma in health service management and a bachelor’s degree in applied biochemistry, and worked in pharmaceutical research prior to joining the NHS graduate management training scheme.
James Duncan
Chief Executive, Cumbria, Northumberland,
Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
James Duncan has worked as a Director in mental health and disabilities services with CNTW and its predecessors for over 20 years and was appointed as the Chief Executive in February 2022.
He is passionate about the services that his organisation provides, the people that services support, our region and our people, the need to tackle long term inequalities and the role that research can and should play in improving the work that we do with and alongside our communities.
Pam Smith
Chief Executive Officer, Newcastle City Council
Pam joined Newcastle City Council as Chief Executive in January 2022 having been Chief Executive at Stockport Council since 2017 where she was also Greater Manchester’s Lead Chief Executive for ‘Age Friendly Greater Manchester’, and she continues to be the Solace lead spokesperson for Housing.
Pam is passionate about people, communities and neighbourhoods and believes strongly in working with residents and colleagues from across the region to achieve the very best outcomes for the city. Pam sees the Newcastle Health Research Partnership as a critical enabler to achieving those aims, tackling inequalities and improving the health, wealth and wellbeing of people in the North East.
Dr Joanne Atkinson
Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Northumbria University
Joanne is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Northumbria University. Joanne has been in leadership roles within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences since 2010.
She is an expert in palliative and end of life care, following a career in this sphere of practice and she continues to work across these disciplines at a regional, national and international level. She has a wealth of external experience in multi-professional health and social care workforce development.
Sam Allen
Chief Executive, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB)
Sam was appointed as chief executive in January 2022 ahead of the ICB becoming a statutory organisation in April 2022.
In addition to her NHS career, which spans more than 30 years, Sam is also the National Director for Management and Leadership at NHS England and Chair of the Health and Care Women Leaders Network for the NHS Confederation
Professor John Isaacs
Associate Medical Director for Research,
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Chair of the Newcastle Health Research Partnership Research Oversight Committee
John Isaacs is Professor of Clinical Rheumatology and Director of Therapeutics North East at Newcastle University. He is also Associate Medical Director for Research and Consultant Rheumatologist at Newcastle Hospitals.
Prof Isaacs is a NIHR Senior Investigator, and past Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology. From 2007 to 2017 he chaired Arthritis Research UK’s Inflammatory Arthritis Clinical Study Group, developing a competitive research agenda for the UK. He also led the MRC/ABPI RA-MAP consortium, pioneering precision medicine for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Prof Isaacs runs a research group focussed on ‘switching off’ autoimmunity in order to prevent or cure diseases such as RA. He believes we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in this field and his team has pioneered a novel cellular therapy to switch off RA.
Professor Dave Jones
Professor of Liver Immunology, Newcastle University and PI for the UK-PBC Research Consortium
Chair of the Newcastle Health Research Partnership Training Oversight Committee
Professor Dave Jones leads the internationally renowned autoimmune liver disease clinical service in Newcastle, hosted by the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust (NUTH). He has worked in the area of the autoimmune liver disease Primary Biliary Cholangitis (PBC) for over 25 years, starting as an MRC Clinical Research and Clinician Scientist Fellow. Working initially on the underpinning biology of the disease he has translated key mechanistic discoveries into new approaches to therapy.
In addition to his clinical and research work he as a long interest in training and is the NIHR Dean for Faculty Trainees. He has played a key role in the development of new integrated academic pathways which will play a key role in developing the next generation of researchers in the area of Stratified Medicine and its underpinning technologies.
In June 2018 he was awarded an OBE for his services to Liver Medicine and Clinical Academic Training.
Dr Vicky McFarlane Reid
Director for Commercial Development and Innovation, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Vicky joined Newcastle Hospitals in September 2019 as executive director for business, development and enterprise. She is responsible for the development of the commercial enterprise team, which seeks to maximise the organisation’s ability to deliver non-NHS revenues which can be reinvested back into patient care.
Business planning, strategy management, service development, performance and contracting are also within her remit, and she is the executive sponsor for sustainable healthcare and climate change.
Vicky has a PhD in molecular ecology and a BSc in biology. Before joining Newcastle Hospitals, she spent 17 years working for Leica Biosystems (a Danaher company) in the field of cancer diagnostics, as director for research and development.
