DR Peter Blenkinsop, who has been chief executive of Health Enterprise East (HEE) since it was first established in 2004, has been promoted to deputy chairman with a wide-ranging remit of innovation challenges. Professor Alan Barrell, chairman of HEE, the

DR Peter Blenkinsop, who has been chief executive of Health Enterprise East (HEE) since it was first established in 2004, has been promoted to deputy chairman with a wide-ranging remit of innovation challenges.

Professor Alan Barrell, chairman of HEE, the NHS Innovation Hub for the East of England, based at Papworth Hospital, said: "Peter's outstanding skills in building such a talented team has enabled the organisation to be highly regarded by both the regional NHS community it serves and the wider national and international business sectors.

Dr Blenkinsop is a member of the NHS East of England Innovation Council and has been invited to join the new Innovation Professional Leadership Group, established to support the Department of Health in achieving greater diffusion of innovation throughout the NHS.

As we reported last week, Dr Anne Blackwood succeeds Dr Blenkinsop as HEE's chief executive.

A graduate in biochemistry from Birmingham (BSc) and Edinburgh (PhD) universities, Peter Blenkinsop spent the first 20 years of his career in the international brewing and malting industries latterly as a divisional director in Tate & Lyle. In 1997, he took up the position of director of business development for Silsoe Research Institute before being appointed to HEE in 2004.