Speakers

Professor Bola Owolabi CBE has recently been appointed as CQC Chief Inspector of Primary and Community Services. Bola joined from NHSE, where she worked as Director of the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme. She spearheaded the Core20PLUS5 approach to reducing health inequalities which included Maternity as one of the clinical priority areas for improvement. Bola also works as a General Practitioner in the Midlands. She has particular interest in reducing healthcare inequalities through integrated care models, service transformation, and using data insights for quality improvement. Internationally, Bola has collaborated on health equity initiatives with the Yale School of Public Health, The Commonwealth Fund and World Economic Forum as a member of its Global Health Equity Network.

She was previously National Speciality Advisor for Older People and Integrated Person-Centred Care at NHS England, where she led the Anticipatory Care workstream of the National Ageing Well Programme. She collaborated with teams across NHS England 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 Vice President of the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH).