The Digital Health & Care Institute (DHI), the healthcare innovation centre funded by the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Government, has appointed a new chairman and chief executive, respectively John Jeans and Professor George Crooks.

The innovation centre is hosted at the University of Strathclyde and is governed by a non-executive board. It combines academia, industry and the third sector to develop new concepts for tackling challenges within health and care, and has just completed the first phase focussed on the application of technology.

Jeans is the former deputy chief executive and chief operating officer of the Medical Research Council, and is currently the UK Prime Minister’s ‘champion’ for the medical technologies sector within life sciences.

Crooks is currently medical director at NHS 24. He has previous experience at DHI, having served as chairman, and will take over from the interim chief executive David Clark in mid-July.

Jeans welcomed Crooks to the board. “Our combined experience in public and private spheres will allow us to guide DHI as it focuses on working with stakeholders to deliver the new core objectives set out by the Scottish Government. I would also like to thank David Clark for steering the organisation as interim chief executive during the last year of transition,” Jeans said.

Crooks commented: “Digital health and care is more important than ever in helping Scotland’s people to live longer, healthier lives and in creating new jobs for the economy.

“Having demonstrated the potential of such technologies in its first three years, DHI will now focus on identifying health and care problems where digital innovation can provide the greatest impact.”