Suzanne Rankin

Suzanne started her nursing and management career with the Royal Navy, Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service qualifying as a Registered General Nurse in 1990 and subsequently undertaking postgraduate training in trauma and orthopaedics at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.

Following attendance at Britannia Royal Naval College Suzanne commissioned and continued to serve at home and overseas including a number of operational deployments.

Suzanne graduated with an MA in Defence Studies following Advanced Command and Staff training from the Joint Services Command and Staff College in 2005 and was appointed to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) within the Defence Medical Services Directorate. She provided staff support and advice to the Defence Nursing Advisor and the Surgeon General on nursing strategy, leadership and professional matters.

In 2008, Suzanne departed the Royal Navy to embark upon a career in the NHS and joined Cardiff and Vale University Health Board as Chief Executive Officer in February 2022. Suzanne joined Cardiff and Value UHB from Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey where she was first the Chief Nurse and subsequently the Chief Executive Officer from 2014.

Suzanne is providing strategic and compassionate leadership across primary, secondary, tertiary, mental, dental and community healthcare provision to the communities of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. She is focused on collaboration and partnership working to address the wider determinants of health and well-being and building community relationships and resilience whilst co-creating the "right" culture enabling the delivery of the highest quality care with a focus on continuous learning, development and improvement.

As part of her current role Suzanne is the Senior Responsible Officer for Genomics Partnership Wales, the Advanced Therapies Wales Programme and the National Pathology Programme and is working with multi-disciplinary colleagues right across Wales to ensure the citizens of Wales have equitable and timely access to novel diagnostics, therapies and treatments and the associated benefits in clinical outcomes.