Prof Joe Rafferty CBE

Joe was appointed Chief Executive of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust in September 2012. During his tenure, he has led a significant expansion of the organisation, almost trebling it in size. The trust is now one of the largest specialised integrated care providers in the NHS and includes inpatient and community mental health, community physical health and learning disability and addictions services.

Awarded a Ph.D. in molecular genetics at Queen’s University Belfast in 1987, he spent the next 12 years researching drug resistance in cancer and published more than 50 peer review articles on this and related areas, before a career change. Before joining the trust, he held a series of senior NHS leadership roles as regional director (NHS North West) of strategy and commissioning and chief executive of a primary care trust.

For the past five years, he has been named one of the top 50 NHS CEOs by the Health Service Journal (HSJ) and has appeared in the HSJ100 most influential people in healthcare in the UK. He is a founder member of the Zero Suicide Alliance UK and was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year’s Honours List 2020 for his work on suicide prevention. Joe was also made an honorary professor at the University of Liverpool Institute for Population Health Sciences in March 2021.