Laurel joins the organisation following the retirement of Baroness Helene Hayman and brings a wealth of business experience primarily from the banking sector, having set up M&S Bank, been a Director at the Court of the Bank of England and is currently Chair of Uber UK.
With the Government in the process of implementing their Industrial Strategy, CUHP is putting in place the measures to deliver collaboration between clinicians, researchers and health-related industries to strengthen Cambridge’s position as the Capital of UK Life Science.
Laurel will lead the CUHP Board as the organisation focuses its efforts on four key areas to assist this work:
• Strengthening the performance of the CUHP partners in taking scientific discoveries into new services for patients
• Developing the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) and the wider health and life science ecosystem around Cambridge
• Acting as an invention and innovation engine for the East of England in conjunction with the Eastern Academic Health Science Network
• Providing a national role in the development of the knowledge economy through the growth of health and life sciences.
Laurel Powers-Freeling, said: “I am delighted to have been asked to Chair CUHP at what I believe is an inflection point for the future of the Partner organisations, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and Cambridge more generally as a powerhouse of development for the city, region and the nation as a whole. CUHP brings together opportunities to pursue my personal passions of innovation, healthcare quality and ever-better patient outcomes, technology and commercial success. I look forward not only to working with the four CUHP partner organisations, but with the broader community of CBC denizens and affiliates and critical governmental and commercial partners.”
Malcolm Lowe-Lauri, Executive Director at CUHP, said: “We would like to thank Baroness Helene Hayman for the excellent contribution she has made in her time as Chair of Cambridge University Health Partners. Through her diplomacy, tact and persistence, she helped develop the organisation into a catalyst for collaboration on the Biomedical Campus and beyond. Laurel therefore joins CUHP at an exciting time as we firmly establish Cambridge as the capital of UK life science. This is an industry which is driving forward the country’s economy with over 400 companies employing in excess of 13,000 people in the city. The challenge is to this sustain this success by bringing forward the projects to grow the sector, enhancing the clusters across Cambridge and creating employment throughout the region. With Laurel’s ambition, experience and insight, the next few years will see CUHP raise the profile of life science and Cambridge even further to deliver growth for the UK.”