Speakers

Shera is a GP in East London and the former Chief Medical Officer at NHS Digital. She started the multi award-winning Shuri Network in 2019 as she is passionate about increasing diversity, innovation and safety and to encourage other women from minority ethnic groups to lead and engage with digital transformation.

Her experience includes working with leading healthcare organisations in Asia, Africa, Europe, the UK and the US since 1993. She was awarded the international Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship in 2023 by the Robert Bosch Academy to examine the German digital health strategy in Berlin and help develop insights that will help health systems implement digital transformation and deliver safer, more equitable and innovative care. Shera has held national leadership roles with NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care and led complex national and local programmes to improve patient outcomes and reduce inequalities.

She worked at Barts Health NHS Trust as Director of Primary Care from 2010-2016, helping to improve patient pathways across organisational boundaries. She advised health ministers as a member of the NHS Independent Reconfiguration Panel for seven years. Shera has volunteered as a clinician in countries including Sudan, Laos, Indonesia and Greece with NGOs working in war and disaster zones and with displaced populations.

She studied at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement, Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard School of Public Health on the NHS Executive Fast Track programme, focusing on quality improvement, community engagement and leading change. She has completed an M.B.A., M.A. in Inter-professional Education and a Nuffield Trust Fellowship on cross-organisational learning with Sunderland Athletic Football Club.