Political leadership · public speaking · mobilisation
Parliamentary Candidate, Fareham & Waterlooville
Built an entire general-election campaign from scratch in six weeks: recruited and led a volunteer team, established the public message, organised events and hustings, secured media coverage and raised more than £7,000 in grassroots donations.
Stood against Suella Braverman, the sitting MP and former Home Secretary, and used the campaign to argue publicly for health equity, accountable government and a less divisive politics.
Result 9,533 votes, a 19% share in a newly formed constituency, and clear evidence of the ability to lead, speak and persuade in public under pressure.
Corporate leadership · due diligence · transformation
Investment Banking & Strategy Consulting
Led an international Aerospace & Defence equity-research team, working directly with company boards and global fund managers. At Goldman Sachs, managed a 50-person FX operations team through the 2008 financial crisis. Led major pricing, transformation, benefits-realisation and due-diligence work across FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 businesses.
Projects included a £400 million transformation business case for a US multinational manufacturer, a telecoms transformation identifying £20 million-plus savings and £150 million of modelled EBITDA benefit, and a takeover due-diligence stream whose findings were a key factor in the bidder's decision to withdraw.
Value Deep understanding of corporate strategy, capital, commercial incentives and the standard of evidence required for high-value decisions.
National crisis leadership · policy · grassroots diagnosis
COVID-19: from the frontline to cross-government strategy
Stepped into the pandemic response as a Clinical Contact Tracer, completing nearly 1,000 hours on the frontline and compiling a detailed review of failures in the national tracing pathway. The findings were escalated through personal and professional networks into senior national leadership.
She was then appointed Head of Epidemiology & Public Health at the Joint Biosecurity Centre (UKHSA), leading epidemiologists, data scientists, product designers and engineers. Director's In-Year Award, 2021. The team supported local outbreak action and cross-government work on the opening-up roadmap, containment policy and sectors including nightclubs.
Leadership Joined grassroots evidence, scientific analysis and national policy, while rebuilding team structure, morale and delivery in an intense new organisation.
National funding reform · coalition building · implementation
Integrated Sexual Health Tariff
Led a long-running reform programme to replace fragmented and inequitable payment arrangements with an integrated pathway-based funding model. The work had to survive competing institutional interests, structural inertia and the transfer of sexual-health commissioning from the NHS to local authorities.
Built agreement among clinicians, commissioners, providers and government stakeholders; led the design, road-testing and implementation; and ensured the model could be adopted through a practical web solution rather than remaining a policy document.
Outcome Nationally used funding infrastructure, improved transparency and integration incentives, and reported system savings of more than £50 million.
London-wide system review · health equity · public voice
UN AIDS Fast-Track Cities Initiative, London
Led London's assets, gaps and opportunities review against the international HIV goals. The work combined more than 120 interviews, service-user storytelling, quantitative evidence and health-economic analysis across clinical services, commissioners, local government, national bodies and community organisations.
A central part of the work was surfacing issues that conventional performance measures could miss, including stigma, inequality and the lived experience of people using services, and carrying those findings into senior decision-making.
Outcome A major system report and recommendations for the Mayor of London, NHS England, Public Health England and London Councils.
Cross-government negotiation · sensitive systems
National Sexual Assault Services Reviews
Led two national reviews across NHS England, the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office, where responsibilities, funding and institutional interests had stalled progress. Worked with 43 Sexual Assault Referral Centres and more than 100 voluntary-sector organisations to map pathways, costs, workforce and failure points.
Outcome A national governance group agreed 29 core pathways and a commissioning matrix showing which body should fund each step. Published by NHS England in 2015 and re-commissioned for a second review.
Current direction
From technical consultancy to public leadership
Bella continues to lead evaluation and health-system work for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, including widening access to HIV prevention in the UK and value-for-money analysis in Kenya. Her next chapter is deliberately broader: think-tank and policy leadership, independent review, programme direction, advocacy, chairing and public communication.
Focus Roles where experience, judgement, communication and the ability to lead across institutions matter more than producing another model at a desk.
