Nikki_Kanani

Nikita Kanani

Nikita Kanani

General Practitioner; first woman to be Director of Primary Care in the NHS.

Nikita "Nikki" Kanani[1] MBE (born 18 August 1980) is a general practitioner and the former chief clinical officer of the Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group. In 2018 she became the first woman to be appointed medical director of primary care at NHS England.

Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Early life and education

Kanani was born in London on 18 August 1980, the daughter of community pharmacists Jagdish Kanani and Keerti Kanani. Her father came to the UK as a refugee from Uganda in 1972, and her parents met at Sunderland Polytechnic.[1] She attended Sutton High School and Guy's, King's and St Thomas' Medical School, and received her BSc in neuroscience in 2001 and an MBBS in 2004. She graduated from King's College London with a postgraduate certificate in managing in health and social care in 2008 and from the University of Birmingham with an MSc in healthcare commissioning in 2014.[2][3]

Career

Kanani "wants to help provide the time and support for GPs and others working in primary care to develop and improve the services that practices provide".[4] In 2017 she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to Primary Care.[5][6] With her sister Sheila Kanani she set up STEMMsisters, which empowers people from disadvantaged backgrounds to study science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine subjects and access mentoring and coaching opportunities.[7] She is co-chair of The Network, an online community connecting medical students, doctors and other healthcare professionals.[8] She is a member of the King's Fund General Advisory Group.[9]

She is a general practitioner physician at Bellegrove Surgery in Welling.[10] She is a Clinical Commissioning Champion for the Royal College of General Practitioners.[11] In 2012 and 2013 she was selected by Pulse magazine as a "top up and coming GP". She was named by the Health Service Journal as a "rising star" - an award that celebrates the healthcare leaders of tomorrow and influencers of today.[3]

Kanani is a strong believer in embracing social media within medicine.[12] She is the lead of Quality Improvement at the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management.[4] She was appointed the interim NHS Director of Primary Care in August 2018.[13]

In September 2019, Kanani was appointed as NHS England's Medical Director for Primary Care.[14] She had previously held the post of Deputy Medical Director for Primary Care, and before that the Chief Clinical Officer of NHS Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group.[14]

Kanani was appointed deputy lead for the NHS's vaccination programme during the COVID-19 pandemic (formally "Deputy Senior Responsible Officer, COVID-19 Vaccination Deployment Programme"),[15][16] and in January 2021 was appointed to lead a team "to boost Covid vaccine uptake among minority groups by targeting staff from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds".[17] In September 2021, she closed her Twitter account because of the "toxic and demoralising" atmosphere.[18]

In 2021 the Girls' Day School Trust awarded her its Exceptional Contribution Award in recognition of her work on the COVID-19 vaccination programme.[19]

In July 2022 Kanani took up a seconded post with NHS England as Director for Clinical Integration, leading the design and delivery of an integrated clinical model for the NHS.[20]

In September 2023, Kanani won Professional of the Year award at the Asian Achievers Awards in London.[21] The Awards are run by global advisory firm EPG.[22]

References

  1. [1]
    Kanani, Nikita; Berendt, Anthony Robert (December 2021). "Ten minutes with Dr Nikita Kanani, General Practitioner, and Medical Director for Primary Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement". BMJ Leader. 5 (4): 295–297. doi:10.1136/leader-2020-000332. PMID 37579289.
  2. [2]
    "Kanani, Dr Nikita, (born 18 Aug. 1980), General Practitioner, Bellegrove Surgery, Welling, since 2012; Acting Medical Director for Primary Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement, since 2018 (Deputy Medical Director for Primary Care, NHS England, 2018)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2019. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U292706. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  3. [3]
    "Dr Nikita Kanani | Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management". www.fmlm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  4. [4]
    "Dr Nikita Kanani interview: The portfolio GP generation | GPonline". www.gponline.com. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  5. [5]
    "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 2017. p. B19.
  6. [6]
    "Confed chief and members recognised in Queens Birthday Honours". www.nhsconfed.org. Archived from the original on 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  7. [7]
    "Stemm Sisters". stemmsisters.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  8. [8]
    "Dr Nikita Kanani". Pulse Today. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  9. [9]
    "General Advisory Council". The King's Fund. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  10. [10]
    "Bellegrove Surgery - Doctors and Staff". www.bellegrovesurgery.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  11. [11]
    "Dr Nikita Kanani - NHS Clinical Commissioners". NHS Clinical Commissioners. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  12. [12]
    "Dr Nikita Kanani's blogs, vlogs and Tweets". www.bexleyccg.nhs.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  13. [13]
    "NHS England reveals new interim primary care director". Pulse Today. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  14. [14]
    "Nikki Kanani appointed as England's top doctor". Diversity UK. 5 September 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  15. [15]
    "The COVID-19 vaccination is available and it is your right to be protected from infectious diseases" (PDF). Public Health England. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  16. [16]
    Pilcher, Hayley (30 May 2022). "Open letter from NHS, charity and community leaders to people with a weakened immune system". The Brain Tumour Charity. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  17. [17]
    Potter, Costanza (28 January 2021). "Dr Nikki Kanani to head up NHSE team targeting minority groups for vaccine". Pulse Today. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021.
  18. [18]
    Gallagher, Paul (3 September 2021). "NHS England's top GP quits Twitter over its 'toxic and demoralising' atmosphere for doctors". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  19. [19]
    "Dr Nikki Kanani wins GDST Exceptional Contribution Award". Girls' Day School Trust. 9 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  20. [20]
    Tilley, Caitlin (28 July 2022). "NHS primary care medical director takes new role". Pulse Today. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  21. [21]
    "Singer Kanika Kapoor, boxer Hamza Sheeraz, NHS workers win big at AAA23". Asian Achievers Awards. 18 September 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  22. [22]
    "20th Asian Achievers Awards - Hosted by EPG". EPG Economic and Strategy Consulting. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Nikki_Kanani, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.