James trained as a molecular biologist for several years before making the move to process redesign and IT. He worked in hospitals in South West London for the Cancer Services Collaborative, an organisation funded by the NHS Modernisation Agency. He cut his teeth on national IT implementation following a move to NHS Connecting for Health where he worked as Best Practice Lead for pathology, order communications, and prevention, screening and surveillance before taking up the role of National Lead for Screening in Leeds. James then moved to the Health Protection Agency where his chief role was managing an operational Information Management department and contributing to strategic decision-making supporting infectious disease surveillance and control. He managed the Infections Specialist Library, which subsequently migrated to NICE as part of NHS Evidence. James then became Head of Information Strategy at Public Health England and authored the PHE Knowledge Strategy which provides a vision for knowledge and information for the whole public health system. He also contributed to the National Information Board framework Personalised Health and Care 2020 and has been involved in implementing its vision. James now works as Chief Information Officer for Health Education England where he is responsible for describing and implementing the strategic direction for information and technology for the organisation. He is passionate about digital literacy and the professionalism of Health Informaticians across the health and care system. In this capacity he is programme director for the Building a Digital Ready Workforce programme as part of the NIB Paperless 2020 programme. In 2017 James was voted by peers as one of the top 100 influencers globally in Health IT as part of the #HIT100 twitter campaign. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Governor for his daughter’s Primary School.