Dr Séamus O’Neill steps down as Chair of the AHSN Network to lead the Northern Health Science Alliance

The AHSN Network is today announcing that its national Chair, Dr Séamus O’Neill, will be stepping down from post at the end of August 2019. 

Séamus will be leaving his role as CEO of the Academic Health Science Network North East and North Cumbria (AHSN NENC) to take up the position of CEO of the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA). 

The NHSA is an alliance of the leading research universities, NHS teaching trusts and the AHSNs across the North of England. It is a driver for investment into the sector, brings together research collaborations and is an advocate for the North’s health system in Government.

Piers Ricketts, Vice Chair of the AHSN Network and Chief Executive of the Eastern AHSN, said: "On behalf of the 15 AHSNs I want to thank Séamus for his tireless work. His vision and leadership have been such an important element of the AHSNs during the first year of their second licence, ensuring we are prominently positioned within the health and care innovation landscape.

“Seamus has been a fantastic and hardworking ambassador for the AHSN Network throughout his service with AHSN NENC. In particular he has played a leading and inspirational role in building the AHSNs’ links with industry to develop a pathway of innovation to stimulate economic growth. In the past year alone the AHSNs’ have supported over 2,600 companies, created 691 jobs and leveraged £152 million in investment for the country’s economy.”

Chairman of the AHSN NENC, Dr Arnab Basu MBE, said: “On behalf of the Board of the AHSN NENC I would like to thank Séamus who, as the founding CEO, has built the organisation and the operational team, ensuring the delivery of all aspects of the vision of the AHSN NENC and the provision of high quality services to all our member organisations, partners, and wider stakeholders.

“Séamus has been an exceptional leader of the organisation, who has over the last six years built the AHSN NENC from a start-up to what it is today. I wish Séamus every success in his new role and look forward to the AHSN NENC working with him as a member of the NHSA.”

Séamus joined the AHSN NENC in 2012 as founder CEO. Prior to this he was a senior manager at the Northumberland Tyne and Wear NIHR Comprehensive Local Research Network and Research Manager at the University of Newcastle. He has a Phd in Genetics from Queen’s University, Belfast and has worked both as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Newcastle and as a clinical scientist in the NHS.