I was born in Port Talbot in 1960, studied Ancient History and Archaeology at Birmingham University, and obtained my PhD in Egyptology in 1987.  <o:p></o:p>

I then spent twelve years as a civil servant in the Department of Health, first as a fast stream trainee and subsequently as a Team Leader.  My policy experience included NHS reform and performance management (including the original purchaser-provider split and the earlier iterations of commissioning), public health policy, food safety, infertility treatment and embryo research, the NHS research and development strategy, maternity services, patient and public involvement and HIV and AIDS. 

From 1995-96, I was a Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York, studying health and ageing and based at the University of California at San Francisco.<o:p></o:p>

I have also worked in management consultancy in the financial services industry.

I am now Commissioning Adviser at the British Heart Foundation, responsible for developing the organisation's capacity to engage with the commissioning function of the NHS and Local Authorities, to help improve the heart health of their populations.

In my BHF capacity,  am part of the LinkedIn, Commissioning Support and Communities of Interest for Local Government networks, among others.  My Twitter name is BHFCommission.

I am also a published author of historical novels set in ancient Egypt, and a former Director and Trustee of the Egypt Exploration Society and of the Harkness Fellows Association.  Egyptology fans can follow my on Twitter under my pen name, SusanLlewellyn.<o:p></o:p>

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