Health Innovation South West welcomes Will Field as Executive Director of Innovation and Commercial Partnerships
Health Innovation South West is delighted to welcome Will Field, who will join the organisation on 1 October as our new Executive Director of Innovation and Commercial Partnerships. Will joins us at a pivotal time for health and care innovation across the South West and the wider Health Innovation Network.
Will brings more than a decade of senior experience in health innovation policy, strategy and national partnerships across the NHS, life sciences industry, charities, academia and government, alongside significant wider experience in policy, practice and delivery across a number of major government programmes.
Most recently, as Head of Life Sciences Policy at NHS England, he led national policy and strategy work focused on how the NHS partners with industry to translate innovation into adoption at scale.
His career has also included senior roles in the Office for Life Sciences and Department of Health and Social Care, including work on emerging diagnostic technologies and COVID testing strategy during the pandemic.
Why the South West?
Will is clear that the South West represents one of the best and most important places in the country to test, adopt and scale innovation. The region’s rural and coastal context brings to life some of the most pressing challenges facing health and care in the UK and internationally, from access and equity to the need for more digital, preventative, neighbourhood and community-based models of care.
It is also a region with distinctive strengths: a clear role as a rural and coastal testbed, a collaborative and defined group of partners, and the potential to generate learning that can benefit the UK and beyond. As Will puts it, if innovation can transform care here, it can help transform care everywhere.
Will also brings a long-standing personal affinity with the South West. Having moved to the region two years ago, and with family roots in West Penwith, in Cornwall, he joins Health Innovation South West with a genuine connection to the communities and places the organisation serves.
Will said:
I’m hugely excited to be working with colleagues at Health Innovation South West. We have the opportunity to help transform care for patients and families in our region, support the growth of the innovators and companies working in the South West, and lead the way in rural and coastal health for the UK and internationally.
“I’m joining Health Innovation South West because I believe it has the mindset, expertise and ambition needed to deliver on that opportunity: collaborative, progressive and focused on impact.
Will’s appointment comes at an important moment for health innovation. As the NHS continues to navigate significant change and opportunity, Health Innovation Networks have a critical role to play as trusted partners to the NHS, industry, academia and national bodies, helping to drive the transformation needed in health and care.
We are looking forward to working with Will in his role as Executive Director of Innovation and Commercial Partnerships as the organisation continues to support innovation that transforms lives, improves population health and contributes to economic growth across the region, helping the South West become a place where ideas can be tested, adopted and scaled for wider benefit.
