Nicholas Mays is Professor of Health Policy in the Department of Health Services Research and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) where he has been since 2003. He also directs the Department of Health-funded Policy Innovation Research Unit. The Unit is a collaboration between LSHTM, the London School of Economics, Imperial College Business School, RAND Europe and the Nuffield Trust. It began in January 2011 and is aimed at involving a multi-disciplinary team of independent researchers in the very earliest stages of national policy development, and/or evaluation of innovative programmes and policies across health services, social care and public health.
Nicholas is currently principal investigator of the evaluation of the integrated care and support Pioneer programme in England.
Until March 2013, Nicholas was scientific coordinator of the Department of Health-funded Health Reform Evaluation Programme which aimed to evaluate the impact of two sets of major reforms of the English NHS: firstly, the market-related reforms of the period 2002-10; and secondly, the changes following the 2008 Next Stage Review, ‘High quality care for all’.
Nicholas has a background in social policy, policy analysis and health care policy evaluation.
He has experience as a policy advisor in government, having been principal health policy advisor in the New Zealand Treasury, 1998-2003. He continues periodically to advise the NZ Ministry of Health and Treasury on health system strategy. He was appointed by the Director-General of Health to the External Advisory Group for the refresh of the New Zealand Health Strategy in March 2015.
From 1994 to 1998 he was Director of Health Services Research at the King’s Fund, London.
He is co-editor of the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy which he established in 1995.
In all, he has 35 years’ experience in health services research and policy evaluation.
