Ian started his career in the NHS as a scientist and, after qualifying, worked in the field of hereditary coagulation disorders before moving into NHS Leadership in 1990.
Since then, he has held a variety of NHS general management posts including over 11 years as Chief Executive of an acute hospital trust, three years as the Chief Executive of a healthcare commissioning organisation, and three years as the Chief Executive of the NHS West Midlands Strategic Health Authority. From 2012 to 2020, Ian was Chief Executive of Health Education England (HEE), the largest education and training organisation in the world, responsible for the education, training and development of the current and future NHS workforce.
Ian has a personal interest in both pre-hospital care and in sports medicine, an area in which he holds an MSc. Through his role with Health Education England, Ian was keen to see the paramedic profession flourish. He remains determined to keep the Trust at the forefront of developing patient care and embrace the future delivery of healthcare. This could be through the potential use of robotics, artificial intelligence, genomics, home-based clinical informatics and the ‘internet of things’. Together, these will bring huge opportunities for WMAS together with the evolving role of paramedics in the delivery of healthcare away from the traditional role in 999 services, bringing an array of exciting opportunities for WMAS.
In addition to his role as Trust Chairman, Ian also holds roles as Professor of Global Healthcare Workforce and Strategy at Keele University and is the UK Senior Responsible Officer for Health in the Overseas Territories, and the NHS Global Workforce Ambassador.
In 2003 Ian was awarded an OBE for services to the NHS and in 2010 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. Ian has also been recognised with honorary degrees from 5 universities.
Ian has an interest in sport and exercise medicine, is a qualified level 3 swimming coach, a keen snow skier and enjoys sailing and hill-walking.