Who's Speaking?

Victor is Chief Executive of Turning Point, the health and social care not for profit business providing services to individuals with a learning disability, mental health, substance misuse difficulties and in employment and criminal justice. The organisation is also a major provider of Progress 2 Work, and has designed, implemented and grown Connected Care community commissioning and service design.

Unusually for someone who took English, Ancient History and Latin A Levels, Kate studied medicine at Manchester University, qualifying in 1986, where she was awarded the Professor Patrick Byrne Prize for General Practice. After working in a number of acute clinical specialties, she decided to specialise in Public Health.

John Ashton was born in Liverpool and has spent most of his professional life based there whilst working across the North West. He has always striven to connect academic and service Public Health with political and social action for health improvement.

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward CB is the first-ever Chair of Public Health Wales – a new unified NHS Trust responsible for the delivery of public health services at national, local and community level in Wales.  He was Chair of the Wales Centre for Health, an Assembly Government Sponsored Body established to be the ‘hub of connected organisations’ and to communicate better health messages to the people of Wales. 

Helen Baker was formerly a primary teacher, an adviser with the Lincolnshire Healthy Schools programme and the East Midlands Regional Development Manager for Pyramid.
Helen joined ContinYou in August 2007 when Pyramid and ContinYou merged and she has been working as a national Project Manager for Skilled for Health since April 2008.

Was appointed Director General: Social Care in the Department of Health in June 2006.  He took up post in September 2006.  From November 2003 he was the first Chief Inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection.  From 1996 to 2003 he was Director of Social Services, London Borough of Greenwich and a member of the Greenwich Primary Care Trust Board and the Professional Executive Committee. 

Chris qualified in Medicine at University College Hospital, London in 1977, and worked in London Teaching Hospitals until 1981, having achieved Membership of the Royal College of Physicians. There then followed seven years in Somalia, initially working in the refugee health programme, with Save the Children Fund, and subsequently developing village-based health care with UNICEF, completing the tour as Advisor to the Somali Government on Primary Health Care.

Dame Carol is the first National Director for Health and Work, a Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Chair of the Nuffield Trust. Dame Carol was elected to the Council of Royal College of Physicians in 1996 and became Clinical Vice President in 1999. In 2002 she was President of the Royal College of Physicians; a post she stepped down from in July 2006. She is Chair of the UK Health Honours Committee, a member of the Council of the GMC and a member of the Board of the British Cardiovascular Society. In addition, she is non-executive director of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and a member of the Board of Governors of the Health Foundation. In 2002 Dame Carol was awarded the CBE for her work on systemic sclerosis and in 2005 was awarded the DBE for her services to medicine.

Simon Blake is national director of Brook, the leading provider of integrated sexual health services specifically for young people across the UK and Jersey (www.brook.org.uk).  Brook aims to help all young people enjoy their sexuality without harm.  Simon led the review of Brook's organisational design and governance structure which led to the move to become one organisation, due to launch in April 2011.