Council | Governance

The Council is the governing body of LSHTM and has overall responsibility for its operational and strategic management.

The Council delegates a number of management responsibilities to Council committees.

Council members fulfil their roles in accordance with the constitutional document of this Higher Education Institution (HEI), its Royal Charter, and subject to regulations for the operation of an HEI as determined by government and other external agencies.

The governing body of LSHTM is its Council which is supported by various sub-committees.

Minutes of Council

Membership of Council

Don Robert (Chair of Council)

Don Robert was appointed as Chair of Council on 1 April 2020 and is currently Chairman of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

Prior to assuming his current role at LSEG, Don Robert served in a variety of roles with the multinational information company Experian plc, including Chairman (2014 - 2019), Group Chief Executive (2005 - 2014), and CEO of its North American business (2001 - 2005).

Don Robert graduated from Oregon State University. He is a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation, as well as an Honorary Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. He has also served as a non-executive Director of Court for the Bank of England, Senior Independent Director of Compass Group, and holds a variety of private equity roles. Prior to joining Experian, Don held executive positions with First American Financial Corp. and U.S. Bank.

Liam Smeeth (Director)

Liam Smeeth is professor of clinical epidemiology and Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is also a practicing doctor in general practice.

During his career he was supported by fellowships from MRC, NIHR and Wellcome. He was previously a Trustee of the British Heart Foundation and a non-executive director of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

He is a member of the strategic oversight committee for UK Biobank and an elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Much of his research is based on making better use of computerised clinical data for research, and he co-led the creation of the OpenSafely resource in response to the Covid pandemic. His broad interests include disease aetiology, drug effects, genetics and non-communicable diseases in low income settings.

Hitesh Patel (Deputy Chair)

Hitesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant and currently a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Enstar Group, Capital Home Loans Limited and Landmark Mortgages Limited. Hitesh is Chairman of the Board of Capital Home Loans and chairs the Insurance Committee at the ICAEW.

Hitesh was previously Chief Executive Officer of Lucida plc a life insurance company writing bulk annuity business. He was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Lucida. Prior to joining Lucida in June 2007, Hitesh was a senior insurance partner in KPMG London and was responsible for providing audit, accounting and regulatory advisory services. Hitesh was previously a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committees of Aviva Life Holdings and Aviva Insurance Limited.

Nazira Amra (Independent Member)

Nazira Amra, B.Sc, M.D., MBA is a physician and experienced senior pharmaceutical commercial leader who has spent the last 25 years working at the intersection of both strategy and operations in both big and small pharma, delivering results in product launch as well as later stages of the product life cycle across developed and emerging markets. She currently serves as VP Corporate and Commercial Strategy at Exscientia, a global pharmatech company using patient-first artificial intelligence (AI) to discover better medications, faster.

Nazira has lived and worked on 4 continents, experiencing first-hand the vast discrepancies in access to healthcare. She is passionate about championing optimization of care across the treatment continuum -from prevention to increased access to novel medicines, globally.

Richard Calvert (Independent Member)

Richard is an experienced Higher Education leader and COO. From 2016-2024 he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Sheffield Hallam University, responsible for the University's professional services, strategy and organisational change. He also led the UK Civic University Network. He currently works as a consultant and coach, focusing on the HE sector.

Prior to this, Richard had an extensive background in leading professional, corporate and policy functions in central government. Before joining Sheffield Hallam, he was Director General for Strategy and Resources at the Department for Education; and was previously Director General at the Department for International Development, where he supported the delivery of DFID's programmes, and led the Department's work on climate change and on international education.

Much of Richard’s earlier career was at DFID and its predecessors. He also worked at the UK Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels; and as Private Secretary to a number of government ministers.

Richard has held several non-executive roles, including as a Governor at the University of Hertfordshire, an Independent Advisor to the National Assembly for Wales, and a trustee of Christian Aid.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Angela Darlington (Independent Member)

Angela Darlington was the CEO of Aviva’s UK Life Insurance business from April 2019 to 2021. Angela was responsible for leading the UK life insurance business and was a member of Aviva’s Executive Committee.

Prior to her CEO role, Angela was the Group Chief Risk Officer for Aviva Plc, for 4 years. She was responsible for leading the Risk Function at a Group level and a member of the Group Executive team. As part of her role, Angela chaired the Group Operational Risk Committee and was a member of numerous subsidiary boards. Angela was also the 2019 Chair of the European Chief Risk Officer Forum.

Since joining Aviva in 2001, Angela has held a variety of actuarial roles including UK Life Chief Actuary and UK Life Chief Risk Officer for three years. Angela began her career as an actuarial consultant for twelve years, working on a wide variety of actuarial assignments in many countries and qualified as an Actuary in 1994.

Diana Layfield (Independent Member)

Diana is Vice President at Google, leading efforts to bring payments and commerce to its Next Billion Users. Previously, she served as Chief Executive Officer, Africa Region, at Standard Chartered Bank where she was responsible for leading SCB’s businesses across Wholesale, Investment and Consumer banking in the 37 countries where the bank operated.

At Standard Chartered, Diana held a variety of senior management roles including Group Head of Strategy & Corporate Development, Chief Operating Officer for the Wholesale Bank (85% of the Group’s revenues and profit) and Global Head of Global Corporate Client Coverage. Before joining Standard Chartered in 2004, Diana was chief executive of Finexia Ltd, a technology company providing online processing and credit scoring systems for banks. Prior to this, she worked for McKinsey & Company from 1995 to 2000 where she was a sector lead in biotech/life sciences and financial services.

Diana graduated from Oxford University and holds a Masters in Public Administration & International Economics from Harvard University. She is also a non¬executive director of Aggreko plc, a FTSE 100 power company.

Lindsay Northover (Independent Member)

Rt Hon Baroness (Lindsay) Northover was Africa Minister in the Department for International Development, 2014-15, and prior to that served in various Departments including Health and Education.

She was the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Angola and Zambia (2016-20) and the Liberal Democrats’ Lords Foreign Affairs Spokesperson (2016-2021).

Lindsay served on the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Select Committee, and is currently on the Science and Technology Select Committee.

She was a Trustee of UNICEF UK, the Overseas Development Institute, the Tropical Health and Education Trust and the Malaria Consortium. She was on the Advisory Council of Wilton Park, and is Honorary Associate Professor at Imperial College’s Institute of Global Health Innovation. She is on the Board of Pensana plc.

Her first degree was from Oxford University. She gained an MA and PhD in the USA, after which she was at University College London and the Wellcome Institute.

Mohamed Osman (Independent Member)

Mohamed Osman leads Spring Impact’s operations in the UK. Spring Impact tackles the issue of scale; its mission is to help the most successful social impact projects scale up. A senior non-profit executive, Mohamed is committed to delivering innovative solutions to social challenges.

Mohamed has over 20 years of experience implementing programmes and building partnerships in global health, social enterprise and humanitarian assistance across 25 countries. Mohamed was previously Global Grants Director at the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), where he spent a decade growing the Foundation to become one of the foremost independent AIDS charities in the world reaching over 100 million people with HIV information, testing, and treatment.

Mohamed graduated from London School of Economics and the University of Nairobi.

Mark Poulton (Independent Member)

Mark is a member of the Industrial Development Advisory Board, the non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Business and Trade which advises Ministers on applications for UK Government investment. The main focus of the Board's work is large applications for investment support in England’s Assisted Areas, though it also looks at a range of other projects where Ministers want a commercial view.

He is also a Non-Executive Board Member serving on the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee of the UK Government Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.

Mark was a partner at Clifford Chance, an international law firm headquartered in London, retiring at the end of April 2023. Over his 35-year career he advised corporates across a wide range of sectors on domestic and international acquisitions and disposals, business partnerships, restructuring and governance. During the COVID pandemic he was part of a team advising the UK Government on securing the development and supply of COVID-19 vaccines and investment to scale up COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capability in the UK. Through the second half of his career, he held various management roles culminating in leadership of the firm’s Corporate Practice in London. He was a member of the firm’s Inclusion Committee and partner sponsor of Accelerate, the firm’s gender parity affinity group.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nottingham.

Joanna Price (Independent Member)

Please check back for Joanna's bio.

Mike Turner (Independent Member)

Mike Turner is a former Director of Science at Wellcome. He joined Wellcome in 2014 as Head of Infection and Immunobiology and in 2019, took on the role of Director of Science, responsible for leading the Science Division and managing a broad portfolio of research funding. He also led work on specific funding initiatives in response to the SARS-CoV2 pandemic; Ebola, Zika and Yellow Fever epidemics and on snakebites.

Before joining Wellcome Mike was at the University of Glasgow, UK where he held Beit, Royal Society and Leverhulme Fellowships. Latterly, he became Professor of Parasitology and was at various times Head of Division, Assistant Director of Faculty, and Deputy Dean of the Graduate School.

He is currently an Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow and a consultant for the WHO.

Clare Chandler (Elected Staff Member)

Clare Chandler is a Professor in Medical Anthropology in the Department of Global Health and Development. She has been part of LSHTM for around 20 years, initially with the Joint Malaria Programme in Tanzania, then as a student, then based in the Faculty of Infectious and Topical Diseases before moving to Public Health and Policy. She has been a part of different LSHTM communities including through the Malaria Centre, the Evaluation Centre, the History Centre and as founding co-director of the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Centre.

Clare’s research brings critical social scholarship to global health and one health topics, with a particular emphasis on care, medical technologies and infrastructure in low resource settings. She combines ethnography with historical and discourse analyses to understand social phenomena in health, health research and health policy. She has worked in multiple countries across Africa and Asia and has provided technical advice to governments, non-governmental organisations and international institutions on managing complex challenges such as those posed by drug resistance.

Clare enjoys teaching, having run the Medical Anthropology course for over a decade and contributing to a range of different MSc programmes. She also supports capacity strengthening in social research across different settings through training and mentorship.

Nambusi Kyegombe (Elected Staff Member)

Nambusi is jointly appointed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and Development, PHP and as the head of social science at the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit.

Nambusi is an interdisciplinary social scientist and recognised for specialisms in the qualitative evaluation of complex interventions, with a focus on low- and middle-income contexts where she has conducted impact evaluations and formative research in countries including Uganda, Tanzania, Mali, Botswana, South Africa, Fiji and Tonga. Nambusi also conducts methodological research for developing ethical guidance to support the delivery of high quality ethical research, particularly among marginalised populations.

Nambusi sits on LSHTM’s high-risk observational studies ethics committee and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

James Hargreaves (Elected Staff Member)

James Hargreaves is a Professor of Epidemiology and Evaluation at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Through his research and policy work at a leadership level in global health, James has made important contributions in relation to characterising the epidemiology of, and evaluating interventions to address, infectious diseases. James has led and contributed to research and evaluation studies in South Africa (where he was based 2000-2004), Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and UK and has published more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters. His areas of research focus have been wide, including: the epidemiology of ARS-CoV-2 in school populations; the evaluation of structural and behavioural HIV prevention interventions; trends, forms and impacts of HIV and health stigma; the social epidemiology of HIV infection; and, adolescent health, family planning, tuberculosis control, school-based deworming, intimate partner violence and medical male circumcision.

Naomi Stewart (Elected Staff Member)

Naomi is the Deputy to the Director of Communications & Engagement at LSHTM, where she has been for over 6 years.

She has over 15 years of international experience across the nexus of science communication and publishing, science policy, research and resource monitoring, and now corporate and strategic communications. At LSHTM, she leads a number of specialist teams, and has served as Head of Communications at the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM.

Naomi joined LSHTM from the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, and also previously worked with the United Nations University – Institute for Water Environment and Health, Environment and Climate Change Canada, a number of scientific journals and inter/governmental bodies such as the UNCCD and GIZ.

She has an HBSc from the University of Toronto, and an MSc in Science Communication from Imperial College.

Lethukwenama Letsoalo (SRC President)

Lethukwenama is a Master’s candidate in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. A dedicated medical doctor from South Africa, she has public service experience in primary health care and leading impactful community-based initiatives to improve access to healthcare and vital health information.

Most recently, Lethukwenama served as a Director at the DG Murray Trust, where she collaborated with NGOs across the development sector to address pressing public health challenges, including maternal and child health, early childhood development, and health education. She gained recognition as a health communicator, having built a significant social media presence enabling her to share accessible, jargon-free health information in her native language, reaching audiences of over 100,000 followers.

She completed her MBChB degree at Stellenbosch University and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health from the University of Pretoria. Her primary interests lie in strengthening Public Health Systems, advancing Health Promotion, and improving Sexual and Reproductive Health services, particularly in underserved communities.

Her career vision is rooted in promoting health equity, empowering underserved communities to prevent communicable and non-communicable diseases and improve health outcomes.

Lethukwenama is also an avid runner and netball enthusiast!

Secretariat

Jocelyn Prudence (Interim Secretary to Council): Jocelyn Prudence is LSHTM's University Secretary and Governance Consultant. MBA qualified, Jocelyn has undertaken successful interim, consultancy and substantive senior management roles in a number of higher education institutions. She has recently completed a senior management interim position at LAMDA, following College Secretary and COO assignments with the Royal College of Art. Previous interim roles have been held with Coventry, Lancaster, Northampton and Stirling universities.