High-profile appointee heightens ambition for Birmingham Health Partners

The second city’s strategic University-NHS alliance, Birmingham Health Partners (BHP) has announced the appointment of experienced business leader Jonathan Pearson as its new Chair, tasked with implementing an ambitious new strategy.

Bringing extensive experience as a management consultant and a profound understanding of the health and life sciences sector, Jonathan has established and guided numerous healthcare enterprises, spearheaded significant growth, and led large-scale transformation and technology programmes. He has also served within the NHS as Independent Chair of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Health System, bringing together a unique blend of high-level industry and health service expertise.

Jonathan’s contributions to the sector have earned him several prestigious accolades throughout his career. Notably, he was honoured with the Healthcare Deal of the Year award in 2014 by Acquisition International, recognised by the Management Consultancy Association in 2015 for thought leadership, and received the HSJ award for Analytic Provider of the Year in 2019. His exceptional leadership in the Sandwell ICP’s Covid vaccination program was further acknowledged with the Local Government Association award in 2021.

BHP is a strategic alliance uniting two renowned Universities, five NHS Trusts and Health Innovation West Midlands, with the shared aim of transforming healthcare across our region by leveraging collective strengths in clinical and technological innovation, research, and education.

Commenting on his appointment, Jonathan said: “Birmingham Health Partners is a powerhouse of research at the heart of an ambitious city and region, with a strong track record of scaling innovation from the bench to the bedside at pace. Together with its wider regional partners, BHP is already working to address pressing health challenges and deliver economic growth and this work will only be enhanced by the imminent launch of our new strategy which will benefit our communities, region and workforce. It is an incredibly exciting time to join the partnership.”