Professor Sally Davies is Director of Research and Development for London, working at the Department of Health. She is a doctor who unites an understanding of science and scientific method with internationally recognised clinical skills in her field, the haemoglobinopathies. In her role as Director of Research and Development for the NHS in London, she has always argued strongly for the importance of continuing to fund work of high scientific quality, including research which may not obviously have direct relevance at that time to patient care, and for building, rather than fragmenting programmes and centres of excellence. She leads nationally for the NHS on work related to the evaluation of research funding