Schoolof Healthand WellbeingHonorary Degree of Doctor of Science
Una O’Brien is Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health, a post held since November 2010. A public servant all her life, since joining the Department of Health in 1990 Una has held a variety of roles in Government and in healthcare organisations.
In 2005, Una completed a three-year secondment as Director of Clinical Governance and Development at University College London NHS Foundation Trust. Between 1998 and 2001, she was the Secretary to the Bristol/Kennedy Inquiry, a major public inquiry into the NHS.
Other previous roles include Director General of Policy and Strategy at the Department of Health, Private Secretary to the Minister for Health, Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport, and Deputy Director in the Prime Minister’s Efficiency Unit.
In the 1980s, she helped establish London Lighthouse, a pioneering voluntary sector provider of services for people with HIV and AIDS. Una is a graduate of Oxford University and the London School of Economics, and was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard.
