Leading GP joins our board

We’re pleased to welcome a respected leader in health, Dr Nikita Kanani, as a new Trustee to our board.

Nikita is a practising GP, based close to the heart of our place in South East London. Since 2018, Nikita has been the Medical Director for Primary Care for NHS England and NHS Improvement; the first woman to be appointed to this post. In this role she has driven forward the delivery of even better treatment and services for patients across primary care settings in the UK.

Over her career, Nikita has held a range of positions within healthcare to support the development of innovative models, as well as highly engaged clinical, patient, and public leadership. Prior to joining NHS England as Deputy Medical Director of Primary Care, she was Chief Clinical Officer of NHS Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). She sits on The King’s Fund General Advisory Group, acting as an expert voice on the challenges in the health system and engaging in future thinking about healthcare improvement.

Nikita added; “the pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the health inequalities in our communities and I’m looking forward to working with the Foundation and our partners on how we can address these.”

Kieron Boyle, our Chief Executive, added: “Nikita brings a unique mix of local and national experience to our board, in her role as a South London GP and as a national clinical leader. Her experience and determination in tackling health inequalities will be invaluable as we continue to grow our impact as an urban health foundation.”

Nikita joins nine other experts on our board. Together, they help shape the strategic direction of our urban health work, our efforts to support Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to provide exceptional care, and how we manage our assets for health impact.