WHO WE ARE
The people behind Let’s Prevent Suicide
Meet the individuals championing the programme.
Let’s Prevent Suicide Ambassador
Professor Sir Stephen Powis
Sir Stephen Powis was National Medical Director of NHS England from 2018 to 2025, leading the medical profession through some of the most demanding years in the NHS’s history, including the COVID-19 pandemic. A consultant nephrologist and Professor of Renal Medicine at UCL, he was previously medical director at the Royal Free London. He has long championed workforce improvements that recognise doctors and health professionals flourish when they are properly supported. He was knighted in 2022 for services to the NHS.
Baroness Clare Gerada DBE
Parliamentary Ambassador
Baroness Gerada is a London GP, a former President and Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and has sat as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords since 2025. She has dedicated her career to the mental health of doctors and health professionals. She founded and leads NHS Practitioner Health, the confidential mental health service for doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals, rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission, and in 2019 established the NHS Primary Care Gambling Service for people affected by gambling harms.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul CBE
Principal Strategic Advisor
Dr Chaand Nagpaul is a GP partner who has practised in North London for more than 30 years. He was elected to the BMA's General Practitioners Committee in 1996 and later became its chair. From 2017 to 2022 he was chair of BMA Council, the first person from an ethnic minority background to hold the role, and represented the medical profession during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has previously chaired the BMA's wellbeing support network. He chairs the BMA's Forum for Racial and Ethnic Equality and is a board member of the NHS Race and Health Observatory. He was appointed CBE for services to primary care, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health.
Professor Stella Vig
Board Chair
Professor Stella Vig is a consultant surgeon and NHS England's National Clinical Director for Elective Care, leading national work on elective recovery and reform, surgical productivity, outpatient transformation, surgical hubs and technology-enabled care. She co-leads NHS England's delivery of robotically assisted surgery, one of the five big bets in the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, and co-chairs the NHS England Robotic Surgery Steering Committee and the NHS England-DHSC Innovation Procurement Taskforce. She also leads NHS England's National Medical Job Planning and Rostering Programme. She practises as a Consultant Vascular and General Surgeon at Croydon University Hospital and is an Honorary Professor of Clinical Practice at University College London.
Mary Jane Roberts
Secretariat
Mary Jane Roberts is the CEO of Doctors in Distress, the national charity for healthcare workers' mental health. A former civil servant, Mary Jane started her career at HM Treasury, going on to work at the Department of Health and on independent reviews, including Sir Derek Wanless' Securing Good Health for the Whole Population and the cross-government report Enabling Effective Delivery of Health and Wellbeing.