Suki Balendra a senior leader in the NHS with a 20-year background in facilitating, growing, and promoting health research in the U.K. She has substantial, in-depth experience across sectors including industry, academia, NHS, and central government.
She is currently the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in Northwest London. She leads the strategic work with the Life sciences industry in the region with an emphasis on a new life sciences cluster in Paddington. Suki created and leads the North West London Clinical Trials Alliance. She started her career in the Biotechnology Industry at Abbott Diagnostics Ltd. Within a Good manufacturing practice (GMP) environment she worked on several operational projects to improve efficiency, cost, and reproducibility.
In 2018 she was seconded to the Office of Life Sciences within the Department of Business and Industrial Strategy. where she attracted and negotiated new business to increase the UK’s market share of health and care research activity. During the pandemic she provided operational leadership to the NHS covid vaccine research response in Northwest London.
Suki has PhD from the University of Warwick, and she is accredited to black belt in Lean Six Sigma. She is a passionate advocate for UK PLC as the number one destination to conduct clinical trials.