Matt Westmore is Chief Executive of the UK’s Health Research Authority (HRA), the organisation responsible for overseeing health and social care research ethics and governance across the United Kingdom.

Since taking up the role in 2021, Matt, through the HRA, has led a national transformation to make it easier to do research that people can trust. Under his leadership, the HRA has focused on two strategic priorities: to include, ensuring research is done with and for everyone; and to accelerate, so that research findings improve care faster.

Matt co-chaired the selection panel for the ACT initiative that led to CanReview being chosen to establish Canada’s national single ethics review service. He brings deep insight into the shared challenges and opportunities in building streamlined, trusted ethics systems at national scale.

He is currently leading the UK’s largest-ever digital transformation of its clinical research approvals system – an ambitious programme that will underpin all health and social care related research ethics and governance in the UK, improving coordination and efficiency across the system.

Prior to joining the HRA, Matt held senior leadership roles at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). He was Interim Director of the NIHR’s public involvement coordinating centre, INVOLVE, and set up the NIHR’s Dissemination Centre, which aimed to support the implementation of research evidence into clinical, public health, and social care practice. During this time, Matt also established an international forum of health research funders focused on reducing waste and increasing the value of publicly funded research for the benefit of patients and society.

Matt has led and contributed to a number of initiatives aimed at increasing research transparency. These include drafting the NIHR’s clinical trial transparency policy; serving on the committee that developed the HRA’s Make It Public strategy; and, through his team at the HRA, working with the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to introduce transparency requirements into UK law for the first time.

He is a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton and holds a PhD in high-energy astrophysics. He began his career as a medical physicist in the NHS and has held roles in both research and commercial innovation in the health tech sector.