New chair of the NHS Race and Health Observatory appointed

Professor Sir Patrick Vernon OBE has been appointed as the new chair of the NHS Race and Health Observatory (RHO). 
 
Sir Patrick brings more than 30 years of leadership experience across public health, race equality, and community development to the role. He joins the independent organisation established by the NHS in 2021 to identify and tackle inequalities experienced in health and healthcare by Black and minority ethnic patients, communities and the workforce in England. 
 
Sir Patrick has served as Chair of NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, becoming the first Non-Executive Director for Inequalities appointed to an Integrated Care Board in England. He is currently Pro-Chancellor for Health at the University of Wolverhampton and brings deep expertise in public health, heritage, and race equality policy developed across senior roles in the public and voluntary sectors.
 
Commenting on the appointment, Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, chair of the NHS Alliance, said:
 
"The NHS Race and Health Observatory was established because the NHS needed an independent body with the rigour and the courage to name what was happening to Black and minority ethnic patients and staff, and to demand change. In five years it has built a record of evidence that has shifted policy and practice across the health system.
 
"Patrick Vernon is the right person to lead the next phase of that work. He has spent his career understanding how systems serve — and how they fail — the communities the RHO exists to protect. I am confident he will take the Observatory forward with the independence, the ambition and the integrity that the role demands."
 
Sir Patrick said:
 
"I am honoured to be appointed chair of the NHS Race and Health Observatory. The Observatory was created to bring rigour, independence and courage to tackling racial inequalities in health and care, and that purpose matters as much now as it ever has. The work of the RHO is vital and a close fit to my vocation and personal and professional values. I look forward to working with the Observatory's staff, the NHS Alliance, NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the communities we serve to build on that work and lead its next chapter. Now is the pivotal time to address racial disparities, anti-racism and tackle long-standing health inequalities which continue to impact our communities, patients and colleagues.”
 
Professor Habib Naqvi MBE, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said: 
 
“I’m delighted to welcome Professor Sir Patrick Vernon to the NHS Race and Health Observatory. We have always maintained that trust is a crucial social determinant of health, built on truth told consistently over time. Sir Patrick has spent his career building that trust and amplifying the voices of ethnically diverse communities and the NHS workforce. As we continue to deliver critical outcomes and impact. I look forward to working with Sir Patrick to strengthen our future efforts on tackling racial inequalities in healthcare."
 
The RHO is an independent expert body, hosted by The NHS Alliance and established by NHS England and supported by the Department of Health and Social Care to identify and tackle inequalities experienced in health and healthcare by Black, Asian and minority ethnic patients, communities and the NHS workforce in England. Key areas of work include a focus maternal and neonatal outcomes, sickle cell disease, mental health, data and digital inclusion as well as examining equity in genomics and precision medicine, and in the healthcare workforce. 
 
The former Chair of the NHS Race & Health Observatory, Dame Marie Gabriel DBE, completed her term as Chair in July 2026.
 
The announcement follows an external recruitment process led by the NHS Alliance and supported by NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care. The panel was chaired independently.