Fiona Driscoll has been appointed as Chair of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). She will take up the role on 1 July 2021, taking over from Baroness Delyth Morgan, who has held the position since 2015.
Fiona is an experienced Chair and trustee. She is Chair of the Wessex Academic Health Science Network and Chair of Women on Boards. She is a Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair of UKRI, a Trustee of King Edward VII’s Hospital, a Non-Executive Director of BotOptions (UK) plc and a Member of HM Treasury’s Major Projects Review Panel.
She is also accomplished commercially, focussing on strategy, through innovation, transformation and commercialisation, and effective governance and risk management, together with the EDI agenda.
Fiona Driscoll said:
“I am delighted to be joining the team at NCRI, and at such a critical moment as we build back better from the pandemic. There has never been a greater need for us to work together – with our Partners, with cancer patients and survivors and with HM Government – to tackle the backlog in diagnosis and treatment and to accelerate the progress of cancer research.
Dr Iain Frame said:
“Fiona’s appointment is great news for the NCRI Partnership. She brings a wealth of relevant experience in strategy, communications and influencing at very senior levels. She will be a huge asset to all of us at NCRI as we look to develop to best serve funders, the research community and patients to benefit from research. These are exciting times, and I’m delighted that I’ll be working with Fiona during them.”
NCRI would like to thank Baroness Delyth Morgan for her contribution to NCRI. She has held the role for six years, during which she oversaw NCRI evolving from an informal partnership to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and established the first Board of Trustees.
During Delyth’s time as chair, NCRI has launched its pathology initiative, CMPath, created the strategy advisory group and launched the living with and beyond cancer initiative.
Delyth has also supported NCRI during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen charity partners’ fundraising disrupted. Reduced income and the shift to virtual working has resulted in several significant changes for NCRI. Delyth has helped NCRI keep up momentum in key areas and fulfil our purpose of improving health and quality of life by accelerating progress in cancer-related research.
Outgoing Chair, Baroness Delyth Morgan, said:
“Collaboration in the cancer community is vital if we are to do justice for people living with cancer. The original goal of NCRI is even more pressing today as we strive to rebuild the UK’s cancer research portfolio in the face of the existential challenge COVID-19 represents. We need NCRI to bring us together, shape our debates and facilitate our networks to help us be greater than the sum of our individual organisations’ contributions. That is what our beneficiaries and the public expect, and with Fiona and Iain at the helm, I know NCRI will deliver. I would like to thank my fellow trustees, the consumers and the staff for all your support during my terms of office and wish you all well for the future.”
The Chair of the NCRI Board of Trustees serves a term of three years and may be re-appointed at the end of the term, up to a maximum of three consecutive terms. A nominations committee led the recruitment with Saxton Bampfylde appointed as the search agency, following a competitive process.