PHIN appoints three non-executive directors

The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) has bolstered its board with the appointment of three non-executive directors: Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli; Helen Buckingham and Professor Sam Shah.

Founder and CEO of Patients Know Best, Al-Ubaydli trained as a physician and has worked as a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health. He is the author of seven books and in 2012 was elected an Ashoka Fellow as a social entrepreneur for his contributions to patient care.

Buckingham was director of strategy at the Nuffield Trust for seven years and previously worked at board level in the NHS. She has held senior executive roles at Monitor and NHS Improvement and currently also chairs National Voices, the leading coalition of health and social care charities in England.

A clinician, working across digital health, public health, technology and law, Shah has held roles in strategy consulting, NHS leadership and start-ups. He has an interest in health economics and behaviour change and was previously NHS England director of digital development.

The new directors replace Don Grocott and Professor Sir Cyril Chantler who stepped down from the PHIN Board in March, and Michael Hutchings and Professor Sir Norman Williams who will be stepping down in March 2025.

Commenting on the appointments, PHIN chair Jayne Scott said: ‘Replacing our outgoing members after they served their allotted terms was never going to be easy, but we were delighted with both the quality and quantity of people who applied to join our Board. We believe that we have appointed three outstanding candidates, each of whom brings a diverse skill set, approach and experience.’