Gillian Catherine Leng, Lady Cosford

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

is a British health administrator, academic, visiting professor at King's College London and the former Chief Executive of the

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care in England that publishes guidelines in four areas: * the use of health technologies withi ...

(NICE), where she was responsible for several programmes and guidelines including the guidelines on

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. She has been involved in the Cochrane collaboration since its foundation, and has worked on clinical trials and epidemiological research in public health medicine. She also teaches at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

Education

Gillian Leng gained her medical degree from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

in 1987, having previously gained a degree in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

. She completed her house jobs at

St James's University Hospital St James's University Hospital ''Confirming name as "St James's"'' is in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England and is popularly known as Jimmy's. It is one of the United Kingdom's most famous hospitals due to its coverage on television. It is managed ...

and subsequently moved to Scotland to work as a

senior house officer A senior house officer (SHO) is a non-consultant hospital doctor in the Republic of Ireland. SHOs are supervised in their work by consultants and registrars. In training posts these registrars and consultants oversee training and are usually their d ...

cancer care Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

and in

accident and emergency An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pa ...

. She received her MD in 1994.

Career

Leng has been involved in the Cochrane collaboration since its foundation. She worked on clinical trials and epidemiological research in Edinburgh, and in London as a consultant in public health medicine. Leng participated as a keynote speaker at the 2015 International Festival of Public Health. She was also speaker at the World Neuroscience Innovation Forum in 2017, where she discussed

gene therapy Gene therapy is a medical field which focuses on the genetic modification of cells to produce a therapeutic effect or the treatment of disease by repairing or reconstructing defective genetic material. The first attempt at modifying human DN ...

and

cell therapy Cell therapy (also called cellular therapy, cell transplantation, or cytotherapy) is a therapy in which viable cells are injected, grafted or implanted into a patient in order to effectuate a medicinal effect, for example, by transplanting T-c ...

in treating

neurological diseases A neurological disorder is any disorder of the nervous system. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain, spinal cord or other nerves can result in a range of symptoms. Examples of symptoms include paralysis, muscle weak ...

. She then spoke at the

ISPOR ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research, better known as ISPOR (formerly, the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research), is a nonprofit global professional organization in health economi ...

Summit 2018. Leng delivered a presentation for the

European Society of Cardiology The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is an independent non-profit, non-governmental professional association that works to advance the prevention, diagnosis and management of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, and improve scientific un ...

at an event titled Digital Health 2019. She became Deputy Chief Executive at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in 2007. In April 2020, during the first

COVID-19 lockdown Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

, she succeeded

Andrew Dillon Sir Andrew Dillon, (born 9 May 1954) is a British executive, who was chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) from 1999 to 2020. His earlier career was spent as an administrator and manager in the Nationa ...

as the CEO of NICE. There, she oversaw the creation of new guidelines on

. Previously she was responsible for the initial set up and running of NICE's clinical guidelines programme, for establishing the NICE implementation function, and for setting up

NHS Evidence NHS Evidence is a government-funded resource of information, research, evidence and best practice guidance for health, social care and public health. It is aimed at health- and social care workers and designed to help students, specialists, clin ...

. Her other roles included being responsible for the NICE accreditation programme, guideline development in social care, and the NICE programmes of indicators and quality standards. She is visiting professor at King's College London, and teaches at NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. She is a trustee and former chair of the

Guidelines International Network The Guidelines International Network (GIN) is an international scientific association of organisations and individuals interested and involved in development and application of evidence-based guidelines and health care information. The network ...

. She is also a member of the steering committee of the International Guideline Development Credentialing & Certification Program (INGUIDE). Leng is a member of the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges. The commission is a partnership spawned out of COVID-END, with leadership from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

and the

Ottawa Hospital Research Institute The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), formerly Ottawa Health Research Institute, is a non-profit academic health research institute located in the city of Ottawa. It was formed in 2001 following the merger of three Ottawa hospitals. The ...

. In May 2022, Leng was appointed to the advisory board of consulting firm Brevia Health. The

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

(RSM) appointed her their dean of education in October 2022.

Awards and honours

Leng was awarded a CBE in the 2011 Birthday Honours. She was appointed honorary librarian at the RSM, London, in 2017.

Personal and family

She married

Paul Cosford Sir Paul Anthony Cosford (20 May 1963 – 5 April 2021) was a British emeritus medical director at Public Health England (PHE), the UK's public health agency, later replaced by the UK Health Security Agency. He had executive roles from 2010 at ...

in 2006. Following his death in 2021, she announced her retirement from NICE; Dr Samantha Roberts succeeded her on 1 February 2022.

Education

Career

Awards and honours

Personal and family

Selected publications

Articles

Books

References

Further reading