Chief Medical Officer appointed
21/08/2023
Dr Andrew Brent has been appointed as the Chief Medical Officer of Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) - he will take up his post in October 2023.
Andrew, who is a Consultant in Infectious Disease and Medicine at OUH, is currently one of the Trust's Deputy Chief Medical Officers and Director of Clinical Improvement. He is also an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford.
Professor Meghana Pandit, Chief Executive Officer of OUH, says: "This was a highly competitive recruitment process in which Andrew impressed the panel with his compassion, intellect, ability, and a clear vision for OUH as the Chief Medical Officer.
"Andrew will join the Executive team in delivering compassionate excellence and will be instrumental in improving healthcare outcomes for our patients by ensuring that the care we deliver is underpinned by the highest levels of innovation and research.
"I would like to thank Dr Anny Sykes for covering the Interim Chief Medical Officer role since July 2022. I am very grateful for her contribution to the Executive team and the wider Trust Board."
Andrew adds: "As I have been a student and trainee in Oxford and held both NHS and academic roles, I am proud to be part of #OneTeamOneOUH and honoured to have the opportunity as Chief Medical Officer to support and champion OUH as a centre of excellence and a leading academic teaching hospital. I will also continue to do clinical work one day a week.
"Although it is a challenging time globally and for the NHS, OUH has many strengths, the greatest of which is our People. I have been privileged to work with amazing colleagues across all four hospital sites in my clinical roles and as Deputy Chief Medical Officer. I look forward to meeting and learning from many more colleagues in my new role, and to working together to deliver the excellent clinical care, teaching and research of which we can all be proud."
Background
Andrew Brent trained in medicine at Cambridge and Oxford and undertook senior house officer training in London before returning to Oxford to train in Infectious Diseases and General Medicine. He did his early research and PhD in clinical tropical medicine at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kenya where he was based for four years, focusing on the epidemiology and diagnosis of invasive bacterial infections and tuberculosis in children.
He was a Clinical Lecturer and Senior Clinical Researcher in Infectious Diseases at the University of Oxford prior to taking up a substantive consultant post in Infectious Diseases and General Medicine at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) in 2015.
Andrew was Clinical Lead for Infectious Diseases at OUH from 2018 to 2021, and then Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of Clinical Improvement from 2021 to 2023, prior to his appointment as Chief Medical Officer in October 2023. He remains an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford.
Andrew has enjoyed combining his clinical and leadership roles with research and teaching. He has a Masters in Epidemiology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and has been an examiner for the University of Oxford and the Royal College of Physicians.
He was regional clinical lead for sepsis and deterioration for the Oxford Academic Health Sciences Network from 2016 to 2023 and has contributed to national studies and task and finish groups for both sepsis and COVID-19.
Outside work he is a member and former chair of governors of a local school Academy Trust.