Dame Una O'Brien

Dame Una O’Brien was the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care between 2010 and 2016.  She has extensive UK and international experience of healthcare policy and government, having held a wide variety of senior policy roles in Whitehall departments and the NHS over a 30-year career in public service.  

Whilst working primarily in and for the Department of Health, she was also seconded to be Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport and worked in the Prime Minister’s Efficiency Unit under both Conservative and Labour governments.  Since leaving the Civil Service, Una has served as a trustee on charitable and higher education boards; she recently completed a term of office as a trustee of Macmillan Cancer and as a Council member of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  Currently Una is a member of the Board of Visitors at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford and is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.  Una was appointed as a member of the Audit, Risk and Investment Committee on 29 September 2022. On 30 September 2023, Una was appointed Chair of the Nominations Committee and a member of the Lloyd’s Register Group Limited and Lloyd’s Register Foundation Remuneration Committees.