Naaz Coker

Naaz Coker Naaz Coker is the Chair of St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, one of UK 's largest NHS Trusts which has at its heart St. George's Hospital, one of London's premier undergraduate teaching hospitals.

She has also been the Chair of the British Refugee Council, a large charitable organisation providing services and promoting the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK and abroad, since November 1998 and runs her own Executive Coaching practice.

Her career spans 30 years in the public and voluntary sectors. She spent 20 years in the NHS where her roles ranged from Pharmaceutical and Clinical Director to General Manager in acute NHS Trusts in London followed by ten years at the King's Fund, a charitable foundation working in the field of health and social care, where she was the Director of the Race and Diversity programme and fellow in Leadership Development. She has written widely on racism and ethnic health inequalities in the NHS and the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in the West.

She has held many other voluntary appointments including Chair of Aga Khan Health Board UK, Member of Management Committee of St Cecilia's Leonard Cheshire Home in Bromley Kent, Member of Standing Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee to the Secretary of State for Health. She is currently a trustee of the Media Trust and a Director of the Community Channel. She is also a member of the Home Office Race Equality Advisory Panel (REAP). In May 2003, she was awarded 'Asian Woman of the Year' by the Asian Guild and in June 2004 she won the Asian Women of Achievement award in the public sector category.

Naaz grew up in Tanzania and completed her University studies in the UK. She graduated in 1971 with an Honours degree in Pharmacy and in 1974 she gained a Master's degree from the University of London followed by a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the Open University Business School in 1991. Naaz is an Ismaili Muslim.