Professor Sir Chris Ham

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust is delighted to welcome two new non-executive directors to its board – bringing with them years of experience in the world of healthcare and human resources.

Professor Sir Chris Ham, currently chief executive of health think tank The King’s Fund, has unrivalled expertise in strategy and policy in the NHS. He has been chief executive of the King’s Fund since 2010 and is stepping down from the role at the end of the year. He will take up his post with the RFL on 1 January.

Sir Chris has held positions as head of the strategy unit at the Department of Health and at the universities of Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds. He has advised the World Health Organization and the World Bank and has acted as a consultant to a number of governments.

In 2018, he received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to health policy and management.

Doris Olulode 

Doris Olulode will bring 27 years of global experience in human resources to the RFL when she joins on December 1.

She has extensive human resources experience gained in a career at Ford Motor Company. Doris has held senior positions in the UK and overseas including head of HR, Ford Motor Company, Australia & New Zealand and most recently HR director, Ford Motor Company for Europe, Middle East & Africa with responsibility for around 25,000 employees across 30 countries. She also led Ford’s African Ancestry Network.

Doris currently freelances as an HR consultant. She holds the position of non-executive director for the Diocese of Chelmsford Multi Academy Trust and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.  She is also a lay member to the HM Courts and Tribunal Service. 

The Royal Free London council of governors approved the appointments at its meeting on 14 November.

Dominic Dodd, RFL group chairman, said: “We are delighted to have appointed two outstanding non-executive directors. Doris will bring a wealth of workforce and people strategy experience to the non-executive team, an area of huge importance and central to the challenges facing the NHS. 

“Sir Chris is the country’s leading authority on integrated care – again an area central to our aspirations for the Royal Free London group.”

Doris said: “I am delighted to be joining the Board and working with the trust to provide best in class care and services for the community, it’s a pleasure to be joining such a talented team.”

Sir Chris said: “I am very much looking forward to joining the board in the New Year and to supporting its plans to integrate its services more closely with those provided in the community.”

 

Media contacts: rf.mediaenquiries@nhs.net

 

About the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust

The Royal Free London’s mission is to provide world class expertise and local care.

We attract patients from across the country and beyond to our specialist services in liver and kidney transplantation, haemophilia, HIV, infectious diseases, plastic surgery, immunology, neurology, Parkinson’s disease, vascular surgery, cardiology, amyloidosis and scleroderma. We are a member of the academic health science partnership UCL Partners, which brings people and organisations together to transform the health and wellbeing of the population.

The Royal Free London is one of four trusts across the NHS to be chosen to develop a group model enabling us to share services and resources more effectively across hospitals to improve the experience of patients and staff. More information is available here

Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital are part of the Royal Free London group, and North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust became its first clinical partner in September 2017.

For more information about our group structure visit and for general information about the trust visit