Jon Spiers takes the helm

7 September 2020

Jon Spiers today joined the Royal Free Charity as its new chief executive promising that the charity will play a key part in improving the lives of patients and enhancing the staff experience at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Jon was previously chief executive of Autistica, the leading autism research charity in Europe, where he was credited with overseeing exponential income growth and demonstrable impact on UK and international funding and policy.

“I’m enormously excited to join the Royal Free Charity today. While the impact of coronavirus on the NHS, on patients and on research has of course been immense, we’ve also seen the public’s love for the health service reach new heights. I want to pay tribute to the incredible generosity of our supporters throughout the pandemic and to the tireless efforts of staff at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust’s three hospitals and to staff and volunteers at the charity.”

Jon has advised senior leaders in charities, pharmaceutical companies and biotech in clinical areas including lung cancer, leukaemia, genomics, HIV, meningitis, infectious diseases and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

While head of public affairs and campaigning for Cancer Research UK, Jon engaged hundreds of thousands of supporters in the campaign for smokefree legislation in England and Wales, a policy hailed as “the biggest step forward in public health for 50 years”.

He added: “In dark times, the NHS is a beacon of hope. I look forward to making that beacon burn even brighter. Working side-by-side with the trust, the charity will be able to accelerate efforts to improve the wellbeing of the staff and patients we serve. In a fast-changing and unpredictable world, we’re here to back the clinical innovations, research breakthroughs and vital staff and services that change lives not only here in north London but across the world.”