Stephen Powis


Stephen H. Powis is national medical director for England, in the National Health Service, appointed at the start of 2018 to succeed Sir Bruce Keogh. He is also a professor of renal medicine at University College London.
His father was a chaplain at the Christie Hospital.
Powis studied medicine at St John's College, Oxford, matriculating in 1979.
He was formerly chief medical officer at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, interim chair of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, chair of the Association of UK Hospitals medical directors' group, and chairman of the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board speciality advisory committee for renal medicine. He sat on the board of Medical Education England.
He edited Nephron Clinical Practice from 2003 to 2008 and was inaugural editor-in-chief of the BMJ Leader from 2017.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he frequently speaks as part of the government's team for daily briefings.