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I began my career as a reporter and political correspondent on a regional newspaper and founded specialist health comms agency OVID Health in 2018. It’s been an interesting journey!

One of the most formative roles I had was as political adviser to the Care Services Minister during a time of major health reforms in the coalition government. It shaped my thinking in terms of how the NHS, politics and policy are never too far away from any PR or communications campaign.

Before embarking on agency life I ran the public affairs function at the NHS Confederation, the trade body for the NHS, and worked in other agencies advising life sciences companies and patient organisations.

What motivated you into your chosen career path?

Well, I love a challenge and I am so passionate about health! Healthcare is a topic that everyone has experience of, it is inherently personal (and therefore political) and always topical. My joint love is communications—I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that good communications can save lives. And I know from experience that great public affairs or campaigning can also transform the lives of thousands, and sometimes millions, of people.

I never really knew what I wanted to do when I was younger (it ranged from being a volcanologist, a ballet dancer or a war correspondent) …..but once I started working in healthcare policy I found my professional calling.

I founded OVID Health because I believe that combining great patient advocacy, communications and public affairs is the key to being a Health Change Maker—to really making a difference and impact in the world on behalf of patients and their families.

What do you see as some of the opportunities as a woman in your field?

I work in a predominantly female workforce so I think there are huge opportunities for women to make their mark and to rise up to be the next CEOs of brilliant organisations!

There are also opportunities in particular, to shape the women’s health conversation in this country more broadly, and to make sure women are better represented in STEM, in clinical research and their voices heard more prominently in different disease areas. For example, some conditions affect women differently than men, but this isn’t well known. I also think there are opportunities for us to articulate the gender pain gap between women and men in communications more broadly.

I’d love to see more women engaged and interested in politics and policy more broadly—but that relies on policymakers reflecting young women, which doesn’t happen that consistently right now.

This is despite the fact that Tik Tok, for example, is where a lot of young women receive their health information and news (despite the fact that a lot of it is actually misinformation), so policymakers need to get up to speed with using these platforms to impact positive change.

What are some of the barriers to success as a woman in your field?

When I was working my way up in my career I was frequently mistaken for the personal assistant, the secretary or the junior executive. But that still goes on. I’ve had clients comment on my hair, my youth (I wish I did actually look that young!) and pat me on the shoulder and say ‘I’m surprised you made it’…in a way they would never do if I was a male CEO.

I’m also a mum but I’ve genuinely never found that has been a barrier—I’ve never felt ‘mum guilt’ but I know others do and the answer to overcoming that barrier is better shared parental leave policies funded and mandated by the Government.

A few years back I even had someone come into the office of my company and speak to a junior male member of the team who they presumed was the CEO!

So I would say alongside the scarcity of female founders running public affairs/comms agencies, there are also ageist attitudes to combat because I am sometimes younger than people expect when I walk in the room.

Frankly, this has never stopped me. It makes me more determined and clearer that I need to role model my behaviours in front of junior female colleagues so they feel empowered themselves.

What is one piece of advice you would give your 10-year-old self?

You won’t end up as a ballet dancer—you’re not flexible enough (!) I’d also tell her that it’s ok not to succeed in everything. Sometimes you learn more from failure than from success. Then I would take her to one side and let her know about all the jobs I had no idea even existed when growing up.

I grew up in a single parent family and went to a state school, I had tonnes of opportunities and I wasn’t lacking in ambition at all. But I think there are other ten-year-old girls who would struggle to know what options are open to them, and it’s only by exposing them to role models and examples that they can even start to lay the foundations for following their personal career dreams and goals.

Can you tell us about your current work priorities and focus or a particular project you are working on?

At OVID Health we have a rich history in working in rare diseases. Just recently we supported Genetic Alliance UK on their Rare Disease Day parliamentary event and media outreach. We’re also working with a number of life sciences companies in the rare disease space—both globally and in the UK. These projects range from helping to arrange global patient council meetings in super rare ophthalmology indications, to working out what a pharmaceutical company’s patient engagement strategy should be across their whole business.

We also founded and run the Cell & Gene Collective, a cross-industry collaboration of biopharmaceutical companies who work as an industry coalition to secure government leadership of a more coordinated and comprehensive approach to improving NHS patient access to potentially life-changing cell and gene therapies—many of which hold immense potential to help and transform the lives of patients with rare diseases.

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Women in RARE is a celebration of women working in the RARE space in science, research, industry and advocacy.
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