Maria Higson is a Director of Transformation in the NHS and is keenly interested in the future of health and social care. Her work has spanned a variety of programmes, most notably in the introduction of ‘group’ models into the NHS to achieve the benefits of scale demonstrated by large companies. Maria recently gained a second Master’s degree in Translational Health Sciences, following an initial degree in Engineering, and is particularly focused on the opportunities arising from new healthcare technology.
Before joining the NHS over seven years ago, she worked as a Business Consultant advising FTSE 250 firms on their corporate strategies. She therefore brings both public and private-sector experience to the Fellowship.
Politically, Maria stood for parliament in the 2024 General Election and previously served as a Councillor. She has written opinion pieces for ConservativeHome and Digital Tories on the need for policy change in the health and care sector.
As a Thatcher Fellow, Maria wants to explore how market-driven solutions can aid innovation and improvement. The private sector plays an important role in areas such as technology development; how can this private-public partnership be leveraged to deliver better outcomes? Maria is looking forward to debating new policy ideas with Fellows and the Centre for Policy Studies team, starting from a free-market position to address the knotty issues of our time.
