Professor Karen Healy AM is Head of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Queensland, Australia. She is deeply committed to health equity, family inclusion, and social justice. Her research centres on community-based integrated care for people facing adversity, with a particular focus on maternity, mental health, and housing insecurity. Professor Healy has written several influential books on social work theory and practice and leads an interdisciplinary research program on family support inclusion and integrated health and community services care across the life course.

A graduate of the NHS Management Training Scheme, Richard began his career supporting the development of GP commissioning in Birmingham. After a series of posts in commissioning, he moved to Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Trust initially as Director of Strategy and later, as Chief Operating Officer. Richard’s first chief executive officer post was at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust providing acute and community services. Whilst in Walsall, Richard was part of the team laying the foundations for a borough-wide health and care partnership. Richard took up his current post as Chief Executive Officer of Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS FT in March 2018. In this role, Richard is the lead for the Birmingham & Solihull Community Care Collaborative developing partnerships to deliver integrated care in neighbourhoods and localities. Richard has recently been appointed as National Advisor on Neighbourhood Health to NHS England. He is vice-chair of The Community Network and a Fellow of the Sciana Health Leaders Network. He chairs the Service Leaders Panel for the Birmingham, Rand & Cambridge Rapid Evaluation Centre (BRACE). In 2024 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Aston University.

Professor Bola Owolabi (MRCGP, MFPH Hon, FRSPH) is Chief Inspector for Primary and Community Care at the Care Quality Commission. Her previous roles include Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme at NHS England (NHSE). She also works as a GP in the Midlands. Bola has particular interest in reducing healthcare inequalities through integrated care models, service transformation, and using data insights for quality improvement. She has spearheaded NHSE’s Core20PLUS5 approach to narrowing healthcare inequalities. This approach focuses support on the most deprived ‘Core 20’ percent of the population, ‘plus’ other underserved groups identified through local population health data (such as communities with minority ethnicity), and targets ‘5’ key clinical areas for priority improvement. Versions of the Core20PLUS5 approach are in place for both adults and children & young people. Internationally, Bola has twice been a member of the Danish Ambassador’s Tour De Health – a ten nation healthcare policy leaders’ summit. Additionally, she was the UK representative on the Commonwealth Fund / Academy Health Tour 2023, exploring equity in national health policy across the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. She was previously National Speciality Advisor for Older People and Integrated Person-Centred Care at NHSE, where she led the Anticipatory Care workstream of the National Ageing Well Programme. She collaborated with teams across NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the Covid-19 pandemic response. Bola is an alumna of Ashridge Executive Education / Hult International Business School and holds a Masters degree with distinction in Leadership (Quality Improvement). She also received an NHS Leadership Academy Award in Executive Healthcare Leadership for Clinicians. Bola is an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Applied Health Research, College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Birmingham. She is also a Vice President of the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH).

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